Welcome to 2016!
I can't believe it's already mid-January in the year 2016. The time continues to fly by. It's a good cold day here in southwest Wisconsin. The cattle and horses are fed and we've had a pretty decent winter so far. I finally have a few minutes to update our blog and our website.
We sold our calves from last year the first week in November. We didn't do terrible, but the prices weren't what they had been earlier in the year. I think we knew it wouldn't last, but there is always that hope that they would stay up just a little bit longer. We had a few late calves that we have weaned now and are staying in the arena for the winter months. We are hoping to get some additional weight on them. We have two head that we will sell closer to spring when they are bigger.
We replaced our Nelson waterer with a JUG waterer and added an additional 4-hole waterer that handles two different pastures. It has reduced our electricity bills and the need for hauling out the water hoses every other day. The Nelson waterer was too much maintenance and difficult to work on. So far the JUG waterers have not had any issues. Last night the one had some ice in it, but it was well below zero and the wind was hitting it pretty strong. I'm not looking forward to the mud in the spring as we didn't get a chance to get the lawn seeded down from digging in the new water line before frost.
We decided to increase the crazy factor of our day-to-day life. I lost my Australian Shephard in 2014 when she was 16 years old. We decided we had waited long enough to replace her and we got two Australian Shephard puppies. A brother and sister from the same litter. We have named them Duke and Daisy. We are looking forward to training them for cattle work in the future. For now we are focusing on potty training and the basics. It seems they already have selective hearing when we are outside, apparently they are born with that.
We are up to 20 head of horses now. The foals are all weaned and back out with the herd. We waited until they were a little older this year and just finished the weaning process last week. This year went much more smoothly than last year and we haven't had any serious injuries. We of course continue to learn as we go, and there is always the unexpected incidents, but we have been fortunate so far and are very grateful for all we have learned and continue to learn. I'll be starting the five 2-year olds and working on finishing the two 5-year olds. I'm hoping to do a bit more showing this year and competing in some shows. This year I have some big goals for myself and the horses we have. I'm looking forward to the challenge and changes that are ahead.
Here is to a new year, it's new challenges and new goals to reach for.
We sold our calves from last year the first week in November. We didn't do terrible, but the prices weren't what they had been earlier in the year. I think we knew it wouldn't last, but there is always that hope that they would stay up just a little bit longer. We had a few late calves that we have weaned now and are staying in the arena for the winter months. We are hoping to get some additional weight on them. We have two head that we will sell closer to spring when they are bigger.
We replaced our Nelson waterer with a JUG waterer and added an additional 4-hole waterer that handles two different pastures. It has reduced our electricity bills and the need for hauling out the water hoses every other day. The Nelson waterer was too much maintenance and difficult to work on. So far the JUG waterers have not had any issues. Last night the one had some ice in it, but it was well below zero and the wind was hitting it pretty strong. I'm not looking forward to the mud in the spring as we didn't get a chance to get the lawn seeded down from digging in the new water line before frost.
We decided to increase the crazy factor of our day-to-day life. I lost my Australian Shephard in 2014 when she was 16 years old. We decided we had waited long enough to replace her and we got two Australian Shephard puppies. A brother and sister from the same litter. We have named them Duke and Daisy. We are looking forward to training them for cattle work in the future. For now we are focusing on potty training and the basics. It seems they already have selective hearing when we are outside, apparently they are born with that.
We are up to 20 head of horses now. The foals are all weaned and back out with the herd. We waited until they were a little older this year and just finished the weaning process last week. This year went much more smoothly than last year and we haven't had any serious injuries. We of course continue to learn as we go, and there is always the unexpected incidents, but we have been fortunate so far and are very grateful for all we have learned and continue to learn. I'll be starting the five 2-year olds and working on finishing the two 5-year olds. I'm hoping to do a bit more showing this year and competing in some shows. This year I have some big goals for myself and the horses we have. I'm looking forward to the challenge and changes that are ahead.
Here is to a new year, it's new challenges and new goals to reach for.