And the Pigs Leave the Ranch....

Hi I'm Mike and one of the best things and one of the worst things about living on the ranch is that all I have to do is step out that door and I'm at work today we're going to head out we're going to take care of the cows this morning and we're gonna load up pigs take them over to Sturgis where they will continue their journey of supporting the ranch so we're now only three days away from the first due date of these cows we try to schedule all of our traveling everything else including you know taking pigs and cows and steers and all that kind of stuff over to Sturgis before we start calving so this is actually one of the last few days that I have a chance to maybe even just get away from the ranch usually by this time we would have two or three calves on the ground I'm not sure what exactly is going on with the cows but if they're not going to however early that's not a bad thing I know Aaron is really looking forward to possibly finding that first calf here so while I'm gone today she's gonna check cows again and hopefully she can find that first calf I've gotten a couple emails from people asking about you know taking these steers and even taking the pigs over to Sturgis and and how that's not essential travel during this time but I would argue that it is obviously it's all about feeding people our goal is that we can have these steers that we took over last week and the pigs that were taking over today have them back and in the store within just a few weeks that will help us feed our local community when meat is actually running scarce in the grocery stores I lost my bail that's how I can get it that's what I get for talking and not paying attention huh we didn't lose our bail we lost a pen on the spool so out here on the school or there's a pin that attaches this bar to the other one and it must have fallen out somewhere over here we can find it I don't think it'll be a major problem there it is right there let's try this again so some have argued that traveling to take steers to butcher to take pigs to butcher that's a non-essential travel like I said I think it's just it's about feeding our community and what's more essential than food you know manicures hairdos maybe for some people but you're not going to get too many manicures or hairdos or tattoos or anything else if you're not eating or your tattoo artist isn't eating so another thing you'll notice and especially if you watch the webcam which is available at our website it's totally free you can watch the the pastor cam and you would could be watching me right now there's the camera right over there as I come on feat is that I'm actually feeding a little bit later on in the morning and here as we get closer to calving that kind of has a purpose there's there's there's been studies and everything else showing that the later you feed your cows in the day the more likely they are to have calves during the day now you're supposed to start this probably about six months ago but not a bad idea so I figured what the heck and you know then I get a chance I get to go out in the morning check cows check for babies all that kind of stuff early in the morning and then get to have a cup of coffee before I go on feet not a bad deal whoever authored that study by the way probably felt the same way all right we're gonna grab the Gator do a quick drive around really quick just make sure there's no cows out doing anything funky and then we're gonna go grab pigs then get ready to go you and I are gonna get a whole lot of good time to get there here over the next few weeks we're gonna be checking counts a lot so get used to this view I do have a route that I usually take basically a loop that takes me around this this home pass here where they're going to be doing most of their calving this path and it gives me the views that I can't see from up high on a hill or anything like that so it takes me down through some ravines through some interesting little creek beds things like that where they where they like to hide that also takes me onto the high points where I can get a good overview of the ranch that's why I'd like to go this way first because the first thing it does is it takes me to basically what is the highest point in this side in this pasture and gives me a nice broad scope view of the entire area there so this is the highest point in this past year and you can look down and basically take a look around the entire past year to get a quick clamps glance at what's going on around here and looking for any black dots basically or anything that's out of place as a cow will usually separate herself off to go have her account especially right after feeding so we just take a quick look around but there still there's a lot of coolies over in this area that we have to drive down and through and just make sure that there's nothing going on and then on the other side of the road over there too so really quick trip around this time it doesn't look like there's any cows out and about having any calves or doing anything funky this is one of those hidden little Cooling's that you can't see from anywhere else unless you happen to drive down here a little drainage area from one of these ponds the ponds overflow actually runs down into here and cows like to come down here and have their calves in all this wet damp pond swamp area and lots of good hiding spots over here down here and these little coolies from Creek vents but the nice thing is that after you make this loop there's really no place else to hide so what we do now is we'll usually just catch the road back and that'll give us a good view of the rest of the past year cows look good hopefully erin has her first cap today I think that would be a great great thing for her to find so she's gonna check house while we're gone our goal is to get the pigs loaded now and get them ready to go to market we have thought we backed up the trailers another day we got it all set up basically what my what my thought here is I'm gonna grab some we're