Winter Fun

Uh, what was I thinking?  There is no winter fun.  In Wyoming, if the temperatures are above normal for the winter, then our trade off is wind.  It has been milder than usual, even with the wind, so every now and then it IS fun to get out and visit with the herd.



Sonny, out with the big herd to breed our fall calvers, is such a mooch.  He knows that my pockets are full of treats (both cake and alfalfa cubes) and he's not picky as long as a few of them land in his mouth.  He's not pushy, but he sure has a great begging face.



Even more fun was watching Amanda, the ultimate treat hound, try to steal the treats right out of Sonny's mouth.  She would love up against him like his favorite girlfriend, then lick his face and try to jerk the treat away from him.  What a prankster!



So many of the cows are really starting to show their pregnancies -- Rosaleen looks ready to go now and we still have at least 6 or 7 weeks to go!  Her 2015 calf was one of my favorites, so I'm hoping she does it again this year (think heifer!).



Then we have our first time heifers who are definitely starting to show.  Our little Gidget is giving us all the signs of having a very nice udder.  She was our Grand Champion at Wyoming last year and we hope that her calf is everything that she is and more!!  Such a scruffy look compared to all of her finery in the summer show.



Love watching those fall babies growing up.  This is Peaches 'n Cream with her momma Yanni.  At four months, she's doing us, and her sire and dam, quite proud!

Can't wait for the new ones!  That will help make the rest of the winter really fun (did I mention that Winter in Wyoming can last through May?)!!

Happy New Year! 2015 in Review

Happy 2016!  Time for a quick review of Moosters highlights for 2015 before we get too far into our wonderful New Year.



Calves.  We had calves.  Spring of 2015 was so much fun.  There were babies everywhere.  In the end, we had 37 calves for the year.  18 heifers and 19 bull calves.  Mother Nature was pretty fair for a change!  16 red and 21 black.  Nearly all were sired by either Hondo or Machine.  What a great crop.  The heifers have great homes all over the country.  We kept a small handful for ourselves and sadly waved goodbye to the rest.



We had snow in May and 60 degrees in December.  Lots of rain in the spring so our pastures held up very well until the August when someone shut off the spigot and we didn't see rain again for a long time.  100 year flooding in the town of Lusk.  Devastation beyond description.  The view above is from the back door of our vet's office.  That's his horse trailer up the telephone pole waaay down the road.  The folks in our little town picked themselves back up and kept right on going.  A true testament to the spirit and hardiness of the people who live here in Wyoming.




We drove to Harrisonburg, Virginia to attend the 2015 ADCA Annual General Meeting, Show and Sale.  Beautiful facilities, lots of fun sights (Harrisonburg or Bust was not us, but we wished we'd though of it!), trees and more trees along the way and two new heifers managed to follow us home from Kansas.  Thanks to the Hoovers, Gale and Aileen are now full fledged Moosters.  They joined their half sister Rosaleen who has been with us for two years.  We love our Hoover heifers.



Shows!  Seems like we spent most of the summer at shows.  The highlight, of course, was winning Grand Champion Female at the Wyoming State Fair with our  Moosters Gidget.  She was shown by our amazing showwoman, Ms. Calli Klein.  We are so very proud of both of them.

Nebraska State Fair is always a good time with great friends.  Another beautiful facility with an air conditioned show ring.  What more could you ask for?!

Utah State Fair is a favorite and was the 2nd largest Dexter show in the country this year.  There are pictures somewhere, but it was a busy show and there aren't too many.  Our highlight was Ms. Calli Klein bringing home the senior showmanship buckle showing Moosters Snappy Dresser.  She just takes our breath away each and every year.  This was the first show where she proudly showed every single Mooster in the show ring.  Chris and I were the runners and groomers this show.  She was also the senior herdsman award winner - quite the honor as it's voted on by all the members of the Rocky Mountain Dexter Association.  Not only does she show, but she teaches others about our breed and helps not only us, but others in so many many ways.  We couldn't be more proud of her.

And lastly, the Missouri Dexter Breeders Show and Sale (yes, we practically lived in the truck).  We delivered several Moosters to new homes along the way and once again, enjoyed seeing good friends and beautiful animals at the largest Dexter show this year.  Ridings Farm Gertrude followed us home to join her half sister Ridings Farm Kristi Ann.  They are genuinely the two most people oriented females in our herd.

Gertrude

And the icing on our cake was the arrival of Sonny.  Along with our wonderful Hondo, we have the two bulls that will take us into our Dexter future for some years.  So much to look forward to in 2016!

Welcome New and Newer

We waited out weather here and there before our next herd bull could make the long ride from Oklahoma to Wyoming.  It was worth the wait!  Here's Sonny!  We are so very pleased that Sheila and Don from Euchee Creek Dexters agreed to let us be his new owners.  He's everything we'd hoped for and more!  What a gentle soul this guy has -- we know that he'll pass this temperament (and his great looks) on to his calves.



