Skunks and butchering

We had to butcher this yearling because it had a very bad broken foot.

It was kind of on the fight when I first found it hidden in the trees. But we got her out and then Justin shot it.

Then we cut the jugular and hung it up with the tractor.  It was Justin's first time butchering a cow so I coached him through it the best I could.

We didn't skin it because the neighbors were going to finish it up for us. We just had to kill it and gut it...cute coveralls, right? haha but they saved me from freezing.

This is our creation: a skunk trap. We sort of invented it and tried to catch the two skunks that always hung out in the barn.  

We even built another one and put it in the barn.  But the skunks were too lazy and never climbed up the board so we didn't ever catch one.

The adopted calf

The other day we pulled a calf and lost it. It was very sad and we felt bad. But then we saw a cow in the herd that had huge udders and tits. Too big for her calf to even suck on them. So we stole her calf and skinned the dead calf, put the skin on the new calf and hoped that the mom with the dead calf would accept it. It was a success! And quite the adventure.

We put salt on the skin before we put it on the calf

When we went to go steal the calf from the huge uddered mom, she was on the fight. She was a very good mom and wasn't going to let us take the calf without a fight. So after getting stuck in the snow and having to walk a ways to get a tractor to pull us out we were on our mission. Justin got in the back of the truck and roped the calf's back legs and pulled it in the back. Then I punched it and we took off across the prairie...with an angry momma cow chasing us, Justin trying not to fall out while hanging onto the calf, and I was trying not to get stuck again or drive into a ditch. What an exciting rodeo we had. But we did it. But that wasn't the end of our night.

Next we had to skin the dead calf and pull it over the alive calf like a sweater. It was a very exciting night and neither of us had ever done that before, so it was a learning adventure. But it was successful and the momma cow with the dead calf accepted the new calf with the fake sweater skin coat.

We had to tie the back legs on with some twine

The calf was so happy to have milk and after a few days it was frolicking around the pen with it's huge sweater skin flapping behind it. haha

Justin's ground squirrel catch

There was a ground squirrel that lived around Bob's house and Justin really wanted to kill it. First he tried to shoot it with his pistol, but he couldn't ever get it. So then he decided he would catch it in a home made snare trap that he made out of fishing line. After a couple of attempts and diligent watching he finally caught it. He ran out as soon as he saw in was caught and was able to kill it in time before it bit it's way out of the line.

He's so happy and excited to have finally caught it

He had to block it's hole so that there was just a small opening for the ground squirrel so it got caught on the snare.

My handsome husband and his trophy ground squirrel. haha. awesome

Steph's first hair cut

For the first time ever Steph cut someones' hair. Justin was a good sport and since we were in the middle of nowhere, we figured it would be ok if I tried it out. I think it turned out very nice.

It took a long time because I didn't really know what to do, but by the end, I figured it out and we feel confident in trying it again when Justin needs it.

Check out that awesome hair cut.

We look so tired...because we were. Justin is still handsome thought. Checking on calving cows every 3 hours in the middle of the night starts to wear on you.

But still happy.

Winter on the Ranch

This is part of the field that we hauled hay off of.

This is the Challenger. Justin was the pro-driver of this sweet ride. It had two trailers on the back. We could fit 16 bales on it.

Steph in the tractor that she drove every day.

Justin found this deer head and is going to clean it up and keep it.