Freeze Branding 2017

This is what a freeze brand looks like.  (Picture taken off of google)

Here is a freeze brand on a horse.  (Picture taken off of google)

We freeze brand our cows’ numbers, so that the numbers can be easy to find on them if we need them.  It also works good if the cow loses her tag.  We do it every year on that year’s first calvers.

How do you freeze brand?

For those of you who don’t know what freeze branding is, I’ll try my best to explain (along with some pictures).  You take dry ice and mix it with 99% alcohol.   You put the branding irons in the concoction.  I think it is about 160 degrees below zero.  It will make the irons really cold.

Dad will shave the spot where the irons will go.

Dad puts alcohol on the shaved place.  The alcohol will transfer the cold.

Then you put the branding irons on.  For the cold to fully take effect, you leave the irons on for 1 minute.

And… you are done with that cow.  It does take a little time, but it works really well.  In the spring, the cow will shed her winter hair and it will grow back white where we branded.  The cold from branding will take the pigment out of the hair; that is how it turns white.  This spring, Grandpa will shave the hair again where the numbers are, and you will be able to see the numbers really well.

I think that is all there is.  If you have any questions, ask in comments below.

Hope everybody’s new year is going well!

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Daily Bible Reading On Ranch Life

Hey everybody!  I have something new we are going to be doing on Ranch Life.  I tried to do this once when I first started the blog, but never got it fully going.  This time, I plan to get all the way going.  It is a Daily Bible reading plan.  My plan is to post a new reading out of the Bible each day on this blog.  We can all read the passage of the day, and if you want, you can post on comments what you learned from that days reading.  I’m hoping we can get some good discussions going.

I thought we could start with two chapters out of the Bible a day, just to get us going.  One in the old Testament, and one in the New Testament.  For the Old Testament reading, we are going to start with Esther.  I love that story!  For the New Testament we are going to start with Acts.  It is pretty simple, we just read a chapter of each everyday.  I’m still going to post the days reading everyday though, just to remind people, and to make sure we are still on the same page.  I also wanted to give people a chance to share their daily findings in the comments.  I really want to get some fun conversations going.

I will post the days Bible reading 6:00 am Mountain Time every morning.  That way, everybody who wants to do their Bible reading in the morning, before they had off to school or work, can do it.  I will post the first days Bible reading tomorrow morning.

If you are going to take on this challenge of reading your Bible everyday let me know in comments below!  I would really like to know who is all going to do it! 🙂

 

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Orphan Annie Gets A Mom

One of our heifers that was supposed to be spayed ended up being pregnant.  So, obviously we couldn’t spay her.  She had a heifer the beginning of October.  The mom, only being a one year old, didn’t have any interest in the calf, so the calf became an orphan.  Tierra and Grandma Gloria have been bottle feeding her morning and night since then.  When the calf was a few days old, Grandpa decided to call her Annie.  She has been Annie ever since.  One of the first calvers lost her calf in the last few days.  So, Dad and T gave Annie to the cow.  It took a little bit of work, but T said the cow is accepting Annie.  I have a feeling Annie thinks she is in heaven right now. 🙂

Ranch Update:

Dad and Grandpa sorted heavies on Saturday in the first calvers, who will start calving any time.  That means they sorted through all the first-time pregnant cows and put the ones who look like they are going to calve soon, in the corral.  Now, Grandpa and Dad get to start getting up in the middle of the night to check cows.  The rest of the cows will start calving in February.

 

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A New Baby Brother! Gavin Daniel

Hey everyone!  Today’s post is super exciting!  I think I told you a few posts ago that my mom was expecting a baby.  Well, that baby has come!  He is a very HANDSOME baby boy!  His name is Gavin Daniel.  For all of you guys (girls) who like to know weights, Gavin weighed 7# 13 oz.

Gavin, the day he was born, with mom

 

Gavin, Brittni and Natalie

Levi and Gavin

 

 

 

 

 

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4-H Steer Weigh-In 2017

Hey everybody!  Today’s post is going to be really short.  I just thought I would tell all of you that we had our 4-h steer weigh-in Saturday, the 7th of January.   Some of you guys may know that we train and take steers to our local county fair.  So, we just took them to get weighed, and they also got a 4-h tag; that way the steers can be identified at fair as the steers we brought to weigh- in 7 1/2 months before.  This way, they can also keep track of people’s steer weights from now until fair (the steers will get weighed again at fair).

Our steers weights:

8/51 (Colton’s):875 lbs

8/115 (Brittni’s):830 lbs

3/2 (Tierra’s): 840 lbs

Buddy steer: 785 lbs

If you are wondering, they all weighed in just fine.  We estimated that they need to gain 2.5 lbs/ day until fair to get them to the weight that we want them at fair.  We also have to remember that the steers will gain more in the winter than during the summer.  They don’t eat as much when it is hot out.  The steers are doing great, and we are all super excited about them!

 

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