Due to some technology fail in my office, I had the amazing opportunity to work from home for a couple days this week. It made me giggle because I was out in the middle of a field sending office related e-mails, I bet my great grandparents never planned on that happening, lol.
My Dad asked me to move salt today. I always make sure to bring a rifle with me, in case something bad happens or I see a coyote. We have a bad problem with coyotes eating our calves.
My Dad told me he had a job for me to do today. He wanted me to change the salt our cattle have access to, from block salt to bagged salt. We change from block salt to bag salt in the winter because this bag salt offers more trace minerals than the block salt. Our ranch in the valley is deficient in copper and selenium. This deficiency can make our cattle work a little harder than we like, so we supplement them to make sure they are in the best health possible.
This is the bag salt we use – see all the awesome minerals in it? It equals happy cows!
I had to stop and pick up trash someone threw from the road. This is the bane of cattle rancher’s existence, please don’t litter!
My Parents have been really great about getting me more involved with the Ranch lately. Since I started going to therapy for my anxiety, I’ve been getting to the root of it and a major part of my anxiety is, surprise! the Ranch. I have watched my Parents struggle to keep this ranch in production, they’ve had to battle estates, family, bad feed years, bad weather years, neighbors, the government, attorneys and our own naivety. My whole life, so it’s no wonder I am so attached to this place. We’ve worked hard for it.
My crew for the job, Hoot, Ranchie and Jinx.
Until this point, all of my life experiences and education has been to benefit this Ranch. My Ag degree, jobs off the farm, jobs on other farms, law school, friends, clubs, have all be cultivated to give me as many tools as I can have to help ensure the success of the Ranch. Now that I am an adult and I’ve started articulating this to my Parents, they have opened up. They are letting me do things by myself, or with my crew. Not only have I been working with the animals more, I’ve been involving myself with the business side of the Ranch. I’ve been putting my off the farm experience to good work. And the whole family is starting to feel better. It’s glorious when we all work together.
The view of Ranch headquarters from the field.
I had to first go to the “Adobe” field to get the tire that was made into a salt trough. Ranchie helped.
We then drove to the “Gob 80” field, where the cattle are, to exchange their block salt for bag salt.
This is what the bagged salt look like.
The cows were hiding from me – can you see them through the trees?
I wanted to get some pictures of the cattle for you, but they were being shy. They had crossed the creek and went into another field. I was tempted to try and cross that creek and get you some pictures, but there is a lot of water in that creek right now. I’ve been doing so well with not breaking anything, or getting anything stuck, I just didn’t want to chance it. One of the most embarrassing things is having to walk back to the house and get someone to pull you out.
It’s one of the most gratifying moments of my life when I am able to tell my Parents, that I did what they told me to do, without problems. And that is what I did today.
Two things.
1: You should tell your cattle to wash themselves with Head & Shoulders, it’s got Selenium in it.
2: For a story about Salt, I didn’t notice any mention of Tequila and Lemon in it.