gonna put it in the trailer that should bring the pigs in and we want to leave pig we want to leave run behind so that might be the only trick that we're dealing with today is trying to figure out how to keep that little guy from getting off the trailer and taking a ride that we don't want it to take so let's grab some Co B which is corn oats and barley and a big old treat for these guys we will go put it in the trailer and bring them in now we already got some pigs in here how we're going to get this we're gonna open this door pigs and what we're gonna do here initially is try to kick all these guys out so I can close the door come on let's go come on out come on guys everybody out come on everybody out okay now your BOTS come on move so if I get this door closed closed I can bring the food and dump out the food and then let these guys back in and then lock them in so you guys stay out hey no no no no no no stay out at least for right now food is in we are gonna cut open these bags so they can come in and eat and the goal is to get nine of them in here and keep them in hey let's go in come on guys one two three four five six seven you go in there - that's it wow that was easy and because runt is slow to the game you missed out but hey buddy come here come here hey do you want a consolation prize hey buddy I know Hey so grunt here has a has a bad leg and that's the main reason he's not going with the other pigs I'm really not sure what to do with him I think what happened was when he was a piglet somebody stepped on him or something like that broke his leg and we in there was really no way for us to know really why so the plan is to to keep him back for a while and then figure out figure out what we want to do with him and yeah and so we're off once again to Sturgis South Dakota this time with a load of pigs that'll come back and fill up the farm store with bacon and ham and all that good stuff so the question I get asked probably most wouldn't I put out a video like these types of videos is well there's there's two different variations of it there's the how can you do that and then there's that well I don't think I could do that and of course that is raising an animal for slaughter so the way that I look at it is this most of us are eating bacon and pork anyway and most of us are ignoring where it comes from you just don't think about it you you know you pretend that it's a unicorn farts and it falls out of rainbows or whatever however you get through that but you also one of the things you don't want to think about is how that animal is raised and I can guarantee you and I'm not bashing any other razor or anything any other any other razor or anything but what I'm saying is that there's a difference between that wheat the way that we raise our animals to the way that an animal is raised in a regular feedlot or or the mass production type of meats and beef and pork that that ends up on your table so when people ask me how can you do that what my answer inevitably is is that it's not easy but we have to do it because we are given a moral obligation and the opportunity to do it the way that we feel is the right way to do it and that's what's important to me so when I challenge you and I and I guarantee that most farmers and ranchers will never ever admit to this to you but if they raise their own animals for slaughter you spend months and sometimes years with these animals and there is not a farmer or a rancher alive who does this for a living and does not feel a little tears well up in their eye or maybe just a little a little a little frog in your throat when this day comes but there is that there is a satisfaction to the job and that is that we're doing something away that it means to be done and you can tell by by looking at these pigs that they've had a great life and they will continue on with supporting the ranch and supporting our family and supporting your family so that's where we find our satisfaction and a job well done it's not easy but like I said if we don't do it who knows who will stick around we've got one little bit coming up for you Aaron's gonna be checking cows while I'm gone also I'll show you the unloading really quick but stick around that's coming up make sure that you subscribe continue with us on our thirty vlogs and 30 days adventure this is number 11 and we're cruising right through them I'm losing a little bit of sleep but you know what it's all worth it and it it makes it makes my life a lot better and kind of gives me a direction and then something to concentrate on rather than all the other mess that's going on in the world so thank you very much for hanging out with us we're gonna head to Sturgis we'll be there in about two hours we'll unload the pigs Aaron's gonna be checking cows that's all coming up stumbling out of bed and I still got you in my head from all those pretty words you said it's like I'm wasted every time I see your face I'm losing track of time and space I don't know where I am it's like I'm wasted and I won't waste it and I promise I will stand by you forever I can't get you in my mind I will follow you wherever yeah long races Oh on fire little closer now cuz I don't wanna slow this down my heart is screaming out your name I'm away stage so it's pretty nice today really nice supposed to start snowing tomorrow but for today it's really nice so hopefully if we do a cap we won't have any problems cuz well and I won't waste drop the camera right now nobody here is doing Wow now what he's having a camp I wish somebody would have a cat have babies I'm just gonna so babies for the farms are today nobody's in labor they find and get back from shopping yes I mean everything here yeah is you

Channel: Our Wyoming Life

Views: 68,891

Rating: 4.960835 out of 5

Keywords: Ranch, cow, cows, horses, cowboy, gardening, farmers market, Wyoming, our Wyoming life, animals, animal videos, peacock, farming, planting, cattle, ranching

Id: 7Ws-GYcRcG0

Length: 22min 33sec (1353 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020