We had a few calves to brand last week, so we invited a few friends out to help. Branding is always a fun event; the cowboys enjoy the roping and camaraderie. It’s a slow-paced day, our goal is to keep the cows and calves calm. The calves are vaccinated and branded in short order, then quickly returned to their mama.

It was a cold and windy day so my three year old stayed warm in the front seat of my husband’s pick up. Apparently he had a grand time in there. When my husband climbed in his pick up to come home, the windshield wipers turned on at full speed, the radio was blaring, and there was an avalanche of papers scattered across the front seat. I told him he should be grateful the containment area was only the cab of his pick up; most days the only boundary for our three year old’s small-scale disasters are the walls of our home. Or the garage. Or the fence around our yard. Or…

This morning we gathered a large field of cow-calf pairs and brought them to a small holding pen where we could sort them into different groups. We sorted out the cows that didn’t have calves this year (dry cows). The older cows were sorted into a different group; they have high nutrition requirements and by keeping them together it is easier for us to make sure they get the nutrients that they need.

Have a look at this photo, please.

Do you happen to notice anything interesting in it?

Figured it out yet?

Yes! This is my three year old riding by himself. Hallelujah!

This may be one of the most liberating days of my life. I am going to mark it on my calendar as the Last Day of my Maternity Leave. My oldest son is nearly eleven, so by my calculations it has been almost twelve years since I have rode a horse without a small child sitting in front of me. Twelve years is a very long time.

Now, don’t think that in my haste to have the saddle to myself that I just throw him on his horse and ride away. No, not at all. I lead his horse along behind mine, which means we should have large yellow Slow Moving signs taped on our backs, but that’s okay because we are on separate horses and in our own saddles!

Our AI program has kept us busy the past couple of weeks. This year we are AI’ing (artificially inseminating) our first-calf and second-calf heifers. An AI program works well for us because it allows us to quickly and efficiently improve the genetics of our cow herd.

The entire AI process requires working the heifer in the chute three different times in about two weeks, so it is fairly labor intensive on those three days. However, it will pay off for us when these high-quality calves hit the ground next spring. We are halfway through with this spring’s AI program; next week we will finish up with the first-calf heifers.

My three-year old and I have spent a lot of time at the chute lately, helping with the multiple AI steps. Know where he likes to play when we are down there? In the scale, which I fondly think of as a giant play-pen. It’s really the perfect place for him, he’s contained and content, which is an ideal I rarely achieve with him.

Have I mentioned before exactly how busy this little boy is? Let me give you a quick peek into a mere 45 minutes of my morning yesterday: While I cleaned up breakfast dishes, he completely dismantled his brother’s all-time favorite Lego creation. As I gathered the Lego pieces from four different rooms in the house, he went into the laundry room and turned on our front-loading washing machine…then he pressed cancel and opened the door, promptly flooding the laundry room. After mopping up that mess, I walked into the kitchen to find a five pound bag of flour upended on the floor and he was driving his trucks through it.

I finally admitted defeat and gave up on inside chores. We went back to the chute…where he happily played in the dirt for the next two hours.