Provider: Scott Wiley
Profession: Rancher
Hometown: Musselshell, MT

Winter 2011 Journal Entry

Hello from the Bull Mountains of Montana. Things here are starting to get busy as our spring calving cows are starting to calve. The winter has been cold and long for us. We had -26 degrees for two nights in a row this last week with some snow and wind. It is not a good time to be born. It has warmed up some but it only takes a few minutes in cold weather for a new born calf to freeze to death. Therefore we have to keep an eye on the cows, even through the night, so that we can take any new born into the barn and keep them warm. Nights can be short and days can get long since it is only my wife and I here on the ranch. Our days consist of making sure all of the animals get food and water, which can be a job in the real cold days, and keeping watch over the cows that are calving. Most of our cows calve in the fall when the weather is a lot warmer, so it is way less work for us. Those cows now have 6 months old calves on them, so they can stand the cold but they still need to be fed every day.

Every winter here, we have flocks of wild turkeys that show up and spend the winter with us. Right now we have about 200 of them hanging around the house. They come in for two reasons, to eat any livestock feed that gets spilled and to get away from predators. You might think that they are domestic birds if you drove into the yard because they are all around us and they get pretty tame. Coyotes still come in and get some of them. They roost up in the tops of pine trees at night. Right at dark they all go to the same trees and fly up to the top and spend the night where they are safe. When spring comes, they all of a sudden disappear and we won't see very many of them until winter comes again.

We also raise Pembroke Welsh Corgies. They are a small, long herding dogs that originated in Wales where they were used to herd sheep. Ours are very good at herding cows and being our ranch help. They go almost everywhere with us. I usually have 4 copilots helping me feed the cows with the feed truck. We had a litter of puppies born in December that have all gone to their new homes. We really enjoy having the puppies, they are so much fun for the short time that they are with us. The worst part of having them is taking them to their new homes. Their new owners usually keep in touch with us and send us pictures and updates on the puppies.

Mandy, my daughter, is as usual gone more than she is home, so she is not much help. She is involved with Future Farmers of America, Business Professionals of America, 4-H, and is also in band at school. She is always going somewhere for some competition. Today is in Helena, our state Capitol, with her government class learning about the legislature. Tomorrow she has to go to  Cascade Montana for an FFA competition, then on to Conrad Montana for another FFA event the next day. It is terrible to have to use Facebook to keep up with your daughter who lives in your house!!

Well, enough for now, I can see a cow starting to have her baby out the window so I better get back out to work.

 

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