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canon city, co
cassidy@casskjohnston.com

casskjohn

This morning, I was IRRITATED. Bert left early

This morning, I was IRRITATED.

Bert left early for the other ranch, and I was so proud of myself for getting up early to get ready before I drove everyone to town for school (it's a preschool day for Kirby.)

We were on time, moods were high...and a tire on my car was completely flat.

Now, being a ranch gal, I'm no stranger to flat tires. But. I took my car in for an oil change yesterday, and asked them to check a slow leak in that tire. They assured me that they checked it, all was well, no hole.

Well, obviously, that's not the case. It's so flat I can't even scootch it over to the shop to air it up and take it into town to get fixed. I could, of course, pull it off and put on the spare, but our road crew is doing this fun new thing where they drag giant rocks from the bar ditch into the road when they grade it, and I'm not going to test a donut on that mess.

(Yes, I know I need a full-size spare for my car.)

Normally, I'd just hop in the truck, but it's having some power steering issues and I don't feel super comfy driving unreliable vehicles down a mountain with three children when Bert's 200 miles away dealing with a mess on the other ranch.

So, I said eff it, we're staying home.

But there's state testing at school today for Wacey, so of course I feel bad that now he's going to have to make it up, even though I think state testing is kind of stupid for third graders.

I was in my feelings. VERY irritated at the tire shop, irritated at myself that I don't have a full-size spare, irritated at the road crew, irritated that I got everyone out of bed and out the door at 7:00 only to abort mission, irritated that one of my two dedicated kid-free mornings to work was derailed, irritated at the whole situation.

So. I made a cup of tea, and reframed. I'll save hours today not doing the school run, and I don't have any pressing errands in town, so it's not a big deal that we can't go. Wacey can re-do today's testing. With all three boys home, they can hang out with each other while I get work done, and I can use the extra hours to catch up on housework that has been slowly piling up. This afternoon we can have fun.

Reframe.

"You should smile more." "I thought you'd be talle

"You should smile more."
"I thought you'd be taller."
"You sure you can lift that?"
"Leave it to the men."
"If we're going to pay you like a man, you need to work like a man."
"Is that your jacket or your husband's? Yours? You wore it out like that all by yourself?"
"I need to talk to someone about a bull. Oh, that's you? I thought it would be your husband. Is he around?"
"In my day, the women made lunch. They weren't out here with the men."

Oh the things I've heard as a woman in this industry!

But, I've come to appreciate what it means to be a woman, even if it makes things harder sometimes.

A lot of women in this business move through it with a chip on their shoulder, making everything a competition or a "There's not enough room for the both of us!" scenario. They'd rather tear other people down than realize a rising tide lifts all boats, especially if it's women supporting other women.

But even more, women move through this business with grace, grit, and the willingness to reach behind and haul other women up behind them. I wouldn't be where I am today without the women in my corner encouraging, teaching, hiring, coaching, and showing up for me. I'm grateful for the women in positions of leadership who are making things better and easier for all of us--and designing women's workwear that functions just as well as men's so I no longer get asked if my jackets are worn out because my husband wore them first.

I used to think I needed to do all the things that men can do, but the fact of the matter is that I can't always. I bring other things to the table that more than make up for the fact that sometimes I need to stand on a bucket to reach something, or that I carry a fence stretcher with me, or that there are some jobs I'm going to need a little help with. Tough looks a lot of different ways.

So today, even in a man's business (maybe especially) I'm glad to be a woman. I'm glad to have the opportunity to serve ag in my own way, and I love seeing what other women are doing to make this industry better every day. We have a long way to go, but I feel as though we get closer all the time. It takes all kinds of kinds, and we're better for it.

Right now, we have almost no cows on our part of t

Right now, we have almost no cows on our part of the ranch.

Why? Because it's winter, and we don't winter the cows up here!

Background: the ranch we manage and live on has two divisions--the historic "home place" or HQ where we live, and then another division we call the "Lower" a couple hours away.

HQ is up in the mountains around 9,000 feet. The Lower is at 4300 feet in the southeastern corner of the state and is a *much* nicer place for the cows to be in the winter (which is why the owner bought it in the first place.) This situation isn't necessarily common, but it's also not uncommon for high-mountain ranches because our winters are just so brutal and long.

Starting in late November, we start shipping cows down to the Lower, and we'll start shipping pairs back up after branding in May.

It makes for some extra logistics, but it feels incredibly luxurious compared to having to calve out cows through the storms that we get, especially because we've worked for several operations where we were calving through blizzards and feeding through long, cold winters and know how hard that is (a note that calving cows in the mountains isn't bad! Lots of places do it successfully. I never feel more bougie than when I tell people we have cows who go south for the winter. They're like retirees.)

We kept the heifers up here the first year we were here (it's a long story) and quickly made the decision to never do that again. Twas what one would call a disaster for many reasons, but that winter was a particularly hard one, and it didn't help whatsoever.

Now, we keep back the late-calving cows who don't calve till May, which saves us an extra load to send up on the trucks and makes it easier on their calves. So far, it's worked out very well.

Another bonus of calving at the Lower is that we don't really have to calve the cows--they can mostly take care of themselves! We have one full-time guy down there plus really good day help, but this way, we aren't trying to fill in night calving gaps or feeding tons and of hay and we're raising a herd of very low-maintenance cows.

(Video from the year we calved the heifers on the mountain and had a constantly full barn.)

A friend sent me a post last week about feeding ca

A friend sent me a post last week about feeding cattle later in the day so they calve during the day and asked if that was a thing. It totally is!

Studies show that if you feed cattle in the late afternoon/early evening, they'll be more likely to calve in the daylight. The efficacy varies depending on which study you reference, but the research points to more calves born in daylight hours if cattle are fed later in the day. Anecdotal evidence (aka lots of calving seasons) has me inclined to agree.

We've always fed this way in calving season, at least for the heifers, who can sometimes require more oversight during calving season--particularly in bad weather.

Having more calves during the day means the cows generally need less attention at night, which means more sleep for the humans during an intense month or two, and better outcomes for the cows, the calves, and the people. Wins all around!

This is Part 4! Full video is pinned, and the rest

This is Part 3! Full video is pinned, and the rest

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