calves – As Far As The Eye Can See

Mid May, 2025 – Bar MW Post

Its now Friday May 16th and I am pretty gripped by a big feeling of thankfulness. We are on our third day with rain, it is a humongous blessing. Tomorrow our friends arrive from Halifax to spend two weeks with us, doing what we do, we enjoy them, ranching is more fun when we get to experience it through their eyes and the senses of humor they bring. Here are a few glimpses of the developments around since I last posted.

We lease a chunk of land from the government that has an invasive weed on it called “leafy spurge.” We have sprayed this weed with chemicals in the past but it just came back. It was then decided that our next best option would be to graze sheep on it, sheep will happily eat leafy spurge. Last week we picked up the sheep we contracted to buy, and we are now shepherds!!! This picture is in the moments after we unloaded them. They will stay at home until we have the chance to get the right fence going at the pasture. Our dog “Coffee” seems to be thrilled with this new addition to the ranch, her genetics clearly have her as a sheep dog. She stands in the middle of them and just wags her tail. It is so cute. Yesterday I caught her in a stalking pose and wondered what she was up to, I had never seen her do that before. I looked a little more widely and saw what she saw, the sheep were out. She was about to round them up.

Anytime a few errands need to be done in Estevan it means a get away for Grandma Shirley and I. We always include a stop at Tim Hortons.

A couple weeks ago I was visiting with an old friend at a funeral lunch. I asked her about her renewed health, she told me about her gym routine. I have been wanting this for myself. I believe that strength training is the best way to get bone density and keep me ranching for a long time. I reached out to her and said, ” I haven’t talked myself into this yet, but if I do, would you help me get started at the gym?” She generously said yes. I am a complete newbie at this but she is so fun to spend time with at 5:30 in the morning. I am feeling really good about it. I didn’t see this coming.

Morgan’s friend Tad joined us for an evening round up on Friday last week. I believe the original plan was for him to come over so that he and Morgan could podcast. However, there was this job to do first and he good naturedly joined in. Tad is the cowboy on the road.

A beautiful evening sky with the cows just about in the gate. During the chase we discovered one of our calves had gone blind and was malnourished. These are hard moments. We are really lucky to have found that our cousins Jenn and Marty have the patience and interest to nurture calves like this one. For many years now we have called them when we have a calf that needs extra time that we just don’t have on an ongoing basis. They have so many success stories. Marty came from their acreage near Estevan to pick this calf up the day after we found it.

In this picture Clare is in the foreground. We were getting these cow calf pairs home to the yard pasture so that we could tag, brand and vaccinate them the next day.

This was a “branding” organized on short notice. Russ was getting anxious about the amount of grass we have at home so put a rush on getting cow calf pairs to summer pastures. We pulled together enough friends for a small group of calves to get branded on what was a very hot and windy afternoon. In this picture Russell has castrated, Laurie is preparing to brand, Clare has applied the “deadman” a collar that acts to restrain the calf and Cassia is juggling needles and taggers. I was guarding the opening to the calf pen. Maybe because of the extreme wind I was not too busy, the calves mostly stayed put so i was able to sneak close to get this picture.

Life is always better when Laurie is near.

Sunday brought a bigger herd and a bigger crew. Before we got going Cassia had a few moments to herself and she chose to sit with the calves. I thougth this might have been one of the cutest pictures I have taken this year.

In this moment I was not concerned about fashion and it shows. Morgan told me I look like Red Green. I am not exactly sure who that is but I know its not a compliment. Here is a selfie of me at my post on Sunday. On this day, with almost double the calves in the pen and alot more movement I was kept on my toes. It was fun.

On Saturday Morgan was the lone roper, on Sunday we had four ropers, with three working at a time, this is Trevor Gordon. He has roped a calf by both back heels and is dragging it to the area where Clare or Morgan will apply the neck restraint. This looks harsh. I was pretty on edge the first time I saw this practice at a neighbors branding a few years ago. At the time we were doing all this kind of work at our ranch with a tipping table as part of our chute system. It was slower, less fun and more monotonous. I have become okay with the method pictured here and the drag that is part of it. At the gym Kim has got me doing situps on an incline bench. She has it set very steep, I can only do a max of 4 at a time right now, but it feels so good to let gravity stretch out my back. I find myself thinking about that as these calves get a stretch. When all the treatments are done and the rope is released they pop up and go to find their Moms, showing no sign of harm. After a short truck ride they will have an entire summer at their Mama’s side under the prairie sky. They thrive on Mama’s milk, green grass and sunshine, their vaccines protect them and they are much less likely to be stolen with that brand on them. I think about all that.

