• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Recent content by deff

  1. D

    Calf color

    Due to the drought, we are feeding a lot of wheat straw this winter and needed to sell down some. We shipped everything that would be 14 years or older at calving time. Ended up selling almost 30 head of old cows out of a 260 head herd. We usually just cull anything that lost a calf or is...
  2. D

    Fuel prices near you- Thanks Biden

    Back when I started ranching (During the fuel shortages in 1974), we use to get a discount for buying bulk fuel, delivered! If memory serves me right, back in the days of $1.00 gas, it was almost a 10 cent a gallon discount!
  3. D

    Old Ranchers?

    I'm a hoping that THIS old rancher can stay on the ranch helping the kids out doing what little I can! Every year the work seems more physically challenging! I'm thinking that I may have a couple more calving and haying seasons left in me! We'll see..... I suspect that the hard part will be...
  4. D

    Horse prices 😳

    I never could afford broke horses. My late wife would go to the Billings horse sales and watch for good, sound looking colts, often bringing them home for $150. The canner buyers were good about setting back and letting a lady give a young horse a chance for a good home! Most of the...
  5. D

    And it begins

    They look like they are in pretty good shape! A neighbor just sent his April/ May steer calves through the ring. They had been left out with the cows on droughty pasture until three weeks ago. The top end weighed a little over 550 and brought almost $2.00 lb. Around $1100 US dollars a head...
  6. D

    Hormones during calving

    We range calve in March in the mud and snow. Whenever a storm hits, we blanket the fresh calves and haul the chilled ones in to warm up. I tag and tape weigh calves while they are still "greasy" because I'm too old and stiff to chase them down anymore. I want a cow to be attentive and care...
  7. D

    Calving heifers

    Back in the 70's, I inherited a reputation herd of Hereford cows from my Dad. We ran the calves over as yearlings in those days and sold bred heifers at a special sale in town each fall. We usually topped the market as we had a long list of repeat buyers. There were no EPD's and folks didn't...
  8. D

    Calving heifers

    Perhaps the breed associations need to develop a "BSH" EPD (Bulls Staying Home)!
  9. D

    Ranching! Is it a living or a dying?

    The Lord I follow FORGIVES! LOVES! and UNDERSTANDS! Nuff Said!!!!!
  10. D

    Heifer calves

    I enjoy seeing a little "color" and some hair on a set of calves! Here, the buyers discount anything that won't fit CAB specs and want slick haired cattle so the feedlot mud don't stick so bad! I'm still running cattle that have a bit of high-bred vigor and are adapted to our northern climate...
  11. D

    Cougar

    Nice! Those younger cats are the kind that cause trouble. They are not allowed in other's territories and can get pretty desperate! Young, dumb and hungry are a bad combination! I doubt if very many cats have been shot in recent years with a 30-30 that weren't staring down at some hounds...
  12. D

    Ranching! Is it a living or a dying?

    I'm hoping to stick it out 3 more years. I'll have ranched for 50 years by then. My monthly SS benefits will max out, my wife and I will both be on Medicare by then and possibly, I may have recouped a little of my life savings that this drought has gobbled up! The deep snow, gumbo mud and...
  13. D

    Ranching! Is it a living or a dying?

    Health insurance is a big consideration. Other than the most extreme drought years, I was able to either make enough profit or pick up some extra work to get by. Once the kids were older, my wife was able to work in town and that made a huge difference in our "feast or famine" lifestyle! I had...
  14. D

    Hello from interior Alaska

    I'm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains in central Montana. Folks that come here hunting tell me my place "looks like Alaska"! Our last hard frost is often in mid June and first freeze end of August or first of September. I've seen a couple second cuttings in the last 40 years! :LOL:
  15. D

    Our turn

    My wife and I just tested positive for Covid. She just had the sniffles. I had a slight fever one day and a cough that cleared up after a couple of days. We wouldn't have even known that we had it but there was an outbreak at the school where she teaches so they rolled out the tests. We did...
Top