Stormy Weather

Yesterday we had an all day wind & rain storm, with wind gusts up on our ridge that were 30+ mph.  I was a little worried that the animal housing was going to hold up.   I was also worried about some of our big trees coming down and taking out a shelter or too.   Fortunately we survived this latest round of storms and the weather is much improved today with a few peeks of sunshine.

Hopefully the drier weather will last long enough to get the ground around the cow shelter dried out a little bit.  It is such a mucky mess right now that the heifers are slipping and sliding when they come running for breakfast.

I stilll haven’t gotten the heifers pregnancy test done, and now we are two cycles past Matilda’s AI date with no sign of her coming back into heat.  So if the weather (and Matilda) cooperates I’m going to try and draw blood and get the test sent off tomorrow.

Southwest Casserole

Not much new and interesting on the ranch at the moment, so I thought I’d share one of my favorite easy recipes. Enjoy!

Southwest Casserole

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15oz) can black beans drained & rinsed
1 (10oz) can whole tomatoes
1 cup sour cream
1 cup picante sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Topping:
1 bunch green onions, chopped (optional)
1 small can sliced olives
8 oz shredded Jack cheese

Combine casserole ingredients and spoon into a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish. Combine topping ingredients and cover top of casserole. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Time Change on the Ranch

Obviously the folks that think we need to keep doing this time change thing never milked!  It is nice to be doing morning chores in the daylight again, but boy does it mess with the routine.

Milking requires a pretty strict routine, same time every day, give or take a half hour.   And if you are milking twice a day those milking times need to be 12 hours apart.  Then along comes a time change and you have to work to switch your animals over to a new time for chores.

And the change doesn’t just affect the animals being milked.  All of them thrive on a routine and knowing they will get fed at a certain time of day.   When we “fall back” instead of being fed at 7am, they are suddenly getting fed at what feels like 8am to them.   And believe me they are not afraid to vocalize their displeasure at the change!

I have yet to see any conclusive studies that say that the time change actually provides any tangible benefits, and I know from first hand experience that it certainly causes plenty of problems.  I wish we would just pick one time and stick to it!