Hi, I’m Mike. Everyone is asleep, its 5:45am and today I
get to take you with me for a day in the life of Our Wyoming Life. Good morning and welcome to our Wyoming life,
here we are in the shop and today I get to drag you with me for an entire day of ranching
in Wyoming. Of course, ranching isn’t all I do every
day around here. I have a family that needs taken care of and
of course since starting this YouTube thing, well that’s changed things a lot also and
you are going to be there for all of it today. If this is your first time here, please subscribe
and join us on a journey that we only started a few years ago. Come explore the ranch life with us and escape
the ordinary. Today we have a busy day, its Thursday. That means tonight we have a live stream on
youtube where we get a chance to sit down and hang out with you, answer questions and
keep you up to date on whats going on out here. They are always a lot of fun, and if you have
never had a chance to visit one live, we invite you to do so. We do them every other week on Thursdays at
7pm mountain time. So today we have to be done by lets say around
6, and back in the house to set up for the livestream. We have a super full day ahead of us and like
most days around here it starts with feeding the cows. Sunrise is officially at 6:30 this morning
but first light is right around 6 oclock and this morning the cows look hungry, they are
waiting for us at the gate and as soon as net wrap is cut and pulled off we can get
to laying out the food. This is one of my favorite parts of the day,
especially when the weather is nice. We are expecting temps up into the low 40’s
little wind, sunshine on and off, but for March in Wyoming, I’ll it for sure. With theses cows fed we can now head back
to the shop and grab out last sack of food for the steers. This adds something to our list for the day,
we are going to have to replenish our supply so that means later we have a trip to town
to get some more for them but for now we head out through the barn, and feed these guys
their corn oats and barley for the day. After getting the steers their breakfast,
it’s a quick walk over to the chicken house, where the chickens and geese come out to greet the day. The heifers currently live right next to the
chicken house so they are our next stop. These group of girls are due any day now. They have been pregnant for the last 9 months
and this is their first time. We keep them very close to the barn mostly
for the ease of checking them, but also if one has any problem with calving then we can
bring them in to the barn pretty quickly where we have the tools at hand to help them out. While we are here we are going to fill up
their water and while that’s filling we are going to run over to the house and get
the gator, which I left out last night and is thoroughly frosted up. I quickly scrape the windshield with a credit
card, and we can head over to check waters across the road, the calves water gets turned
on and we stop and check the bull water, which is good and doesn’t need filling today. Back in the shop we get a breather while we
wait for waters to fill, Erin has a meeting this morning and has to leave the house about
8. She’s meeting with the state assistant director
of sensible nutrition, where they are going to talk about farmers markets role in feeding
the less fortunate. With the clock ticking on that, its back out
to turn off waters. First back over to the calf water, turning
that off then I catch a glimpse of Mackenzies bus coming over the hill. I haven’t seen the kids yet today and this
is my last chance to see Mackenzie until tonight so I usually try to make it to walk her out
of the house and onto the bus, to see her off for her day. With Erin getting ready to leave soon, I am
going to get to hang out with Grace and Lincoln until its time for Grace to go to school,
we are going to take her to school, which means we need Erins car because her car has
the kids car seats in it and my truck does not. So Erin will take my truck to her meeting. Shes probably not going to want to take a
stock trailer too. So lets get that disconnected for her. So far so good, our day is coming together
nicely. And now we can take the truck back to the
house, grab the gator once again and go and shut off heifer water. Then its back into the house, where Lexi our
dog meets me and we are just in time to catch Erin heading out the door. She will be back this afternoon and until
then its time to get some kid time and get some work done in the house. The kids want to color so we get to printing
out some coloring pages for them and with Graces help, we pick out a few. And the kids settle in to their coloring project. And I settle into some youtube. We get around 50 new comments per day on YouTube
and around 10 emails, also 20 or so comments and inboxes on Facebook. So first I get to answering those. Sometimes the going is slow. But it doesn’t bother me, we will get done
when we get done and I know that everyone understands that and most are very patient
about replies. Soon I am all caught up, for now and I can
get into working on our new channel trailer which will be debuting in a few weeks, the
phone calls start to roll in and before we know it time to load up kids and take Grace
to school. After dropping off Grace, Lincoln heads up
to spend some time with Grandma and we are back to work. Erin’s new high tunnel is supposed to arrive
today at 3pm, of course its early. So we head out to get it unloaded out of the
back of the transport truck. It comes in 3 rather large boxes. 2 of which have been somewhat destroyed in
transit, which we find out as soon as we try to take the first one off the truck. The second pallet is just as damaged and of
course falls apart just like the first. The third box however is intact and comes
