Late March 2014

[Soapweed]

My sister gathering twine

Not many herd markers in this bunch

Coercing cows to a different location

Trusty feed outfit

New siding on our house

Road to Goose Lake

Goose Lake

Cows have worked over this weed bale quite well.

Here is another one that was placed on sandy ground.

High in the sky

On top of Old Roofie

Porch in progress

Palaver in the pasture

One on the ground and one foot back

I even ended up down alongside. We both took turns pushing the head back in and trying to get the foot out.
Our community effort paid off, and we retrieved a nice live calf.

For the first time all calving season, I assisted on a pull job. Amazingly enough, I still remembered how.

At least I look taller and more slender in this picture

East end of a westbound pickup

Replacement yearling heifers at their winter quarters. I am very happy with the care they are receiving.

A cat leading a dog's life

Double drowsy

Sorters of cattle

Moo moocher. I don't recommend making a pet out of a cow. They can be a nuisance, and they have a way of scaring you
at inappropriate times.

Sparky and a friend

Sparky runs his welding shop, and the other young man has a 72 foot sailboat in the Virgin Islands. He and his wife
and one or two other crew members take out eight or ten tourists at a time, for a week or so at a time on a mini-cruise
around the islands. This is a slow season in that line of work, so he is helping his dad with calving for a few weeks.

Two year old open heifers, bred to start calving August 15th

They will probably be for sale in June.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Great bunch of pictures.

I enjoy the ones of Sparky's shop just to see what's on the walls in the background. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[wdcook]

Soapweed, how do you like your metal roof, and how does its cost compare to shingles?

 

[loomixguy]

Not trying to highjack this, but when we had our house moved we installed a new metal roof and hardy board siding. We watched the Menard's, Home Depot, and other flyers, and we got the heaviest gauge metal roofing material made in the color we wanted cheaper than what asphalt or fiberglass shingles would have cost, and the siding we got was cheaper than vinyl.

Love love love the metal roof. And it goes up way faster than shingles. Three guys began tearing the old shingles off at 8am and had the new roof completely on before 4pm with an hour lunch. Our roof is pretty fair sized and would have taken probably 16-18 squares of regular shingles to do it. We have potential for plenty of hail here, and with the metal roof & hardy board siding, our house insurance premium actually dropped.

 

[Wyoming Wind]

I love seeing all your pictures, especially this time of the year. Reminds me that spring is happening elsewhere and will eventually get here! I love the pics of the twins---I myself am a twin and occasionally I email this pic to my twin brother for fun

 

[leanin' H]

I am like BMR. I love to see the pictures of Sparky's shop just to see the cool signs, decorations and contraptions his talented hands have built! Other than that, i am nothing like BMR! :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

We are going to putting a new steel roof on our place shortly. Hope it turns out as nice as yours. Thanks for the update.

 

[Soapweed]

Thanks for the nice comments. I missed a great photo opportunity a couple days ago. A cow had just dropped a brand new baby on the top of a knoll, and was standing there licking the calf. Her afterbirth and cleanings were hanging, blowing in the wind, about two feet wide from her tail to the ground, and it was a beautiful reddish orange color. I was on my Ranger with the cow sky-lined on the hilltop. As usual, I reached into my shirt pocket like a tobacco aficionado groping for a cigarette. Pulling out my camera, I tried to take a picture. Alas, realization struck that I had taken the card out of the camera to download pictures, and it was with great regret when realization hit that I had forgotten to put it back in. The picture could very well have been an award winner. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

As for the steel roofing, we love it. Back in 2001, the original part of the house had two layers of asphalt shingles, but was in need of new shingles. We ended up putting the steel roof on top of the two layers of shingles. The roofing was put on in June of 2001, and on July 25th of that same year a horrendous hailstorm went through. It riddled our vinyl siding, but did very little damage to the steel roof (which was cushioned by the two layers of shingles). The original steel put on 13 years ago is still in good shape.

We have not had much success with vinyl siding. Steel costs more but it has a much longer life expectancy.

 

[Soapweed]

I love seeing all your pictures, especially this time of the year. Reminds me that spring is happening elsewhere and will eventually get here! I love the pics of the twins---I myself am a twin and occasionally I email this pic to my twin brother for fun

Wyoming Wind, that is a cool picture of the twins. Congratulations on you being a twin. Twins undoubtedly have twice as much fun growing up.