He was so sad to have to wait until this past weekend to meet his girls.  He called to them non-stop while he was waiting.  At last the time had come and the girls were pretty excited too!




He will sire all six of our fall calves;  Yanni, Wrencesky, Saphire, Gale, Aileen and Rhiannon will be the first to give us Sonny calves in 2016.  We'll have plenty of Hondo and Machine offspring in the the spring of 2016.  The fun will come as we begin to make our matches for the boys for 2017 calves. Hondo and Sonny are just so handsome!

We will be offering Machine for sale before our breeding season.  He's a handsome young bull too. Proven herd sire with 12 2015 registered calves on the ground (and multiple unregistered steers). He's parentage verified, pha and chondrodysplasia free, A2A2, homozygous polled and he carries red. He's also just very closely related to too many of our girls.  Let us know if you are interested!



Our last arrival of the year is Moosters Winter Weather.  She is a keeper - we've already decided that she will be staying here.  Love this little girl!

Well, Bully for You!

The "boys" are all grown up (or as grown up as two year olds get anyway) and have been happily doing their job this summer.  We are so pleased with their calves this year and can't wait to see what next spring brings.

Our most handsome Hondo is a romantic kind of guy.  He spends lots of time with his chosen girl - a bit of a Romeo.

Machine, on the other hand, is a bit of a gigolo.  He's busy but has no time for romance!  If you have treats in a bucket, the girls can wait.  He must practice that "give me stuff" look.  It's so sad.

You might think he's calling for his girls, but he's really trying to convince Chris to come back with more goodies in the bucket.

In either case, they are both gentle guys and have combined with our girls to make the most beautiful calves.  Photo session with the babies coming soon!

We are so grateful for all the rain this year.  At the end of July, our pastures are still filled with green grass.  Happy Moosters in the meadow!

Babies Everywhere!

This is our biggest year, ever, for calves.  They are everywhere!  So far, we have 32 running around with a few late ones yet to arrive.  They gallop, they dance and they sleep.  Playtime is usually in the earlier mornings and later in the evenings.  They form little groups of pals and run in packs.  They are endearing and entertaining and a joy to behold!

Hidden in those little sage brushes are a bunch of babies.  All's well until mommas notice that we are interested in this little crew, then we are suddenly surrounded by protective mommas.  They all trust us, so it's never a problem, but good moms always make sure that all the kids are behaving.

Some of the calves stay pretty close to mom like the two reds in the picture above.  Others are never where we expect to find them.  Miss Abigain Von Moo has a lot of sass and is rarely found with her momma.

Some, like little Mr. Butterbean here, are so cute that you never want to see them grow up!

One thing is certain..... no matter where you look, you are going to find a Dexter calf or two or ten around Moosters Meadows!

And we always have help!

Oh Glorious Spring!

This has been a bit of a magically warm weekend.  I'm sure that we'll get a few more winter smackdowns from Mother Nature, but weekends like this bring hope for green grass and some ongoing sunshine.

A bit of housekeeping:  Moosters Redstone is sold.  He's truly a nice little bull.

Below are a few photos of this year's new kids (to date).  We start calving in earnest later this week, although there are a few heifers and cows out there that may be a day or two early.  We have a couple of first time heifers in the corrals, but as long as the weather stays even remotely this nice, we'd rather they birth in the pasture.  They are being checked multiple times a day now.

Poor little calf was born at one of the coldest points of one of our colder days and was a bit early.  Momma gave us no sign that her girl was ready to come forth.  Fortunately, I was out doing a "butts and bags" check in the early morning and found them just moments after the little heifer hit the ground.  By the time we got her to the warmer, she was already covered in ice.... in minutes.  As you can see, Calli's heifer, Salsa is now a cow with a lovely, healthy heifer of her own (we are loving the Hondo baby).

We were expecting this guy - a perfect little bull calf from our Rebecca and SMD Moon Ballan.  His nickname is Moon Doggie.  So far we love everything about him!

The guys in the "Boys Pasture" are very curious about all the goings on.  Steers are mostly just looking for fun and games.  Our two herd sires and Redstone are constantly telling us they are ready to work.  Loudly!

Ready, set and go!

Moosters Redstone For Sale

For Sale: Moosters Redstone, a yearling bull, ADCA #036250. Polled (heterozygous), Red (does not carry dun), A2/A2, parentage verified, PHA and Chondrodysplasia free. Sire is Gladhour USommDance and Dam is Wieringa's Saphire. We are located in the southeast corner of Wyoming. Contact us via email at moostersmeadows@aol.com or call 307-532-3450 for more information. $1500.00

He's a very nicely put together young bull who is ready for a herd of his own this spring.