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Does anyone have blueprints for an ark?

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rancherfred

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It needs to be big enough to hold all of my cows and calves and various other pets that might need loaded.

When I went out to feed this morning there were ducks swimming in my feedlot and the steers were having trouble finding a place to lay down. We woke up to snow this morning on top of already wet ground and it has snowed very hard all day long. I have a calf in the garage under a heat lamp and at least one dead, most likely to exposure. It isn't unheard of to have snow in May but this is kind of crazy. I think we are over two inches and the cattle are pretty miserable. The good news is it looks like it is about done and should be melted off tomorrow.

Glad for the moisture, but it sure does make you feel helpless when there is nothing you can do for your cattle but hope they survive until the sun comes out. Just glad I don't have more calves on the ground. Guess I will have to move calving to June and see how much snow we get then.
 
I know the mud and snow is no fun, but the alternative is a hell of a lot worse!
We'll be lucky if we have enough grass for half of our cow's!
 
AC Diesel said:
I know the mud and snow is no fun, but the alternative is a hell of a lot worse!
We'll be lucky if we have enough grass for half of our cow's!
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I know the frustration of not getting moisture when everyone else around is getting some. I sure thought this was general enough that everyone was getting it. There's a chance all week, hopefully you get some soon. What part of the Sandhills are you located.
 
The northeastern portion. It seems to split up before we ever get anything. Everyone around us get's some.
I keep thinking if I b###h enough it will come.
 
Since 2002 we have had seven years of drought. I understand what it is like to have seeming everyone around you getting moisture but you can't beg, steal, or borrow enough to do you any good. When you are in the middle of this nasty weather it is easy to forget that others are still suffering from drought. We moved our calving date to May to get away from this stuff and I am starting to seriously consider whether I need to move it even later. Every time I hear these idiots talking about global warming, climate change, climate disruption or whatever other phrase they come up with I just want to punch them in the face. One of the hardest parts of this job for me is having to watch my animals suffer and know that I don't have any power to stop it.
 
Hang in there Fred! Feb/March calving would have been worse! You are staring down the barrel of some seriously green and growing feed in a couple of weeks. Chin up my friend! :D It's a downhill pull from here!
 
rancherfred said:
Since 2002 we have had seven years of drought. I understand what it is like to have seeming everyone around you getting moisture but you can't beg, steal, or borrow enough to do you any good. When you are in the middle of this nasty weather it is easy to forget that others are still suffering from drought. We moved our calving date to May to get away from this stuff and I am starting to seriously consider whether I need to move it even later. Every time I hear these idiots talking about global warming, climate change, climate disruption or whatever other phrase they come up with I just want to punch them in the face. One of the hardest parts of this job for me is having to watch my animals suffer and know that I don't have any power to stop it.
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in past years, on this forum, it was advocated that 'running to the barn naked' would cause it to rain.

The feedback was that it worked. :wink: :p :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
We got about 6" of very wet snow which will really help with all the pasture grass. The down fall is it laid most of our dryland and irrigated wheat over and some broke off. Then last night it got down to 28 around 12:00 this morning. But man we sure needed it, turned cows and calves out grass looked ok not great but this will sure help.
 
High Plains said:
Hang in there Fred! Feb/March calving would have been worse! You are staring down the barrel of some seriously green and growing feed in a couple of weeks. Chin up my friend! :D It's a downhill pull from here!
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It wouldn't have been worse calving in February/March in our area this year. We got over two feet of snow in this storm with terrible wind, and a huge area of southeast Wyoming is a mess. We came through in good shape so far, considering, and a lot of that I attribute to having an older, larger calf on the ground. I believe our main battle now will be keeping them healthy, but I am sure consequences will be felt in this herd for months to come. It truly was one of the worst storms I've gone through up here, and I've seen a few doozies! Not to start the late vs early calving debate, but folks calving now are having a very hard time in this area. Many don't have facilities, or are set up to handle this weather like the earlier calving outfits are. At least the weather should improve, and green grass should be on the way soon. No matter, all cattle are stressed in this area regardless of when the bulls were turned in, it's a terrible, terrible mess for many.

