"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday".....Except that it's actually a Wednesday....so my best laid plans for using the Billy Joel title won't work. It is, however, nine o'clock and the usual crowd is here at the ranch, Miss Elizabeth, me, the new puppy, and fourteen wailing mama cows. And they ARE wailing mama cows tonight.
It started early this morning, and they suspected something was amiss when I gathered them all into the pens for inspection. I usually just head out to the pasture, throw out a few range cubes to entice them to gather up, and use that as my opportunity to look them over. Sometimes I'll mix up some fly spray and take care of that little task as well, and for the most part everyone cooperates. But, this day was going to be both different and traumatic....for them.
For the last six months or so, these cows have had constant companionship. Their calves started arriving in late February, and with the exception of one straggler who didn't show up until May, they were all on the ground by the end of March. I'm still not sure about that straggler...or her daddy who must have sneaked in and taken advantage of one of my cows when no one was looking. Note to self.....better fences needed along the East pasture.
Anyway, today was the day the calves were loaded up and hauled to a neighbor's facility a few miles away where we vaccinated, branded and tagged each and every one of them. From there they will matched with other calves, separating the steers and heifers, and getting all of them ready for either the sale barn, or retained as replacement heifers. I have a three that will be returned after weaning, for a life of raising babies here on the ranch.....but not tonight, and tonight I'm paying the price.
All afternoon, the cows have been walking the fences searching for the missing calves, and all the while bellowing like it's the end of the world. I guess for them, it might seem like that, but they don't talk much to me about those sensitive subjects. We'll have a few days of this until they finally settle down and get on with life....and I can get on with an uninterrupted night's sleep.
It's just the business cycle we go through each year. The cows have all been bred back and will, in all likelihood, have new calves in the spring when we will start the process all over again. I much prefer the calving season to the weaning season....seeing the new calves nursing for the first time, and taking those first few faltering steps is far more rewarding than separating the mamas and babies. I think the cows might agree....but what do I know.
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