May is a beautiful time of year with songbirds singing, grass greening, and new shiny waxy looking leaves adorn the trees. Have you been invaded by songbirds yet this spring? We have a healthy population of Beuck Wrens and have heard a few Canyon Wrens singing. I saw an Oriole one morning, but I think he moved on as I have not seen him since. The Redtail Hawks are nesting in the cliffs again so they will be fun to watch.

I am afraid the cherry trees got in a bit of a hurry so we will probably have no cherries again this year. The apple trees did not winter well, so they may not be able to bear much fruit even if the blooms happen to survive the cold. Boy howdy, that heavy snow in November really took a toll on our cedar trees. Lots of cedars all throughout the pasture have broken branches and limbs pulled down to the ground.

Meanwhile back at the ranch we are almost done calving, one cow to go. It has been a good calving season with Valerie and I only helping one first calf heifer. The pull was not a hard one but Valerie and I sure got our workout! I feel like we might be better suited to calving cows only and leaving the heifers to be calved by younger cowboys and cowgirls with full use of their hands, arms and legs. I was able to get the cow into the corral without too much difficulty. Then I went to the house and got my No. 1 ranch hand, my wife Valerie, to assist me. She worked the cow into a corner so she would have to stop for a quick moment. When the cow stopped Valerie quickly grabbed a foot of the calf being delivered and rolled the loop of the calving chain from her wrist on to the calf’s front foot. Then quickly hooked the chain with a pulling handle and held on as the cow towed her around the corral a couple laps. Now picture in your mind Valerie stumbling along behind the cow trying to keep tension on the calving chain in a downward direction. To do this Valerie is walking along in a semi crouched position. But keeping up with the cow and trying not to trip and fall. I meanwhile am walking along without my cane as rapidly as I can muster, trying to catch up with the cow and Valerie procession bringing a second chain and handle with hopes of snaring the other front foot of the calf.

 Finally the cow laid down and strained, I catch up and we get the second foot caught. The cow strained again, I pulled, Valerie pulled, and the calf was born. The cow then decided she was tired and cannot get up so Valerie drug the calf up under the cow’s nose and steps back trying to catch her own breath. The calf bawled and shook its head. Mama cow cleaned it up and dried the calf off. Then she got up when the calf began trying to get up and really caught mama’s attention. The calf stumbled around until it found the milk supply and began nursing. Life is good.

We have had a couple surprise black and white paint calves. They sure are cute but out of Angus bulls they were supposed to be all black. We also have one that is so short legged he can run right under the mother cow.  But he is growing rapidly and is already blending in with the other calves. He is absolutely adorable!

Come ride along with me as we check cows at calving time and find precious little, Tiny. (Note; With the rapid rate that Tiny is growing, I completed the poem as though fall was already here and we knew how all the calves had grown out.)

Corriente Cross Cutie

She was a black and white paint heifer,

Fixin’ to have her first calf.

I had close eye on her,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               RReady to help on her behalf.

I found her already calved,

She was grazing by the creek.

I finally found her calf,

Already nursed but kind of weak.

I watched them through the day,

To be sure that he ate.

Toward evening I gave him a drench,

Felt I could no longer wait.

By next morning he was up and going,

His condition better and not worse.

He was so cute and tiny,

He had to stretch up to even nurse.

With a background of Corriente blood,

He was born without trauma,

And when he got the zoomies,

He could run right underneath his mama.

But he had the growthy gene,

At nursing he was never late.

As time edged on through summer,

He really put on the weight.

Any worry that he might not do well,

Proved an unfounded fear.

By fall our little cutie,

Was our number one gaining steer.