I don’t know how the weather has been in your neck of the woods this fall, but here we have been spoiled with sunny days and temperatures in the sixties and seventies. This week is a different story. We are experiencing a little thing known as an arctic blast, with daily highs in the teens and wind-chills well below zero. I see quite a few folks complaining about the abrupt change in weather, and as much as I would like to join them in a chorus of complaint or stay inside sipping coffee all day, we raise cattle, and therefore the show must go on.
Blustery Move
This week we have been busy preparing to preg our cows. Preg day, which will take place on Thursday, is when we vaccinate the cows and check for pregnancy, confirming whether or not the bulls did their job during breeding season. The sudden, and extreme, change in weather is an absolute inconvenience, but it really does no good to complain about it. Preg day will take place rain, shine, sleet, or snow. So, we put on our big girl (or boy) long johns, Carhartts or chaps, scotch caps or ear flaps, wild rags, Bogs or tapederos, and winter gloves – and go to work.
Raising beef cattle, or any type of livestock for that matter, is a three-hundred-sixty-five days a year type of job. It isn’t just in preparation for big processing days that we buck up and work in the weather. We go out every. single. day. Don’t get me wrong, some days (like today, yesterday, and the day before) I have to give myself a pretty good pep talk to take that first step outside – you know, the one that takes your breath away. However, once I’m out there it really isn’t that bad. As crazy as it sounds, I actually enjoy working in the cold winter months more than in the heat of the summer.
“Attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal.”
– Robert Lipkin (a.k.a Bob Bitchin)
I came across this quote yesterday while sipping coffee and thawing out after moving cattle in the blowing snow and sub-zero windchill. It really sums up how I felt about my chores yesterday. Actually it sums up how I feel about a lot of things. I’m not going to lie to you and say I have a great attitude all of the time, however I am very aware that a bad attitude helps nothing.
So, which will you have today – an adventure or an ordeal?
Hello! I’m Terryn – the wife, mother, food safety enthusiast, Stormy Kromer fanatic who has slightly (okay, a lot) random tendencies, dabbles in photography, and shares (maybe a little too much) here at FFB.
We kind of feel like this arctic blast slapped us in the face. It’s just hard to go from beautiful fall weather to single digit highs and wind.
I will admit the fresh weaned calves have really taken to getting onto feed, lol. We let them out of “jail” into the small pasture we winter them in. No disasters and we are keeping our fingers crossed they don’t spook.
We decided to forego ultrasounding because of the extreme cold. We were supposed to ultasound last Monday. We got all the weaned calves worked and cows run through the chute late last week.
Good Luck with your cattle work and stay safe in the cold!
I think our pairs were tired of the warm weather. Monday when it was SO windy, I went out to check on them and everyone was spread out contently grazing, and yesterday when I moved them there was a lot of happy running and bucking going on.
Luckily, we are preg checking in the corrals around our house which are pretty protected from the wind, not to mention, we have a nice enclosed preg box.
Thanks for the well wishes and you do the same, stay safe in the cold!
Love the quote! So true. And hope you stay warm – and thank you for working outside. My husband ranches too, but I get to go to my office job in town and it’s a lot warmer here than out in the cold….but please know that I appreciate your hard work and efforts!
Thank you, Darcy!
I do my best to stay warm, sometimes I think my methods of retaining heat could border on the verge ridiculousness. Yesterday I moved cows in our side-by-side ATV, so, I brought a big quilt along and covered up with it in addition to all of my layers of clothing…
Thanks again for reading and make sure your husband stays warm as well!