Evening Roundup

These days, the weather has been nice enough that we can graze our cows back out on the stubble of our crop fields. This is also possible because there's no snow cover on the ground. It's great that they can graze because then we don't burn through as much hay, and there's plenty of stuff for them to munch on out there. 

Because the only water this time of year is back in the corrals, the cows have to be driven back in each evening. They go out during the day to graze, then back to the yard for overnight water access. Those of you who follow my blog and read regularly, will remember me discussing this a few weeks ago when I had the task of letting the cows out in the morning to their day grazing. Yesterday, I got to ride along with Jeff for the evening portion of this twice a day chore. 

But first, I took Harvey and Abby for a nice little three mile run! We did a short out and back route from Tom and Carol's house and had a great time. Here are a few photos from our little jaunt:

View of the Sweetgrass Hills from about a mile north of Tom and Carol's house. 

My running companions, Harvey and Abby.

Looking out toward some of the cows, grazing on crop stubble and winter wheat.

Headed back up the hill toward home.
Harvey likes to run ahead, but he always turns around to make sure I'm still coming!

After our little run, Harvey, Abby and I went back to the house for a drink of water. It was about 4:00 p.m. when Jeff and I were ready to head out and start moving the cows in. Harvey came with us in the pickup and Abby stayed home. By this time of day, this time of year, the sun is just starting to set. We have been having some really beautiful skies lately, primarily in mornings and evenings. This is why they call it the Big Sky State I guess. :)

A few cows, starting to head towards home.

 By 5:15 or so, it was pretty dark. We were really having a hard time trying to see cows. And then, I saw something that looked like it was too small to be a cow and moving much too quickly... it approached the vehicle and we saw that it was Abby! She had run back out from the house to join us, even though she must have been tired from our run earlier (she's getting kinda old...)  So Jeff loaded her up into the tailgate and she joined us.

Not long after that, we heard the sounds of another dog panting outside our window. This time, we looked down and it was our neighbor's dog, Bella! You might remember her from THIS POST. Even though she lives over three miles away from where we were, she ran all the way out to see what all the commotion was about! She has BOUNDLESS energy. Harvey and Abby, not to be outdone, had to get out and run around with her!

So, we continued on with our cattle roundup, driving them towards home, with the three dogs "helping" us out!

Can you see three dogs and one cow in our headlights?

I know it might seem silly to wait until dark to get the cows in, so here's a bit more explanation. We like to maximize the time the cows can graze during the day before driving them back into the corrals. This time of year, the days are really short, and especially when you live as far north as we do. Typically, we do start during daylight hours, but sunsets seem to not last very long either sometimes and it's dark before you know it! This particular evening, the herd was really spread out, too, so it took us longer than normal to get them back in. 

After we got the cows in, we left Abby and Tom and Carol's, then dropped Bella back off at our neighbor's place. She's quite the country traveller! Who knows who we'll have next time we bring the cows in?! 

Going Funning in the Country

Sticking with running through the winter months is something I haven't been great at accomplishing over the past several years, but this year, I'm already making a better effort. We have a treadmill, so there really aren't any excuses not to get a run in, but I do love running outdoors so much more. So long as the Northern Montana weather isn't prohibitive, that is.

Friday morning, the weather was actually pretty ideal for some outdoor running.  It was a little windy, but I solved that problem by having Jeff drop me off somewhere so that the wind would be at my back for most of my run. The temperature was about 40 degrees and sunny. Wind at my back was definitely tolerable, and probably helped me out.

I referenced this blog post from Oiselle Tis the Season to Go Funning a few posts ago on my blog already. The gist of the post is to find ways to make cold weather running even more fun, aka "funning". This Friday morning run was the ideal time to get excited and take some photos along my running route. It's a route I drive often but have never run, so it was new to me in that sense.

Jeff dropped me and Harvey off at Mel's Corner, and we ran the rest of the way home. About 5.5 miles. Since I was going funning, I allowed myself plenty of brief stops for photo ops and dog petting. Those of you who are familiar with our neck of the woods will recognize some of the places and viewpoints. For the rest of you, I hope you'll find something you enjoy! Here's what I came up with!

Headed East on Road 200, right at the start of my run.

