Lions and Calves

March is in like a Lion in North-Central Montana this year. Our outdoor temperature has not read above -10 in several days and wind chills have been much, much colder than that.

March 1, of course, is our calving due date. Before my time on the ranch the due date used to be in February but they decided to move it back a bit to avoid the below-zero weather that can occur in the depths of winter.  I'll pause to let you consider that for a moment.

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I have been sleeping over with Jeff at Tom and Carol's house, functioning as Jeff's fourth alarm clock so he'll be able to rouse in the middle of the night to wander through the cows, checking for calves or signs of imminent calving. Yesterday, it was -17 outside (I didn't look at the windchill because I didn't want to know) and I was out helping Jeff isolate a few cows into the calving barn who looked like they were about ready to go.

We ended up with six in the barn and wouldn't you know, none of them calved over night. Those who did were the ones we left outdoors. Tom had found a calf around 12:30a.m. or so who had been born outside and was, well, it goes without saying, quite cold. Into the warming box in the barn he went.  Later, Jeff was out and the little guy still had frost on his ears and his tail, so Jeff spent some time trying to dry him off with a blow dryer, which he did not like at all. Tom went out again later and despite all of Jeff's drying efforts, the calf's ears and tail were frozen again. More hair drying.

Out every two hours or so, the guys wander through the cows. With the temperatures such as they are, it would not take long for more than ear or tail tips to freeze, but for the calf itself to be short-lived. Today, on top of the bitter cold, it has snowed all day. Such is the rhythm of calving, combined with Mother Nature's fickle moods, and we're all adapting quite well. We're looking forward to the rest of this week, which promises to be much, much warmer. Temperatures back into the 30's (notice I did NOT put a negative sign in front of that number!) will mean checks less often and fewer night-checks overall, which means more sleep for all.

Even among all the stress, lack of sleep, unexpected realities, we count our blessings that we get to do these things at all. That we get to do what we love in a beautiful place. Bringing new life into the world, of any kind, is a treasure that we as ranchers experience intimately. It's pretty special. This is a lifestyle I wouldn't trade.