My neighbor sent pics of checking heavies and calving during this storm. They are located at a much lower elevation, outside of Cheyenne...
618b996aa0fe57e10f1d582bfcc9b88d_zps619eed95.jpg

809b3c8f22c7dd0f6738ecb3b410f7b7_zps0544e76b.jpg


I-80 was closed the entire length of the state.
dcb76862d050eef43a5ec5b96c90f3d7_zps6c722a8e.jpg
 
I've been calving on grass for 6 years now and 2 of those years we've had snow one year and a real cold rain this year on May 11th. I'm with rancherfred, maybe I'm still calving too early. That looks rough for the folks in Wyoming. If the climate is changing it damn sure isn't getting warmer.
 
Looking at those pictures gave me the cold chills. I am so sorry that
happened to everyone in that part of the state. We have calved in some
rough conditions, but never in that much snow on the level. Ours usually
blew around and was in huge drifts. The spring of 1973 in Wyoming was the worst one I remember. Lots and lots of snow and 98 mph winds. When it
was over, the kids could get on top of the drifts and touch the telephone lines.

It lasted for 3 days and there was a LOT of death loss.

That poor cow in the first picture....gosh! :cry:
 
Those pictures are awful. We didn't have that much snow and fortunately very little wind. Unfortunately, the snow was so heavy that we lost five calves and a cow during the storm. It was just too wet, they couldn't stay dry enough to keep their body temperature up. I shudder to think of what this would have done if it had lasted another day like the one last October did.

The biggest mistake I made was trusting the forecast. There were three storms in three years, back in '97, '98, and '99 that made us decide to change calving season. Each time the forecast was wildly missed and this time it was as well. We were only supposed to get up to three inches of snow. It ended up somewhere around 12". Three inches the cattle could have survived just fine, 12" with the amount of water in it that there was, was just too much for newborns.
 
rancherfred said:
Those pictures are awful. We didn't have that much snow and fortunately very little wind. Unfortunately, the snow was so heavy that we lost five calves and a cow during the storm. It was just too wet, they couldn't stay dry enough to keep their body temperature up. I shudder to think of what this would have done if it had lasted another day like the one last October did.

The biggest mistake I made was trusting the forecast. There were three storms in three years, back in '97, '98, and '99 that made us decide to change calving season. Each time the forecast was wildly missed and this time it was as well. We were only supposed to get up to three inches of snow. It ended up somewhere around 12". Three inches the cattle could have survived just fine, 12" with the amount of water in it that there was, was just too much for newborns.
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Yes, the forecast was wrong for us as well. Never in a million years did I dream this amount of snow would fall. Our cattle were in a pasture with good shelter, but many didn't gather up and get into cover when the storm began. Like you, I never anticipated what was coming, or I would have located them into the rocks and trees prior. I feel absolutely terrible about it.
 
Big Swede said:
I've been calving on grass for 6 years now and 2 of those years we've had snow one year and a real cold rain this year on May 11th. I'm with rancherfred, maybe I'm still calving too early. That looks rough for the folks in Wyoming. If the climate is changing it damn sure isn't getting warmer.
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I don't believe a perfect calving season exists in our area, a back-up plan for extreme weather should always be in place...and hopefully the forecasts are correct. I remember when we calved mid-April into June one year, we got into extremely hot days towards the end, and newborns would dehydrate and die if you weren't on top of it. A person just never knows, but tries managing the best they can.
 
Yeah you're probably right, but in my 51 years I can recall only a few times that it has snowed in May around these parts and it's happened twice in the last six years! I'm really not complaining though, on about April 25th or so we were desperate for any kind of moisture and since then we've had nearly 6 inches. Plus I just saw a forecast for June and there is a big area to the south and west that was predicted to be wetter than normal, if we know what normal is. :? :lol:
 
Big Swede said:
Yeah you're probably right, but in my 51 years I can recall only a few times that it has snowed in May around these parts and it's happened twice in the last six years! I'm really not complaining though, on about April 25th or so we were desperate for any kind of moisture and since then we've had nearly 6 inches. Plus I just saw a forecast for June and there is a big area to the south and west that was predicted to be wetter than normal, if we know what normal is. :? :lol:
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Yeah, you are definitely in a nicer climate than here...most people are! At least calving in May, snow should be the exception for you and not the rule. This is two years in a row where we've had significant snowstorms in May, including the folks at lower elevations :shock:. I'm with you, what's normal anymore?! All I know is we will have grass, and won't have to worry about forest fires for a day or two :D .
 

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