This is the first year in my life that I will not be outside during the wee hours spotlighting calving heifers. Really sad in a way. I will miss the stars, the quiet, the solitude, the peace that passes through the hours of darkness, the brightness of the full moon, the occasional growl from a cowdog who sees something I don’t, the warmth of the cowdog that warms my cold hand…s or face, the adrenaline rush of coming onto a scene of a heifer in distress, the snow as it pelts my chapped face, the sloshing around in the rain, skidding around on the ice, staring at a situation contemplating my options to fix the problem, the joys and satisfaction of asking a cowdog to bring the heifer on to the corral while I get the gate and not being able to see a thing…only hearing the sound of footsteps from the heifer or cowdog to know that the cowdog is successfully bringing the heifer on to the corral, the quiet respectful manner in which the cowdog is getting the job done, the glow in the cowdog’s eyes while he or she watches intently to help…plus knowing a ‘snack’ is about to arrive, and the funny conversations in the pickup after a cowdog belches or farts, and watching a cowdog smile back at me when I say, “Did you fart? That’s terrible!”…with a grinning cowdog looking back at me.
I am going to miss Spring calving.
But a year ago, amidst a winter of record snowfall from December through February and the forecast of a cold, wet spring and a hot dry summer, I decided to change my way of doing business. The record cold and snow yielded trees with leaves and blossoms like I have never seen. The rains began in March and lasted into the end of May. The cold, damp, overcast days dealt us a hand that played out as lack of spring growing temperatures, no hay and no pasture. The hot, dry summer lasted from June through September. October was dry with periodic spot showers that were welcomed to wash off the cattle in the lots. November was in the single digits. December came and the temperatures have see-saw’d from near record warm to about normal, with not much precip. January is lining up the same. We have been in the 50′s and 60′s and then down to 20 or less. Today is it going to be 65 and tomorrow some temperature drops to the 20′s and a rain/snow mix. And by the weekend we are to be back to the 60′s.
I guess I look past the todays and look out to the spring grass growing season. I think back to how hard it was to make the decision to cut back on cow and replacement numbers. What a difficult decision…I had mulled this over for 3 years. Now, the reality faces me to say, “That was really hard to do, but now…it appears to have been a wise decision.” We are dry here. Grass in nill. Hay is gone. What hay that is found is marginal and extremely expensive…trading at 3X’s the money. If moisture doesn’t come, then we will join Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas in the extreme drought zone.
So…looking out my mom’s kitchen window last night, I took this picture, my eyes filled with tears and I thought, “I am going to miss Spring calving. Look at all the things I am going to not see or hear in the next 37 days!”
So Hawk and I went on home, pulled up behind the house and told our long-gone friend Bert we loved him, checked on Ducchess and her puppies and called it a day. Life is just not the same without dear Bert. Just a memory………..a happy & sad memory.