In this picture we have two stations going, Kenzie and Clare are applying the deadman restraints, Trevor and Tyce on horseback are keeping ropes tight as the calves get handled, Laurie is cleaning the iron and Cassia is enroute to the supply table to refill taggers. With three ropers the ground crew was kept very busy.

After the branding work was done and a snack was shared at our table the work of the ranch was waiting. Cassia stayed to help. Here she took a time of waiting around to check cows from a new viewpoint.

I got a message from my sister early on Sunday, saying she had her mind on the women in our lives as Mother’s Day dawned. She had her breakfast on this plate and remembered them. The plate is something I made for a Christmas gift. All four of us sisters have a copy now. As for us at the ranch, we had decided to delay celebrating Mothers Day as we were branding and just couldn’t do both well. However, Sunday night I took my plate to the grief support group I am co-leading, there was “homework”, bringing this to share was part of mine.

Wednesday morning brought with it rain. It was such a welcome sight. It meant for some wet conditions. I got called with a request to deliver dry gloves. This allowed a good close up picture of these two in the pasture.

We had decided to celebrate Mother’s Day by going out for lunch with Grandma Shirley on Wednesday. We figured we could really relax only after getting the newly branded calves and their Mamas to their pastures and that meant Wednesday was the day. When I was deciding what to wear I spotted some old t shirts in my closet. They were given to me for Christmas about 15 years ago. The black one says “Morgan’s Mama Bear” with a picture of a sherriff’s badge on it. The green one says “Jill’s Number 1 Mom” with a picture of a lion and Gina’s says “Gina’s Mom” with a picture of a dog. I decided to wear all three in layers and put a sweatshirt over top and then slowly remove layers as lunch progressed. But it didn’t quite go that way. Russ insisted on a photoshoot by the banner at the Flying M. It was fun.

It was heartwarming to have my Bronco full as Russ, Morgan, Clare, Shirley and I left the restaurant and headed to Jean’s ice cream stand. It was cold and rainy but we were celebrating. Afterwards we ate ice cream in the car, cruised around town and did an errand together. I loved it. We dropped Shirley off eventually and headed home. There was goofiness that resulted from the music we loved and this is when the following picture was taken. Russ was driving dramatically and Morgan was into it.

Later that day I entered my final distance to complete this Mother’s Day virtual challenge, something I signed up for in an attempt to honor my Mom by taking care of myself. It had some really nice perks to it and they will be sending me a medal in the mail.

The three days with rain and wind have meant there are puddles all over which is wonderful but also the cows gave been stirred up and not doing so well with their job of mothering. The crew found lots of troubles like cows and calves separated by fences. The calf pictured below was brand new and abandoned. Its ear was bleeding leading Russ to think that a coyote had been nibbling on it. When he and Clare found it he called me to prepare the dog room for the arrival of a cold wet hungry 600 lb calf. He carried it in and then had to sit down and rest. It is huge. Clare stayed in and took care of it. It needed the attention that Clare had for it.

The linoleum is hard for calves to stand on so when this calf, whom Clare named “Clifford the big red Calf,” started perking up Clare guided it out to the mat in the porch. This video shows it taking its first real steps.

A couple hours later the guys came to pick up Clifford and take her back to the pasture, not very optimistic that the Mama cow would seek and find it. It was quite a load for Morgan to take down the stairs, making me appreciate Russ even more for the trip up the stairs. This video shows Clare’s progress with Clifford and the trip out.

The following video documents the moments when it was discovered after lunch that Clifford was in fact not motherless. It was quite a good news story that “Costco” had come to claim Cliford.

It’s now Saturday evening as I write, this cattle move happened last night, a herd of cows and calves came home for branding tomorrow. It was a crazy move, cows were moving fast, things went wrong, things went right, it was all hands on deck and Clare was worth her weight in gold. I took this picture from my spot where I was perched to turn the cows west towards home.

I found this amusing….Judy Blume and Tanya Tucker were having a water break with Coffee dog.