 

[littlejoe]

lotsa neat "story pictures"

on the leg back deal, a small toilet plunger works good--put over calfs nose and you just got a skinny handle in the way, instead of an arm.

on tin, if you take your time measuring and get it precut, you got no waste and no cutting. my brother measured up a roof with 14 different lengths--all the scrap and trim was about an arm load--he was getting a heavier than normal guage and having it delivered right from wherever they make it--

on costs shingles vs tin, my kid moved to glendive and found a nice house but it needed a roof to meet loan specs, told him I'd provide that---us and his inlaws went down and put shingles on in a weekend, stripping old ones off---about 2500--3000 sq feet, but inlaws brought 2 grown boys and they were hands~~I told him I'd go for tin, but he thought shingles fit the house and neighborhood better and that they wouldn't be there too many yrs anyhow---think it cost me at least $2500 and tin woulda been about double? but all for material, no labour cost, so spose they'd be closer if labour was factored in--we put 'snow and ice' underlayment under whole damn thing---which ain't even recommended---and ran costs up several hundred dollars---to keep peace in the family..

 

[Faster horses]

This was one fun and interesting thread!!!! Including what's on the walls in Sparky's shop........

 

[Justin]

well it looks like you all don't have to go far to finding something to do.
that's better than looking for work. :wink:

 

[Red Barn Angus]

A couple of years ago a bad hail storm ruined my shingle roof and a new one had to be put on. I asked my contractor to give me a bid for both metal and comp shingles. I had one layer of shingles on the roof. His bid was only $120 more for the metal, the reason being they did not have to remove the old shingles so there was around $2,000 of labor I didn't have to pay for. I really like the metal roof and think it looks nice as well. The insurance company reduced my premium around $300 a year which was good but you have to sign an agreement that you will not put in a claim if hail comes later and puts small dents in the metal roof. Only if the roof is leaking and not sound will they replace it so there are some pros and cons. I do like the metal roof.

 

[Silver]

Nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof to mark the end of a dry spell

 

[Soapweed]

Nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof to mark the end of a dry spell

Regretfully, with two layers of asphalt shingles under the steel, we can't hear the soothing sound of rain on the roof.

 

[Big Swede]

I recently signed one of those waivers too on my new barn. That's something new and I know first hand why insurance companies do that now. About 4 or 5 years ago we built a 60X120 pole barn to store equipment. Within a month of completion there was a hail storm that put tiny little dents in the steel. The insurance company wrote me a check that nearly paid for the whole building. I was shocked but gladly deposited the check. Only problem was I built that building for a tax deduction so I had to build a barn too! :shock: :lol:

 

[cowboykell]

Great pics as usual. I've been told that if you calve in May, out on green grass, that cow with the leg turned back would have calved unassisted!!!!! :lol:

 

[Justin]

about 7 years ago we put steel on the roof(on top of shingles) and hardy board siding on our house. very happy with both. the siding still looks the same as it did the day we put it up.

 

[Big Swede]

Great pics as usual. I've been told that if you calve in May, out on green grass, that cow with the leg turned back would have calved unassisted!!!!! :lol:

I assume that one was pointed at guys like me. Since I started calving on grass we've had about 2500 unassisted births and no cow fatalities. Not saying it can't happen but it hasn't happened.

 

[Soapweed]

Back to the steel roof - There was a young family that came to our church. The dad was a fair kind of carpenter, and was looking for work. One Sunday, I invited them out for dinner, and told him if he was interested in putting steel on top of our house that the job was his. We ate dinner, and measured the house in the afternoon. He didn't seem to be taking any notes, so I asked, "Don't you need to write these figures down?" "No, I'll remember," was his response.

A couple weeks later he pulled into our yard with a hired helper and a big flatbed trailer full of steel. They no more than got started, before we all realized the steel was four inches too short. He was doing some building at his own place, so took the load back to use there. He re-ordered more steel, and did a satisfactory job installing it at a later date.

Fast forward a couple years. My son Sparky was still living on our ranch and helping in the hayfield. One evening, this carpenter brought his flatbed trailer out for Sparky to work on. I wandered down to the shop to check out the project, just as Sparky was about to cut a piece of steel. I said, "Remember, measure twice and cut once." The carpenter laughed and said, "That's pretty good. Where did you learn that?" I responded, "From watching you." It wasn't quite as funny then, but he still smiled.