2025 So Far!

2025 has started with unusually warm weather, which has created opportunities to get some work done that we wouldn’t have had if the ground had been frozen. During the first few weeks of January, after morning feeding, Dad and I have been doing some light clean-up in pens, with him on the excavator and me on the tractor. We have also been working on managing groundwater. In a normal year, we would be figuring out where to pile up snow after we push it around. The last week or so has been dry with little rainfall, and the temperatures are finally dropping below freezing, which the cows enjoy. I often go out in the afternoon to feed big bales and find 15-20 full-grown ladies romping around, bucking, and playing with a few of the 5- to 7-month-old calves.

With everyone at the barnyard for the winter, these days are pretty repetitive. When I get to the ranch in the morning, Dad is just finishing up morning feeding. We have a couple of hours to do a task together before I start afternoon feeding while he works solo on another ranch task. I finish up afternoon feeding around dinner time, call it a day, then repeat the next day. Being on a ranch and working with livestock has many perks, one being that even with the repetitive structure of our workdays, there is often a fun new adventure waiting around every corner. There are always surprises, whether that is a hole in the barn floor that needs fixing or the long-awaited treat of gaining the trust and petting of a heifer that has always been hesitant to get close enough for a scratch behind the ears. The start of 2025 has been a treat. It seems like every year spent on the ranch is better than the last. We are constantly gaining experience and knowledge with animal handling and husbandry, which gives us confidence in the many daily decisions we make for our animals. We are also able to look back at the short history we have here on the property and marvel at how far we have come. We are so stoked to see what 2025 has in store for us!