right off the truck. But we do have a mess to clean up. All of these parts need to be inventoried
to make sure we have everything, but for now we are going to take the intact box, which
holds the cover for the high tunnel into the shop. The rest we are going to load up and store
in the sales barn for now, until we can get the inventory taken care of. Loading it piece by piece and hauling it over
to the sales barn, dropping it off, then headed back for more. Three trips should do, and it may not look
pretty but its here. That will make Erin happy. Now that Erin is back and the pickup is back
we can head into town to get the food for the steers that we ran out of earlier. A quick trip to town takes us to our local
feed and ranch supply store where we can get a ton of corn oats and barley, or COB for
them which will last them a few weeks. The pallet is loaded onto the truck, using
a forklift and we are out, and back home. Where we can unload it, but first we need
to cake the cows. We have to move the cake trailer anyway to
bring in the new pallet of food, so we might as well cake them while we are at it. Loading 300 pounds of supplemental food for
the cows, full of vitamins and protein they need to keep themselves and their calves healthy. Once our cake has been delivered we can drop
off the trailer. Warmer temps today have starting the snow
melting, and it’s a bit messy out in the field, so we try to lay down the cake in the
driest parts of the field. Caking for me usually means the beginning
of what I like to call my rounds on the ranch. Everyday, I like to put eyes on each and every
animal we have around here. Caking the cows gets them all lined up for
me to check out and we can take a quick trip around looking for anything that might catch
our eye. Then its back over to the heifers, checking
on them once again, I’m very sure they get tired of me poking my nose in their business
constantly, but the minute I decide not to check on them, that’s when they will need
me. That’s how it usually works so they will
learn to put up with me over the next month or so as will the cows, when they start calving
as well. After the heifers, then we can check on our
steer and heifer calves, that we kept back year. Theses heifers wont be ready to breed until
summer and the steers will raised and finished for next years beef production. Then comes another of my best parts of the
day. Everyday I spend a few minutes with the horses. They don’t get worked a lot during the winter
months, and we keep them purely for recreational riding but with the amount of snow and ice
we have on the ground we choose to not risk injury to them and let them live out the winter
in their corrals and pasture. Each day I bring them over a few treats, I
get to hang out with them and they get some attention that they need. Brea is our quarter horse and Heiro is a paint-draft
mix. They are both extremely friendly and we all
look forward to our daily visits. The clock is ticking as our livestream is
coming up quick and we still need to get the pallet of food off of the pickup, first moving
the pallet of cake out of the way, then heading out. This ton of food is very close to the tipping
weight of the bobcat and we have to be careful getting it off the pickup and into the shop. That done we can fire up the incinerator to
burn some used net wrap before heading back into the house, catching the kids having dinner
and Erin making ours. Looks like French Dip. Dinner is served as Erin and I get a chance
to catch up on our day. I get to tell her how her brand new high tunnel
is laying in a pile in the sales barn and she tells me all about her morning meetings. Before we know it, its time to send the kids
up to grandmas house, along with the dog, a short walk across the yard and into grandmas
garage. The computer is quickly set up along with
the camera, wires are run and software is fired up. Erin gathers up the cats, who will plan to
jump on us at some point in the livestream and the clock keeps ticking. And before you know it, its time to go. With the livestream complete, Erin is heading
up to the grandmas to get the kids and I am headed back out to finish up a couple more
chores for the night. We need to close up the chicken house and
check those heifers again. Each and every day on the ranch is totally
different, and most days you never know what to expect. When it comes to living the life you love
it all comes down to the little things. Being able to stop by the house and hang out
with kids for a few minutes, or visiting the horses, or even driving across a field. I never would have expected this life to grow
on me the way it has over the years since Erin and I came here. We were blank slates, thrown into a life we
knew nothing about and I really believe that we were able to take this life, and make it
into not only something we can live with but something we love. So take the little things in your life, no
matter what they may be, a sunrise, a phone call with a friend, maybe just some peace
and quiet. Cause when it all comes down to it, every
day is just a series of little things and the little things make big things happen. I never in a million years would have guessed
that life for me would have become a juggling act of ranching, kids, family, and YouTube,
but now that it is. I wouldn’t have it any other way, if even
one of those things were missing there would be a huge hole in my life. We are very lucky to have what we do, and
we are lucky to have you along for the ride. Thanks for taking your time to follow me for
the day, I am wiped out and done but I hope that you have the energy left to like this
video, find us on Facebook and continue with us as we explore the ranch life and escape
the ordinary. Until next time, have a great week and thanks
for joining us in our Wyoming life.