About a mile into my run, jogging past Merlin and Pat's house, Harvey and I were joined by their dog, Bella. She's a RezQ dog that they've had for a couple years now and is absolutely full of energy. She is the only dog we know of whose energy level exceeds Harvey's. She's a nice dog, though. She stayed with us for a mile or so, then turned around and ran back home.

Harvey and Bella :)

 After a few miles, this was the view looking back West:

Gotta love the Sweetgrass Hills!

Our new neighbors up here built this sign over the summer. I think it's great! As applied to my run, no, we had not gone far enough yet!

Dog-petting break! 

When we run around home, Harvey always runs off-leash. There are so few cars and really excellent visibility out on the flat grasslands that we don't have to worry about him getting lost or into danger. Plus, he typically stays pretty close to me or Jeff anyway. I am so thankful we live in a place where Harvey can pretty much roam free and sprint and run and play to his heart's content! 

Harvey leads the way!

He's wearing his blaze orange vest because it is still hunting season, so that's for visibility to anyone nearby who might be hunting. I wear an orange vest over my running clothes this time of year, too.

Running by Goldstone Church, the little country church where we sometimes attend Sunday services. It's about a mile and a half from our house.

 It took me 52 minutes to get home, with my barn welcoming me back!

What do you do to stay active outdoors in the winter? Or, is a book by the fireplace more your style?

Milk Replacer Anonymous

Remember Daisy? My Chore-Calf?  You can read about Daisy HERE.

 

Well, she’s gone. The cow pen is empty and the milk bucket sits neglected. 

 

What happened to her?  She has left us to join the neighbor’s herd of Herefords. 

 

Cows are social herders—they don’t like to be alone, and Daisy is no fool.  She learned long ago how to get through a barbed wire fence. Rather, how and where to go under the fence. Since she is still relatively small, she can still do this.  A full sized cow probably couldn’t get under our fence anywhere.  She doesn’t like to be by herself, so she’d go out during the day and join the Herefords, then come back in the evening.

 

Used to be, Daisy would maybe take an occasional day trip and graze with the neighbor’s herd during the day, and then come back to our yard at night, mooing loudly for her milk-fix.  She was like an alcoholic bellying up to the bar for her nightly libation. She’d come right up to the fence and loudly bellow until her drink was served.  Mmmmmm…. Milk replacer powder mixed with warm water…. Wonder when we will see that on the specialty drink menu anywhere?  That’s Daisy’s drink of choice.  Personally, I like a good glass of red wine, but to each her own.

 

Daisy then spread her return trips out to every-other-evening.  I don’t know if she was consciously alternating days for her returns, but she was.  After a week or two of every-other-night, she stopped coming back altogether.  We haven’t fed her any milk replacer for a few weeks now.  I guess she weaned herself. And, she’s perfectly content to spend her time with her new friends, the Herefords.  We drive by her with her new pals every day, smiling and waving, and she’ll have nothing to do with us.  I guess she’s decided if we’re not going to be her bartender anymore, we’re useless to her.

 

When I came across this cartoon from a friend of mine, I immediately thought of Daisy. 

I imagine Daisy not carrying a milk truck but painting her face and underside white if she had the chance.  Meanwhile, the Herefords are saying, “Go Home, Daisy!”   Although, to take my metaphor further, it would actually be somewhat the opposite.  In Daisy’s case, the Herefords were her “AA” group or, “Milk Replacer Anonymous,” and now she’s gone through her twelve steps and she doesn’t need us anymore. In any event, she hasn’t gone too far. We can still keep an eye on her and go get her when we need to.  And, she looks good.  Must have been time to quit anyway.

 

Now, to open that bottle of wine!

 

Snakes on the Plains

We have had a few new neighbors show up recently and I have to say I have been less than hospitable.  Most recently, I ran over the new guy with a pickup  *twice*  then Jeff nailed him with shotgun blasts. Not very neighborly, right?  Well Jeff and I both considered it the appropriate response because the new-guy-on-the-block was not a neighbor we wanted.  He was sandy-colored, stuck his tongue out a lot (how rude!), and made an awful buzzing sound whenever we got close!  How would you like it if your neighbors treated you that way?

