If you are thinking that maybe I’m talking about Spring . . . you are correct! This cold weather has been brutal lately. Just this morning I was out doing my morning kiddo drop-offs and noticed the temperature was 10 degrees. About that time I got a text message from my sister who lives in Nebraska saying that it felt like -25 where she lives. Whoaaa! Suddenly my prospective changed to being grateful. Grateful for my seat heater and that it was not that cold here in Northwest Oklahoma! Isn’t it funny how a comment or photo can change our state of mind completely? I am ready for green grass, sunshine and warmer temperatures. Spring is so close, but right now, so SO far away.
Spring calving season is winding down. (We use that term a bit loosely since the first calves hit the ground at the end of January.) While calving season is an exciting and much anticipated time of year, we’ve arrived at the spot where we start counting down. We only have 6 first calf heifers left to calve! Now THAT is exciting for everyone . . . even for the people on the ranch that are not waking up at odd hours to check on those first-time mamas! While the first-calf heifer pen is the most time consuming , they represent only about 20 percent of the total number of mama cows that will calve here on the ranch by April 1.
Twins have been popular this year! At this point we have had 10 sets of twins and seven of those were first-calf heifers. Those odds still have us scratching our heads. Unfortunately there is always a little bit of loss during calving season as well, so those sets of twins will help recover for any losses at this time next year when those calves are sold as yearlings.
As most know, there really is not a ‘down time’ in the farming and ranching profession. Next week, between checking calving pastures, a portion of the yearling calves grazing on wheat will be loaded and hauled to the livestock auction. The day you load up your calf crop and safely unload them at the livestock auction is also a pretty exciting day. I have several memories of going as a family to the Woodward Livestock Auction and sitting on those long red cloth covered benches toward the top to watch our cattle sell. Sale day is obviously important from a financial aspect, but it is also exciting to see all those calves branded with a Bar R going through the ring and the bids rolling in. It reminds us that while those calves were bred, born and raised on our ranch, it takes many other individuals and segments of beef community to get our safe, nutritious and satisfying product - BEEF - to the consumer. Sale day brings things full circle and resets our mind-set after a long-COLD calving season that is so close to being finished, yet so far away.
This photo was taken about 3 years ago when my daughter was three and my son was one. It was one of the family first trips to the auction barn. Little guy was mesmerized by the auctioneer. Those are not our cattle in the ring, but I still love this photo.