When the first snowfall arrives, life of our ranch begins to change for the winter season.  After looking at the forecast this morning as the snow was falling, we decided to bring home our bred heifers. One of the best parts of our job is that each day’s tasks are not only determined by the animals but also by the weather.

The bred heifers will be 2 years old in the spring, and they will be having their first calf at that time. It is important that they get the sufficient nutrition over the winter to continue growing and develop a calf inside them. Therefore, we feed the bred heifers separate from our cow herd so we can monitor their condition more closely.  We have had them on a grass pasture close to home, so when the snow arrived today we wanted to bring them home so that they can also be fed hay to keep their body condition up.

We just had to push them a short distance down the road and into a corral to load them.

The snow was falling heavy and it made for a gorgeous walk.

We work our cattle on foot and sometimes with horses, depending on the location and situation.  Our lead cow, AKTU 19R, led the way for the heifers. We put an older cow with our heifers on pasture as the older cow is more “sensible” to work with and keeps the heifers calm. Sometimes, we call the bred heifers our “teenagers” as they haven’t matured into motherhood yet!