After that silly intro, you've likely deduced our new "neighbors" are in fact rattlesnakes.  The Prairie Rattlesnake is the only venomous snake in Montana and unfortunately it seems we are right along the main thoroughfare.

We saw our first snake of the season while on a pasture hike with my family on their visit a few weeks ago.  Since then, we've seen several more on the roads and two who were close enough to our house that we felt action needed to be taken.  Normally, if we see them in a field or somewhere away from the house we let them be.  Nice to have a little free rodent control.  Furthermore, they tend to act gentlemanly (for some reason, all rattlesnakes are referred to as male...)  and warn you with their rattle when you are about to get too close.  As if to say, "Helloooooooo!  I'm here!  Don't you dare step on me... OR ELSE!" or, "I don't want to bite you. I just want to mind my own business, but if you get close to me, I'll have to take measures into my own hands, erm, I mean... fangs!"  Rattlesnakes are like the crotchety, crazy old guy with a gun living as a recluse in a shack in the woods.  Enter his turf and BEWARE!

It's when the rattlesnakes enter our yard that I begin to take issue.  Rattlesnake bites in people are largely preventable.  We're generally smart enough to know what they are, where they may be lurking, and to leave them alone (or to get the gun!).  It's my dog I worry about the most.  Last year, Tom and Carol had a dog get bit by a snake.  The year before, Harvey was bit.  Thank goodness for the rattlesnake vaccine for dogs, but nevertheless it's not an experience I would like repeated.  Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) even says on their website that it's OK to "deal with the problem" when they're in your own yard and pose a threat to the safety of your family and pets.  So there!  I'm justified in my killing!

The first sighting of the season was just a little south of Tom and Carol's house, on the trail to the creek and pastures.  As I said, we spotted him while on a walk with my family.  Actually, Harvey alerted us to his presence.  He was sniffing around and acting a bit keyed up, but not in the way he acts when he is on-scent with a bird.  He had his nose pretty close to what looked like a large gopher hole.  As we got a little closer, we could hear the snake rattling away.  We called Harvey off with some urgency, and he actually chose to listen to us! Approaching the hole, we saw that it was a snake and he was trying to warn us off.  Thanks to an excellent camera lens and zoom, my mom was able to get this great photo of the snake:


Then, last week, Jeff and I were walking Harvey on our road when we encountered another snake, right along the side of the road.  This one was fairly close to the house.  Again, we called off Harvey.  This time we went back for the shotgun.  I was glad Jeff was with me to help take care of it-- my shotgun skills leave much to be desired.

A few nights after that, I went out to take Harvey for another walk and didn't even make it down our driveway to get to the road before I heard the telltale rattle.  Right in our driveway this time! The nerve! I calmly called Harvey back and we loaded up into the pickup for our little stand-off with the snake.  I drove up to him and stared him down.  He stared me right back.  It was like the prelude to a shoot0out in an old Western movie! All at once I took my shot, which was flooring it in the pickup right over his sorry, squirmy little body! I heard him rattle like crazy and as the dust settled and I backed up to survey my work, I discovered he was not dead at all.  Just mad.  No one wants a mad rattlesnake on the loose!  I backed up and went at him again... Harvey in the passenger seat looked at me with panic, I'm sure.  This time I definitely injured him, but he was still down there, coiled and angry.

By now, I was more or less in a panic myself because I couldn't seem to kill the little bastard.  I am quite certain I looked right at him and blathered loudly, "Why don't you just DIE!?!"  Then I did what any sensible farm woman with marginal shotgun skills and a healthy fear of rattlesnakes would do, feminism be damned, I went and got my husband, who promptly dispatched of the snake in two quick shotgun blasts.  His head flew over the pasture fence and his body blew to smithereens.  Harvey let out a bark as the dust settled again and we went back into the house.  We'll show him!  Should've strung up the rest of his parts as warning to his brethren not to mess with this yard!

And I turned on the TV to watch a little mindless drivel and take my mind off the night's adventure and what was on the first channel? Snakes on a Plane! I just can't win! Now that I've completely convinced you all that I'm a sadist, at least when it comes to rattlesnakes in the yard, let it be known that new neighbors of the slithery, snaky variety are NOT WELCOME! Anyone of the human kind who would like to visit is welcome any time. ;)