Archive for April, 2009
J2 Branding in Montana
I can try to attempt to describe the branding, but they always say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a few pictures that will do a far better job of explaining the adventure than my words ever could!
Still, the one thing that stood out in my mind today was just how neat it was to see family, friends, and neighbors all working so hard together… and if you look closely you might notice we were actually having a lot of fun. Now some may say, “yeah, you were having fun, but what about the calves?”
My response to that is: we had a fast and caring crew that made sure when a calf was on the ground, it was given the needed shots, delicer, and a quick brand. I have seen people willingly sit at tattoo parlors and body piercing places for much longer and deal with more pain than these calves did today.
Our greatest accomplishment for the branding was the fact that we had no injuries-—man or beast! Enjoy the show!
-Jess
No really, it’s Springtime!
– hard to believe it was snowing this morning! Green grass and
happy horses…things are looking good…oh and one happy dog…
Springtime in Montana (or not)
…It’s springtime in Montana! It was in the 80s two days ago. Now we are dealing with snow! Looks like it is going to clear off, and we’ll have a good day for branding tomorrow.
If you are wondering where I am at… I am on the ranch at Hathaway….along
Welcome to Hathaway, Montana
Today I finally made it to the ranch. I was welcomed by seeing two horses tied up at the hitching post! After hugging Mom and Dad, I put on my work boots and headed out with Dad. It was time to sort cow calf pairs and tag calves. As we made our way out to the pasture, Dad stopped along some bad fence. It was then I realized I was baited into first fixing fence before I was going to be able to ride! So after some fence fixing, we were on our way.
We spent the rest of the afternoon riding. I did have a bit of an adventure when the horse I was riding went to bucking right about the time I was working my rope on a calf. Fortunately I didn’t get bucked off. If I hadn’t stayed on, I would’ve just had to hang up my spurs in shame. About all I can say about this day: it’s great to be in Montana and working under the Big Sky!!!
The future of farming and ranching
Need some good news for the weekend and the week ahead as Congress prepares to return to business next week?
Look no further than the latest interview in Newsweek magazine. Rana Foroohar recently interviewed Jim Rogers, American investor and financial commentator.
Ms. Foroohar asked Mr. Rogers several questions about the current and future state of the market and economy.
Her questions, “Are we going to see another food-price spike sometime soon?” sparked a response I hope can be equivocated to ranchers!
Mr. Rogers responded with: “Definitely. I think you should move back to Indiana and marry a farmer. There are times in history when the money lenders have been in charge, and we just came through one of those periods. But it wasn’t always that way. Wall Street was a backwater in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and it will be again. Farmers are going to be the ones driving Lamborghinis, and the traders are going to have to learn to drive tractors.”
You can read the full article by clicking here.
Here’s to a good weekend, and here’s to Mr. Rogers’ words being prophetic for ranchers!
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