The Hottest Day Yet

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This week started with a bang. First thing Sunday morning, I was in the skid loader stacking more hay. Later that night, we headed over to the West Ranch to catch a steer that had gotten out. We wanted to make sure all of the cattle at the West Ranch were in their proper location because on Tuesday morning, we left the Main Ranch at 5 a.m. to head over to the West Ranch to weigh the cattle. The cattle at the West Ranch will be sold at a sale in Reno, Nevada, on Monday, the 14th. Tuesday morning, we tried to beat the heat and get all of the steers and spay heifers weighed. We finished the day around 3:30 that afternoon.

Wednesday was probably one of the hottest days of the summer so far. This day was the day we decided to do one of the hardest jobs to do in the heat, and that was to fill pivot tracks. They run fluid irrigation, as well as pivot irrigation. I started the morning by checking the cows to make sure everything was where they were supposed to be. After everything was checked, I headed to the field where everyone else had already started filling tracks. We started in the fluid irrigation field where he filled a long track. By the time we finished with this track, it was about 100 degrees, and it was lunchtime. After lunch, we were back out into the field where we started on the pivot tracks. We started on the eighth track and worked our way to the first track. We didn’t have to fill the entire track, just where my host would do his outline for cutting the hay. I asked Michael why we were filling the tracks if they just planned to run the irrigation on both fields the next day. Michael said he didn’t know why we were filling them because he had the same question.

Thursday was spent working on the sprayer and moving the horses’ electrical tape. Friday was a cold and rainy day. Michael left to pick up the bale-bed from the maintenance shop, so Morganne and I were sent to fix the fence along the main road. We fixed the fence on two different pastures. This took us all day long, and we ended the day by riding Michael’s horse.

Saturday was another off day with not much to do. I checked the cows that morning as usual, then we were sent to the last cattle guard before the main house. Michael had some welding to do on the fence, while Morganne and I cleaned the metal and then painted it. We finished painting, then we weatherproofed the bottom of the barn where the wood was. This week was a slower week towards the end, with not a lot for us to do, but this experience has shown and taught me a lot so far.

Submitted by: Tamryn Klein
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team