We try to do things together as a family, especially ranch activities. During the school year this can be challenging, but we still try to squeeze in a few things that involve all six of us.

One of our more common outings is checking cattle in the fields close to our house. Right now, we have some young cows in these fields. Most of these cows arrived at our ranch about ten days ago.

They came from Texas and were a little thin when they got here, but are filling out fast. We are excited about these young cows, they fit nicely into our main herd and seem to be adapting to life in Idaho quite well.

Yesterday’s outing involved two parents, four kids and three dogs. A typical crew for our family outings. This time, however, we (that would be the boys of the family) thought it would be fun if we took Ol’ Whitey for a spin.

Meet Ol’ Whitey:

I love these old pick-ups. They remind me of pick-ups my Dad had while I was growing up. No power steering, windows that must be manually wound up or down, the standard four-speed transmission, and A/C is regulated by how far you want to roll down your window.

My husband and I both shared stories with our children about riding in pick-ups similar to this one while we were growing up. We were both laughing and telling our kids how much fun it was to bounce across the field with our Dad.

It was then that my right leg fell asleep. Next, the back of my three year old’s head ricocheted off of my chin.

My kids were grinning from ear to ear as we bounced across the field. Me? I was thinking fondly of the four door pick-up parked back at our house. The one with real shocks, plenty of leg room and a seat for everyone. I was about to ask if anyone else was having similar thoughts when I caught another glimpse of my kids’ faces. They were having a great time. We were together as a family. They love this old pick-up.

I figure this grin is worth a few aches and pains on my part.

Catching horses for today’s ride was the first order of business this morning. With a halter and grain bucket in hand we set off for the horse pen.

Today was Tinker’s turn to be pressed into service, but everybody wanted a nibble of grain. Some days it takes us longer to get out of the horse pen with our horse in tow than it does to saddle our horse and get to work!

I love it when the younger horses come up and ask for a bite of grain. We always take a minute to scratch them on the nose and remind them that us cowboys aren’t too scary.

Here comes Romeo for his fair share. Romeo has been on the injured reserve list for a couple of weeks. He is quickly recovering from an abscess on his shoulder. He should be back to work soon.

Once we got Tinker back to the barn, my husband spent a few minutes brushing Tinker and then saddled him up. Being the stellar (and mature) horse that he is, stood there patiently through the whole process.

He had no idea that all of this work was for one little boy who desperately wanted to go cowboying with his Dad.

My littlest cowboy rode Tinker all the way from the horse barn, through the corral, to the horse trailer.

My son was thrilled!

I was thrilled that this brief ride qualified as cowboying for him today.

When it comes to my three-year old I will take any success I can get!

The last couple of weeks have been spent receiving calves at the ranch. Calves that we have weaned from our own cows and heifers, plus calves that we have purchased.

When the calves arrive, they spend a few days quarantined at the feedlot. We like to give them a couple of days to adjust to a different feeding program and to make sure there isn’t any sickness among them. During this time we start all of them on our vaccination program. After they have adjusted, we move them out to pasture.

We run the calves in several different bunches, some are out on re-growth under the pivots and some are on crop aftermath. These smaller herds are rotated frequently from one field to the next and they all receive mineral supplement to meet their dietary needs. Each morning they are fed hay and a little grain, then are left to graze for the rest of the day. During feeding and again in the late afternoon, the cowboys check that all of the calves are healthy and eating.

These calves are en route to our neighbor’s field to graze corn stubble. We moved them first thing this morning, hoping to avoid too much traffic on the road. We still managed to cause a minor traffic jam for the hunters and silage trucks; fortunately they were all patient while we pushed calves through the gate.

It was a great way to start the day.