A good picture of Clare hard at work.

This was taken this morning at the Regina Airport, the Fentons have arrived! A fresh chapter of our spring season begins. From Halifax to Regina by 10:05am local time. Quite a day for them.

Signing off from the Bar MW😘

Curtain Call

If you are a WordPress subscriber to the blog you will have already seen the link for this content in your email, under a different title. I have had a glitch with sharing on facebook and I am trying to get by it by duplicating the post and using a different title. Sorry for putting duplicated content in your email.

I am sitting in the Chopper K Auction Mart with Russ and Morgan. We are on hand to watch our calves sell. It is always a big deal to get to this day but with the market being very strong we have been holding our breath, hoping for things to keep until we got here.

The story of this day definitely starts with calving season. Here are a few pictures serving as reminders of the work of those days.

When the calves were small enough to sit on our laps.

A calf needed orthopedic help, Russ splinted with duct tape.

When the calves were small enough that Jill could throw one over her shoulder.

Many beautiful summer days and crisp fall ones, with a temporary return of winter for a week or so, got the calves a long way to being ready for sale day.

The predominant experience of recent days is gratitude. We have been experiencing mild weather. That can bring about some health challenges for a cow calf herd. We have been thankful to see ours remaining well. We worked closely with our animals over the last couple days with no injuries to report. I am always super grateful for that. We seem to have made it to sale day with markets holding strong. Gratitude.

Its the next day now…..our calves came into the ring and all blogging was finished.

It is always a little thrilling to hear Farren the auctioneer say, “we’ve got the Bar MW calves coming in next.” I don’t know how much of this is in my head and how much is real but it seems there is a particular feeling in the air at that point. It maybe arises from the fact that the buyers are engaged, we are on pins and needles, and we are proud.

We have a relationship with those calves. Its not the kind that makes me grieve when they are gone, this process stirs other things. I know I’m a bit of a whackjob but it’s like this huge drama unfolds every year at the ranch, there are so many roles and so much action. The calves are the heart of the action. After letting us know them through the vulnerability of their birthing days and all the ups and downs that follow, mostly ups for them, we watch them grow with a certain awe. In the fall they come home from summer pastures, our big cow chase crew has laid their eyes on each and every one of them. Alot of human and bovine protective instinct has been directed at them. Now, at the auction mart, as they enter the sale pen, it’s like the final scene at the Bar MW Ranch has taken place and this is their curtain call. They enter, and in our hearts we give them a standing ovation. After this they move behind and they are no longer ours. I don’t have grief, instead it seems gratitude for them is stirred.

The hours leading up to the sale held lots of action. This first set of pictures captures some of the faces and scenes as the herd came down the centre alley to be sorted.

Ron ran the gate that opened to the cows pen.

Laurie ran the gate that opened onto the heifer pen.

I ran the steer pen gate and a clicker counter.

We had a stunningly gorgeous morning to work. This was a huge contrast to last year when it was about -40 with the wind.

Russ sorted in the alley, he weaved some magic, at one point he was able to peel 8 heifer calves away from the pack and send them down to Laurie’s gate. This picture captures the moment when the cowboys had just advanced a fresh group of cows into the sorting area. It would quickly become less congested as cows moved out of the pack and Russ let them by to the gate where Ron was waiting to let them in.

This picture captures the cowboys after their big job of the day was done. Dwayne, Morgan and Crystal made sure we always had cows ready for the sorting pen. At this point they are helping to get the heifers moved around to the sorting pen again. We needed to decide which of these female calves we would keep instead of sell, so that they might become Bar MW cattle.

Amid great weather and markets we had another perk, a special visitor joined us this week. One of our Nova Scotia friends was here for several days. Crystal brought with her an abundance of humor, a heart the size of Texas, readiness for adventure, generosity and much appreciation for us.

I caught this picture of Crystal after she got off her horse.

After lunch and getting semis loaded Russ, Crystal and I got ready to go to Regina. Crystal had a plane to catch. The first leg of her journey was a ride with our wonderful trucker Harold. He gave her a glimpse of the semi experience. We followed him to the stop sign 5 miles west of us and then stole Crystal back. We left Morgan and Ron to load the last truckload.

We were relieved to get to Regina safely and with time to get supper before Crystal was due at the airport. Jill already had supper plans with friends, so we went to the same restaurant and admired her from afar. Russ and I found this comforting. (We recognize this is somewhat creepy🤭🥰).

