The Only Snow We Got All Winter Came in March...

Going Broke

The Cowboss and I have been wanting to get into the cow business for awhile now.  It's been really hard because we really have no equity.  Which apparently is very important if you want to get a loan. We finally got a loan with our Credit Union at 13% interest which is pretty high, but the best we could do, so 3 years ago we bought 10 cows through the sale ring.  Kind of a disaster, then we tried to run them with my in laws in Idaho.  While we appreciated the opportunity they gave us, we spent every spare minute running back and forth to help with the cows and we were tired.  We also didn't have many decisions on the business aspect such as when or where we sold them.  So we found some pasture to lease here at home, and moved them back here last fall.  This winter has been awesome watching our own cows calve, getting to select our own bulls, and even little things like deciding when we want to brand our calves.  It was is nice not to have to frantically reschedule classes or appointments when we would get a phone call saying we needed to be in Idaho in 2 days to work cattle.  I wasn't sure how we would make it work once TR was in school either.  You can't just yank your kid out of school for a week all willy nilly as the mood hits you! 

A couple of weeks ago and opportunity fell into our lap to buy some heifer calves, so I've spent the last few weeks on the phone with the banker, trying to get approved for a loan.  We were finally approved on Wednesday, and Thursday we went and gathered the heifers.  Friday we paid for them and Sunday we processed them.  Now they are out with a bull, hopefully making baby calves for us, and we are following the cattle market, hoping that bred heifers go high!  I was checking out Superior Livestock this morning, and I see that bred heifers went for anywhere from $1,550 to $1,925 each this past week.  The higher they go, the fewer we have to sell!

It is really nice owning cattle.  I think building up equity is important.  While we have no plans on leaving here any time soon, it will be nice to be able to use our cattle as equity on a loan down the line when we are ready for a place of our own!  It's just hard to deal with the anxiety of the dollar amount of the loan and how to make everything work!

Monday

My biggest kid (Travis) and I rode through the pairs this morning.  It was a perfect spring morning, slightly overcast and cool.  Just right for trotting out first thing in the morning.  Our circles are quite a bit smaller these days.  When we were first married, we trotted out 20 miles in the morning, just to get to the cows, then rode through them and came home.  Now our BLM seedings are about the size of our wrangle pasture we had at Sheep Creek.  My brother Casey will tell you I am exaggerating, but ask Travis!  Calves looked great, all fat and happy.  We got back to the trailer just before the storm hit!

It has been a long day and about to get longer!  After unsaddling and a quick lunch I headed to the sitter's to pick up my littlest kids and headed for town.  We went to 3 different stores before I found any flowers for my grandma and aunt.  Quin pulled the blooms off of one and Trent sat on the other.  Was I ever happy when the both fell asleep on the ride home!

We are supposed to get 100 truckloads of yearlings tonight (okay Casey, that was an exaggeration!), and it's supposed to rain and snow all day tomorrow.  So, not only am I on the processing crew, but also lunch detail.  I best get going, have to get my sourdough start going, beans cooking in the crock pot, and come up with some kind of dessert, so goes the life of a ranch wife!  =)