January consists mostly of feeding the cattle herd daily. The winter months can be harsh and cold, so keeping feed in front of the animals is crucial to their health.
My husband dresses in his warmest winter work clothing and heads out when light breaks. He uses a Ford Pickup which is equiped with a bale loader flat bed to pick up the large, round bales that we have harvested and baled up the previous summer. More on that when I cover the month of July!
Each 100 head of cattle needs several of these large hay bales brought out to them every day. The bale loader does the lifting with arms that run on hydraulics. Once the bales are loaded on the bale bed, which can handle two at a time, they are hauled out to the herd. Once again, the arms of the bale loader go to work and lower the bale to the ground. Now the hand work begins as my husband goes out to cut the twine string that is holding those bales together. After each string is cut and removed, he maneuvers the loader arms into position to grab the bale in the center. While driving the pickup forward, the bale rolls on the ground and the hay unrolls...kind of like toilet paper would if you rolled it across the floor!
This proceedure is repeated time after time and that pickup covers around 400 miles in a week!
Another morning chore that must be done is watering the cattle. Chopping ice on the dams is the most common way to get water to your herd. Using a common axe, my husband takes mighty swings to cut the edges of the hole that he had opened up the day before. The cows take turns making their way to the edge of the dam to drink from each hole. The more cattle there are, the more holes you need in each dam.
Some ranchers have water piped to water tanks. We have several of these, but just the same, they need to be checked to make sure the water is flowing freely and not in need of chopping to open the ice that forms on the surface.
Some of the cattle need special care, as do the replacement heifers that are kept in a more enclosed pen. Each day, they receive 'pellets' of feed that contain the extra nutrients they need to grow properly into mature cows. My husband will fill bags of these pellets by shovelful and then haul them to the corral where the hungry animals are waiting. He will pour each sackful into the feedbunks so the heifers can line up, side by side, to eat their 'treat'. Round hay bales are needed here as well, but these are placed inside a round feeder instead of being rolled out.
In the midst of all these daily chores, the rancher needs to keep his trusty feed pickup running smoothly. Many hours are spent in the machine shop, changing oil, greasing moving parts and keeping the vehicle clean.

That is only a small part of my husband's daily routine in January.

My 1st job is to be a mother to our 5 children, 3 of whom are grown now. I run the household and cook the meals. Other than the care of the family, my most important job is to take care of the financial responsiblities that come with a business and a ranch. I am the Financial Specialist and spend many hours at my desk, paying bills, balancing accounts, filing paperwork and completing requirements for our many business loans.
I have a 2nd job as well. I am an eBay seller and run an eBay store.

Mudder's Little Spudders eBay Store

My specialty is clothing and one of my favorite things to list in the store are western clothes that are commonplace here on the ranch. Some are actually vintage and were worn YEARS ago by real Montana ranchers. Other items are new, of course. Check it out and see what we have. There are even natural Montana elements...pine cones, sage brush stems and the like.

Stay tuned and I will give a quick overview of our life in the month of February!

Here's a summary of January.....