After a quick hug with Crystal at the airport departures curb Russ and I got in the car and headed straight for the ranch. I am thankful our trip was very smooth. We were home and sleeping by midnight.

The next morning included farm jobs for all of us before getting to the auction mart to watch our calves sell.

We were connected virtually with Halifax, Carnduff and Regina while our calves were sold. In Regina Jill had the right mug for the day, and the timing of our calves selling lined up with her break at work. She was able to watch the first 100 sell. She sent us this picture.

I sat beside the sale pen for a bit while some of our calves sold. I needed one last good look at them. That allowed this closeup picture in the pen.

I was amused to hear Morgan’s spurs scraping against the stands. When I had a look at his boots I became obsessed with getting a picture of them. Those boots tell a story, and another one and another one and…..

So then I wondered about Russell’s boots. He had on his “go to town” boots.

And how about my feet? I found comfortable cowboy boots this summer and have been wearing them alot. I still struggle with whether I deserve to wear them when I don’t even know how to saddle a horse. Yesterday I noted something. At a point in the sale when the ring girl was struggling to get calves moving in the right direction I felt within myself the instinct and confidence to jump in that pen and get the job done. I stayed in my seat but my self concept clearly includes something that means I should wear the boots.

A celebration in the Chopper K Steakhouse, (attached to the auction barn) when we were all done selling. This is a pretty sweet moment. It was a bit of a tough fall for our marriage. We are finding our groove again.

The current Bar MW home crew. A shared moment of relief and joy.

It’s our tradition to get a “Kim handing us the cheque” photo when we are on hand to watch our calves sell.

Russ and I were at the bank this morning. I usually do the banking but I wanted Russ to have the thrill of the deposit this time.

Hanging out with Boo-boo – 2021

Do you wanna hear just a little something random about life on the ranch? We are bottle feeding a calf again. In a way its no big deal, many calves all over this country get a bottle fed start. This calf is kind’ve special to me though. You see this calf was a twin, born last week to our cow named Sofi.

Sofi’s birth announcement. Russ knew that word about Sofi would be special to me.

Sofi didn’t embrace the challenge of raising two calves herself and left one for us to raise. This is quite common with calf twins. When we began to suspect this was the case Russ sent Morgan to saddle up and tour the pasture looking for the 2nd calf, who was not with Sofi. He found it, roped it, stood over it with his horse and called Jill to come pick it up. Jill and Morg loaded it into the jeep and Jill started home, enroute she noticed that the calf had super perky ears which meant that it had a Batman silhouette. Jill sent a message to the family chat, “I think we should call it Batman” and included a picture of those perky ears. I could see Jill’s point but I had already been considering a name and had a different idea.

When you spend regular time with a creature making sure they have a name is quite important. We talk to and about our bottle fed calves multiple times a day and we get alot of affection going for them so having a name for them just seems natural. On any given day in June you heard these words at our ranch “whose turn is it to feed Bob?” “how did Bob do with his bottle?” “man Bob is a bottle hog, he just guzzles it down”, “good morning Bob, how was your night” “do you like my singing Bob?” A name is essential and we like our calves names to reflect some part of their reality. Bob, our previous bottle fed calf got his name from a Canadian folk song. The song is about the experiences of Jesus’ unknown brother Bob. The cow who birthed Bob was named Mary, she had twins and took well to one and not the other. We figured Mary the cow would keep “Jesus” and the forgotten calf would therefore be Bob. Its a comical song by “The Arrogant Worms,” you can look it up on Youtube. Anyways, we take some care to find the right name for the calves we tend closely. So I answered Jill’s message to the family chat, “I see why, but I am wondering about Boo-boo.”

I got my way. The family actually all quite liked that name.

But why Boo-boo? Well, exactly 30 years ago this month I had this huge adventure with friends named Sofi and Andrew. We were assigned to go ahead of our Up With People cast, get on a plane in Toledo, transfer in Chicago, fly to Stockholm and then make our way to an island between Sweden and Finland called Aland. We would settle in there and do all the advance work for the arrival of the cast four weeks later. I had never left North America or been immersed in a language other than french. It was quite an amazing time where at the age of 23 I started to feel quite grown up. Our team worked hard and got the job done, but of course there was lots of learnings. One really important learning that I had came from working with Andrew.

