Feels like fall -

The end of the summer has brought plenty of craziness to our world. A normal year and we'd most likely be done with hay for the year - not this year! The guys are about half way through cutting 4th - and there is still some 3rd in the field. It seems to call in the rain every time it is about ready to bale. Our cows will get to enjoy that hay. The fun of farming.

A few of our highlights from the last six weeks.

Towards the end of August I helped my mom put together a huge brunch - served a two locations - for my cousin Lexi's wedding. The wedding was in Walla Walla and since neither Lexi nor her husband are from Walla Walla visiting family and friends got housed at all the extended family's houses up in the Blue's outside of Walla Walla. One of my favorite stories was the husbands and dates of the bridesmaids. All the girls stayed in town the night before the wedding. The mother of the bride told the guys she had a place for them to stay in the mountains. These young men from Seattle and California translated this to one room cabin, no electricity, and definetely no plumbing - but they were game. Actually, they got to stay with my aunt & uncle who have a gorgeous log home complete with hot tub & big screen TV. Here's a couple pictures from the brunch on the front lawn. I think everyone enjoyed the weekend in Walla Walla, great wine & a lovely wedding.

Of course we had lots of moments in the field. Here's a picnic lunch, Sackmann style. Hay stacks make good shade. After we had lunch we all had a quick trip around the field - thank goodness for buddy seats.

We've gotten all the calves weaned, cows pregged, and waiting for corn harvest to get cows on cornstalks. The fall bulls are moved down to JR Ranch and started on a TMR to go through the winter. We're sending some spring bulls to the WCA Bull Test in Eltopia and we'll be retaining ownership on the remaining steers. Jeff is busy sorting through a very nice crop of heifers - some will stay home, some will be in the Fall Production sale and some get to go to the feedlot.

Last spring I had this "great" idea of putting together agricultural tours for medical students from PNWU in Yakima. Friend of friend situation we know the Dean and the school is focusing on getting students into rural and underserved areas - so we thought it would be a unique opportunity to share ag's story and expose students to rural people and jobs. We ended up doing two tours - seeing all the first & second year students. A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped. We visited Avila's Dairy, Rathbun Angus, Skone & Connors, Skone Irrigation, and Washington Potato. They hosted this group and did an awesome job of telling about their industry, business, and the people of agriculture. The Cattle Producers of Washington group graciously grilled US Beef for our BBQ's. And a special thanks to Aunt Jerri & Teresa who came to watch the kids while Jeff & I worked with the tours.

The week before the medical student tours I ended up having to have my appendix removed. All is well just threw a wrench in my plans for the next couple of weeks. On my follow-up the doctor told me I could cause myself trouble if I go home and crawl into bed for the next two weeks and don't do anything. Other than wonderful parents taking our kids (that I wasn't supposed to be lifting) we just continued on - oh and stay away from my sore belly!

The tour week also brought the Adams County Fair. They let the not quite big enough to show kids come "show" bucket calves. Molly is most excited to go down every year. Its a great, small, very family friendly fair. Here she is with the calf she named "Trouble". One of the other calves was entirely broke by the time the kids were done.

And another cow picture - while trying to take more sale catalog photos we caught this one. Some spring cows are in the front and up on the hill are the fall cows.

We are back into fall mode - the kids want to go to bed earlier and we're enjoying watching harvest all around us. The kids and I are back to going to MOPS and thinking about inside activities rather than just heading outside. We've got one litter of pigs, three more due in the next two weeks and pretty soon the fall heifers will start calving. On project to the next!!

On to 3rd Cutting

The guys finished 2nd cutting last Saturday and started 3rd on Monday. So much for getting other stuff done between cuttings! Oh well. Here's a stack of orchard grass/alfalfa mix in little bales and the Inland Tarp crew is getting it covered.

