​Weather: Much cooler with recuring hard overnight frost.
Where: BW-2 for cows and LS-4 to LS-8 (BLM) for calves. We finally bring the calves out of the trees. Days appear so simple if it was just the cows I needed to care for.

Weather: Cooling off but nothing to complain about.
Where: BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves. No moves. Rick C. came to collect fecal samples for testing how our feed and supplements are meeting the cow’s needs now that we are well into the third trimester. Rick also conditioned scored the cows and called most of them at about 5.25 with a few 6’s and just a few 4.9’s-mostly younger cows. Just need to keep them on the gain into later April and they will be in a good place for calving.

Weather: Winds back off and much warmer today.
Where: BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves. Cows try to escape back into 3 and 9, and I got them turned back. I built a new split on the north end of BW-2, and finally got the cows back into our ‘planned grazing’. Quite a challenging week all around for Ryan and me, yet the cows enjoyed all the wonderful pickings from the multiple paddocks opened intentionally or otherwise during the storm period. At times there can be challenges to using temporary fencing even for the experienced.

​Weather: Winds remains strong and persistent with some drifting snow and by afternoon much warmer.
Where: BW-2 (and also 9) for cows and LS-4 for calves. Strong SW winds all day. Cows find a dropped wire in the afternoon and move into the whole of BW-9. It took until dark to get them back. While a bit aggressive Max was key in getting them gathered and back to where the cows needed to be. Calves still on feed but snow starting to melt.

​Weather: Winds return with force but now from the SW.
Where: BW-2-3-9 for cows and LS-4 for calves.
SW winds and blowing snow bring slowly warming temps yet, as is mostly the pattern, the change brings difficulty to getting around, while the bitter winds force cattle to drift to find protection. Calves got fed before drifting got too bad. Cows received straw but mostly moved around grazing and trying to avoid the wind. Wind keeps cows located in BW-2 yet in ate afternoon cows reverse back into BW-9. Some headed toward trees on west end of Big Wall. By nightfall I had them located on the bottoms away from the trees. To add to our challenging day, the guest house furnace quit over the night with temperature falling to -20, water pipes froze in the house. Thanks to Ken, our most reliable and adaptive “furnace guy” the furnace was back in operation by the afternoon-yet some pipe breaks will need attending.
When I think our difficulties are tough, I just say to myself Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, and the list of countries just grows. I copied this quote worth remembering:
 
Over the last year,” Blinken said, “Russia has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children; uprooted more than 13 million people from their homes; destroyed more than half of the country’s energy grid; bombed more than 700 hospitals, 2,600 schools; and abducted at least 6,000 Ukrainian children—some as young as four months old—and relocated them to Russia.
 
And in Turkey, whole towns are simply gone.
 
What is the appropriate response? 

Weather: Winds mostly quit, and the cold gets colder.
Where:BW-2-3-9 for cows and LS-4 for calves.
All groups remain on full feed. Some cows break in BW-9.

​Weather: Snow with N and NW gusty winds all day and turning very cold.
(BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves): We chose to full feed straw (24 bales) around water. Despite more than full feeding the painful north winds kept pushing cows south with chances of breaking into the pine trees in the southern part of BW-2. I finally just let the cows on the afternoon of the 22nd drift into the BW-3 to the east of 2, where they immediately began grazing the rested cover. Always having options to shift grazing plans under severe conditions is important. I had even contemplated just bringing cows back to the corrals where we could hold them with protection. Calves were ok in the trees and received their hay with some straw, with access to fresh grass.

​Weather: We awakened to about 3 to 4” new snow. Lovely quiet day with soft wet snow off and on until late in the evening.
(BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves): Two small splits for the cows. Calves moved to 2nd split in LS-4. Tough weather predicted for the next three days.

​Weather: SW chilly wind welcomes the morning sun. Keeps up all day with greying skies foretelling changing weather to come.
(BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves): No moves today.

​Weather: Chilly SW breeze all day broken by a wonderful snowy chilly squall in the afternoon followed by an unusual calm evening.
(BW-2 for cows and LS-4 for calves): Cows move to 3rd split in BW-2 amid a fast-moving energetic squall. Calves stay put.