Smith Land & Cattle Co.
Claremore, Oklahoma
Welcome to the CR Ranch Journal. Look here if you are interested in our month to month activities at Smith Land and Cattle Co. Thanks for stopping by - Carol
November News 2009
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We are redoing our swimming pool and work has been progressing on it pretty well. Sure makes a mess, but will be worth it next year when we are not having to repair anything before the season starts or as it goes along. I love swimming an looked at putting the new one under a roof so I could swim year round. But gads, can think of a lot of things that need to be done other than that luxury, so will just make myself happy, part of the year. Guess I need to play the lottery.
Got Robbie and everyone replacing that stupid white fence around the house with barbed wire and pipe along the front so the cows won't get in the yard anymore and eat the shrubs, I have been trying to grow for three years. Last year, thought one was going to go for a swim in the pool but she turned at the last minute. Guess it was kind of warm the that day. Anyway, we didn't put in the white vinyl fence, but if someone tries to sell you some, in one word DON'T. Cattle walk right through it and bust it all the time. Barbed wire is a lot less expensive and more trouble free and your shrubs and husband will thank-you for it. The shrubs because they can get a chance to grow and your husband because he is not replanting the buggers all the time or you buying them to replace.
We start setting up recips at the end of the month. Only have forty or so this season, as I had to let several girls go to town, because of age. Hope they just put me out to pasture, when they think I am too old to do my job, around here. Kind of like ole Sugar, just put me out to pasture and only work me once in awhile, when the kids want to play with me, and not send me to town. Ed had a birthday this month, but of course decided he was ten years younger than he is. That delusion all started at the state fair one year, when we let some lady guess his age, an boy was she off! But guess it just means I've got me a good looking younger guy.
Had a great Thanksgiving, Ed's mom did come out for a day of visiting. Remember the old adage don't try a new recipe when company is coming? Well I broke the rule and tried a few new recipes for our dinner, course I kept the old tried and true. The new ones are now old favorites and will be added in years to come. One was a wild mushroom gravy that was very tasty and didn't even require more work, which I liked alot.
Until next month, may you have great weather to finish out the year and if the weather is already changing may you keep half way warm while tending the animals.
Wow, can you believe how fast this year went? A friend says it's a sign of old age, but I disagree. I think time just goes by a lot faster as the years pass, don't you? It certainly doesn't have anything to do with age.
The news is full of nutty stories, some things going on behind the scenes from our nation's congress people really have no idea about agriculture. It's kind of scary if you read too much. In the mist of all the health care bill. There is a bill circulating about banning a lot of the antibiotics we use in animals. Just two listed in this bill are penicillin, tetracycline. These are antibiotics we use to treat sick animals. NO we do not abuse them, if we didn't use them many animals would waste away and it wouldn't be pretty, then we could just wait for the calls from PETA. There is no word right now on when this bill will be presented, but let's face the fact that they put a lot of things inside other bills that get passed. Please let you senators and congressman, representatives know that this is NOT a good bill.
I also read at the first of the month that OSU halted a study of anthrax thanks to the animal rights people . Seems the animal rights people now are affecting the way we do research and the possible testing of vaccines that would help people. World has gone crazy, stopping research, because a few people don't like what goes on, things that would be for the betterment of the human race. Ghezz guess I need to quit reading so many articles.
We took our annual family get together this year to somewhere warm. It was a great time. Our kids, their spouses and grandkids came. Janne and Oyvind came form Norway this year. Pat, Pam, Andrea, Shane and his friend Carter all came. Just spending the week together and getting to spend time with everyone was great. We have a new Uno champ this year. Janne won five games and was pretty proud of herself as a rookie to the game and won so many times. Of course after the first two, everyone was gunning for her but she reigned supreme. Hanging out on the porch and discussing the differences between our two countries was highly entertaining. Some thought the discussions got too heated, but I thought it was good clean fun exchanging ideas, as everyone is passionate about something. And I always find it interesting to discover new ways of thinking. And where better to find new ideas than among family and friends.
Started breeding cattle around the 12th, seemed to go really fast this season. As we set the cows and heifers up at the same time. Only bred around 150 as we set the other 40 up to use as recips for all the embryo work we have been doing. So basically we were done by Monday, so only three days of cold weather mornings checking heat. Wow that went fast, then we are done for 18 days. So Christmas will be a breeze, then start all over watching heat again just before the New Year.
Of course we got a cold spell just as breeding started, not too bad though, only around nine degrees in the mornings, just made riding in the four wheeler a little breezy. Of course the morning we started putting in embryos and flushing the vet and I were tremendously grateful that we had the little vet building down next to the chute and a heater going in there. Almost made it seem balmy outside.
We got a very white Christmas round here, awoke to between six and eight inches and ponds frozen. Girls stayed over night so didn't have to worry about Chad driving in the blizzard. They said it one one of Oklahoma's first ever on this date. Ed got to try out the blade on the bobcat and clear roads for a few days so the main one in and out is passable. He did such a great job our roads are better than the highway!
Well just finishing up this year. Here's hoping you had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
December News 2009
November/December
2009 Journal
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