Calves are growing and looking good. All the fall calves are weaned. We gave pre-weaning shots to all the spring heifers this week. Spring cow preg check is scheduled and we're thinking about fall sales. More pictures and getting publications ready. Here's a picture of the heifer we will be offering in the Evergreen Sale in Kennewick on October 9th. Of course she didn't want to stand correctly by herself so her mom is in the background. Her mom will be available at the Fall Production Sale at JR Ranch on November 26th. We will also have a fall steer at the Evergreen that will fit those Spring show needs.

This is "440" she is a pathfinder dam and grand-daughter of OCC Backstop. She will also be offered at the Fall Production Sale in November. We'll be finalizing our sale list after spring preg check. The sale offering will include bred cows, bred heifers, and open (yearling) heifers. JR will again be offering a nice selection of prospect steers and planning to sell bulls that were too young to sell in this past spring's bull sale.

On the home front its been a busy month. Jeff's sister and brother-in-law were home from Oklahoma for two weeks. The kids enjoyed their aunt "Ju-Ju". Molly had two weeks of swim lessons followed by a week of VBS. For a group of kids that are usually pretty unscheduled (especially during the summer) three weeks of places to be everyday and lots of visiting family makes for a mom that is way behind on most everything else. I also applaud pre-school and kindergarten teachers because half a day with a small herd of 3 & 4 year olds was plenty for me! August looks not so crazy - but only time will tell.

Another adventure this past month was the Washington Farm Bureau's Young Farmer & Rancher Golf Tournament. THANKS to all of our sponsors! On my way West on a beautiful Saturday morning Mt. Rainer greeted me as I crested Ryegrass. When we got to the Druids Glen Golf Course in Covington, there our mountain was again. We undoubtedly live in a beautiful place.

Summer!

Now that it is the middle of July, second cutting is under way.

We had lots of rain in May and June. It was a blessing for our dry-land farmer relatives and friends but made a mess of our first cutting. Today, we are about three weeks behind normal "schedule". But we shouldn't have any water overage problems!


On the cow side, we've started to wean fall calves and are pulling bulls out of the spring cows.


We try to use as much fence-line weaning as possible. With our facilities that means weaning a number of small groups over time. Since we've been using this procedure as much as possible the last few years our problems at weaning have been very minimal.

Jeff got the world's {slowest} crew for working cows & calves the other day. Earlier this spring we had a circle crash. The rest of the {real} crew was working on getting the "new" circle going and a little group of pairs needed to be worked. So Jeff settled for a 4 1/2 year old, 2 17 month olds, and me to get 12 pair through the chute. We won't be able to hire out by the hour but everything got done and I don't think the kids learned any new words! At least good stories.

Most of the cows are happy out on lush green pasture. We're working on taking pictures getting ready for sales this fall. Our cows aren't train to stand with their legs just so, nor do they listen when we tell them to 'stop' in the previously mentioned pose. Mark your calendars for October 9 & November 27.

Happy 4th of July

Yes, I know it is July 7th - but I think this is a holiday we should appreciate, celebrate, and work to honor everyday of the year.

I admit - when I started this I planned to post at least once a month. Every month brings something different around here. Yet just to start - I've lost 3 months. In some ways 3 months is a record breaking pace. I usually figure two years on projects; unless they have a due date or are "on fire".

So I'll get some pictures off my camera and try again.

This has been a crazy spring. We didn't start 1st cutting until we are often done with it. So plenty of time for the kids to run away from my efforts of posed pictures.

This was taken the first week of June.

Bull Sale!

WOW! Thank you buyers & JR Ranch. What a wonderful group of people who put on a first class event. As always, bull sales mean lots of chatting, checking out cattle, and being on the seller side is certainly different than being on the buyer side. Lots of work for everyone all comes together and - what seems like may take forever - is over pretty quickly. Checked out our current calf crop this morning with yesterdays results in mind. Of course we are almost done calving for the year. The last 10 will take as long as the first 80 - we hadn't had a calf for over a week but we had a set of twins and a single yesterday. All is well and that's how it goes.