He was a super energetic and charismatic person who didn’t do things the same way as I did. Is there a Canadian way of doing presentations and connecting with people? I am not sure. There was a Kathy way at the time. Andrew had a different way. I remember struggling with it, thinking it was not “correct”. The beauty of a four week term of close collaboration and teamwork with a clear end goal is that we got to see the outcomes of our varied efforts. Quite clearly I had been wrong. Over the weeks I watched Andrew weave his magic. I came away with a super important learning, that there are many different ways to be, that we are all gifted in ways that we must honor, that the world is better when we don’t all fit into a mold. That feels like common sense now, something we see on social media memes and nod in agreement with. I think the urgency of that is different though when something pretty big is at stake. For us in 1991 it was can we build a network here? Can we sell these tickets? Can we find homes for 110 cast members? Can we create a meaningful schedule for this cast visit? It was a challenge to let go and let be, to trust that our diverse ways would lead to greater success. They did.

Andrew, Sofi and I featured in a newspaper article about our work and the upcoming visit of Up With People.

Sofi, myself, our sponsors and Andrew after the casts final performance.

What I learned in such a vivid way was really important.

I got thinking about this learning in these last days. I have been hanging pretty close with Boo-boo the calf. It was my job to fight the good fight and get him adjusted to bottle feeding.

Here I was celebrating getting a full bottle in on our first episode of feeding together.

This time in Boo-boo’s presence has given me time to think about so many unfolding things. I found myself wondering if my days and weeks with Sofi and Andrew planted the seeds that allowed me to go on and committ my life to Russell. How is it that I found my way clear to marry someone who forges his own path, fits no molds and has gifts that I never thought I was looking for? I see a connection, not a direct line but a solid line between this vivid learning of 1991 and what I would say “I do” to in 2000. It makes me realize how fruitful it is to let ourselves get outside our comfort zone, be challenged and receive the blessings within those times. That makes me wonder about what kinds of seeds are being planted right now as we live in this terribly uncomfortable space of drought times. I believe that as hard as this is, somehow, working within us and alongside us God will wrestle good out of this, despite the barren looking ground there are seeds of good being planted.

Perhaps only one question remains for tonight. Why name the calf Boo-boo? Pretty simple really. Andrew had a commonly used nickname, it was Boo-boo. Almost exactly to the day, 30 years later, I had the chance to experience another story where the main characters were Sofi, Kathy and Boo-boo and I jumped on the chance. Our whole family is enjoying getting to know Boo-boo. I am not surprised. The original Sofi and Boo-boo did great things together too!

About Boo-boo’s future……our hope with bottle fed calves is to be able to adopt them onto Mama cows who have had a calf that dies. Russ is pretty successful with what he calls his adoptions. That is what happened with Bob. We fed him in the barn for a couple of months before Freckles had the troubles and lost her own calf. The development of affection between Bob and Freckles has been slow. Imagine birthing a 100 pound calf and a day later having a 150 pound calf ambitiously feeding from you. Freckles was not thrilled. At this point in our calving season, with only five cows left to calve it is not likely that we will need Boo-boo for an adoption. Anything is possible but hopefully things are smooth for the rest. In that case we have a really tender hearted and ambitious friend lined up to take Boo-boo home. She enjoys having bottle fed calves and has the heart to deal with whatever challenges a calf might bring with it. We on the other hand are stretched and stressed, especially this year. Boo-boo is going to have a better year hanging out with Jennifer.

And now for something fairly ridiculous. This shirt is one of the last souvenirs I bought during my year in UWP. It was never a fancy shirt but it was made of beautiful fabric that draped nicely and felt so soft and good. I have never seen another shirt like it. I have worn it with fancy scarves and jewellery and made very good use of it, but not anymore. Now, worn as it is, it sits in my closet waiting for just the right work day. My feeling is that these are the days for this shirt. The wacky sentimental and perhaps nonsensical part of me thinks that if I am striving to keep Boo-boo fed I best have my Up With People shirt on. So multiple times over the last week I have put it on for and taken it off after a feeding, saving it for the next time. It has made me happy.

And thats one of many things that went down on the Bar MW ranch this week, its probably the most lighthearted one. Thanks for sharing it with me.