Provider: Ryan & Hope Pjesky
Profession: Farmers/Ranchers
Hometown: Goltry, Oklahoma

Winter 2006 Diary Entry

December 2006

December days are spent taking care of cattle and sheep.  In the winter, we check cattle every day.  We make sure they have water, feed daily, and keep hay bunks full.  We also check them and make sure they aren’t getting sick.  Some days it takes six hours and other days it takes less time to make the rounds. During rounds, we check and feed our cattle.  We also began buying more cattle.  We bought 130 head in a two-week period. 

The month of December started with the drought still in full effect.  But over the first days of the month, we experienced 6 to 10 inches of snow along with some very cold temperatures.  When we were in Oklahoma City for a meeting, the snow even caused the meeting to be partially cancelled.  December was very good for us regarding rain.  Much of our land received up to three inches of rain, which gives us hope for our wheat crop that we will harvest in June. 

At the end of each year, small businesses and farms must make decisions about year-end spending to reduce our tax burdens.  We chose to buy a couple things we needed.  We purchased a new gooseneck cattle trailer and a new grain auger.  Both things we have needed for a long time.  We also had our semi grain trailer refurbished where it was manufactured.  At the end of the month, we hired a crew to come and build new fence to replace some old fence that had become rundown. 

Holidays are very important to us.  The spirit of giving and family make it the best time of the year.  We spent Christmas with Ryan’s brother Rex, his wife Meredith, son Marshall (4) and daughter Miranda (almost 1).  Ryan is a big history buff, so he observed Pearl Harbor Day on December 7th by watching Tora! Tora! Tora! and rereading the book Dec. 7, 1941.

Hope also received word that she has been selected as the Eisenhower Fellowships 2008 Agriculture Fellow.  This means that she will spend 4 – 8 weeks in a foreign country in 2008 studying their agriculture.  We are optimistic about 2007 and looking forward to what it will bring. 

January 2007

The month of January has been really good here in northwest Oklahoma.  We have had moisture in the form of sleet and snow.  The ground actually got muddy after the snow melted.  We used the four-wheel drive in our pickups for the first time in many months.  This felt good after so many months of drought.

When it snows it creates a lot of extra work and expense for farmers with livestock.  The cold weather causes ice to build up on watering tanks.  We chop holes in the ice with axes so the cattle can drink.  When snow is covering up what the cattle are grazing, we have to haul a lot of hay to them.  Some days we put out up to 15,000 pounds of hay in addition to feeding 2,000 pounds of pelleted supplement.

Ice Buildup

We were able to buy more cattle this month.  Due to the moisture, we are confident that we will have plenty of pasture for them this spring.  We bought 185 cattle this month, and that brings our total to nearly 600 head of cattle.  That sounds like a lot but it is only about 60% of what we might have owned in a more normal weather year.

In January, as with other winter months, it usually takes most of the day to take care of the new cattle we have and make sure they are healthy.  Then the rest of the day is spent checking the cattle we have turned out on wheat pasture.  This involves driving
 about 60-65 miles each day.  We put out hay where needed and make sure the cattle are watered and within their fenced boundaries.  If everything goes well, we are done in 8 hours.

February 2007

The month of February was mostly very cold.  It dropped down to near zero many nights, and often didn’t get above freezing during the day.  This meant we spent a lot of time breaking ice on water tanks so cattle could drink.  The ice and snow cover also caused us to feed more pellets and hay to the cattle as the pasture they were eating was covered up by ice and snow.  This was both good and bad as the ice and snow brought needed moisture for the crops, but increased our costs by forcing us to feed more. 

We did get a brief, very enjoyable reprieve from the cold weather as we got to travel to Phoenix, Arizona for a conference of young farmers put on by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce.  During the trip, we toured a large dairy farm where they milk 9,000 cows twice a day – 200 at a time.  We also got to go to a John Deere construction equipment training school where they let us operate bulldozers, excavators, and huge earth loaders.  It was like being able to play with great big real toys, and Ryan had a lot of fun.  We also met several really great people from all over the country who are just like us – young farmers.

Just like the previous winter months, we bought and worked new cattle.  Each day is spent making sure they are healthy and where they should be.  We also helped our fence building crew remove ¾ of a mile of old fence and replace it with new fence.  We also put a new door on the front of our cattle-working barn.

Freezing Rain

I spent the last few days of February getting ready to have baby lambs.  When the babies are born, they and their mothers are put into 4-foot square pens for three days. This is so the lambs are warm, and so they can get strong before they go back out with the flock.  In late February, I get the pens ready, and I also make sure the feeders and water buckets are clean and ready for when the lambs arrive.

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