I heard Skeeter’s pickup drive by the house, I looked at my alarm clock and it was 6:23 a.m.  Oops, I didn’t set my alarm and didn’t hear James’. I could hear James in the shower. We were supposed to be up and ready to head to Willow Creek for day one of gathering cows. I jumped out of bed and went to the kitchen to make sandwiches and put together a meager lunch for the crew. I could hear my father’s voice saying, “We’re burnin’ daylight.” I checked with JJ to see if she was going to be able to go with us or if she had to stay for volleyball pictures. I was delighted when she said she didn’t have pictures and encouraged her to get moving. She had a volleyball game Thursday night, early volleyball practice Friday morning, went to the Gooding vs. Melba football game Friday night and got home after midnight.  Needless to say, she wasn’t jumping out of bed.

Cows and calves are summered in the mountains. In the fall, the family gathers them up and brings them to the home place to wean the calves.

Skeeter caught the horses in time for the horseshoer to show up and set one of Rocky’s shoes. Once that was done, Rocky, Cash and Boone were loaded and we headed north to Willow Creek, a little less than an hour away. Again, not the early start we had hoped for, but we were finally headed to our destination. We met up with Ben, Bruce and Bruce’s dog, Meg, at the south end of the allotment where several pair had been taking advantage of the water and green feed the August rains brought us.

And so it began—up the hillside, picking up cows along the way headed north towards the cabin and the upper meadow field. We had several tree and brush filled draws to clear along the way. We managed to flush out a deer that headed around the hillside and appeared to be on a collision course with Skeeter and his horse, Boone. She headed straight up the hill when she got a glimpse of them. Even with the occasional cow bawls, horse whinny’s and Bruce saying “that’ll do, Meg,” it was very peaceful and seemed like you could hear the faintest of noises.

About halfway we met up with Rishelle, Kris and Kris’ dog, Skye. They had left from the cabin and rode through Hagan Canyon. They reported seeing a few pairs, but they went further up the canyon, eluding them. We developed another game plan. Ben, Kris and Skye headed west further up the hillside and would drop down into the orchard, named for the lone apple tree in the area. The rest of us continued north pushing the 30-some pair we had gathered along the way. We made it to the meadow field near the cabin and barn, clearing the five head in the horse pasture.

We began eating our lunch and watching for Ben and Kris to come down from the orchard with any cows they gathered along the way. When we saw the head of the first cow poke around the side of the hill, we mounted back up and went to help. A rough count gave us 47 pair and 2 bulls, which included a number of animals that didn’t belong to us. That means we didn’t have everything. Guess this is day one of 2014 gathering.

~ Dawn

Dawn and her family raise registered Herefords near Gooding, Idaho. Her great grandparents began a legacy of raising cattle in Idaho. She and her husband, James, and their two children continue producing range-ready bulls for commercial cattlemen. They enjoy working together as a family and the ranching lifestyle.

Yesterday was weigh-in day at the fair. First, we had to go to school registration for 4th grade.

Then we rushed home to give Charlie his last bath at home. He was mostly clean because we’ve been washing him a lot.  But his hooves were covered solid in poop because we’ve had so much rain this month and his corral is really messy.  It took a lot of work to clean his hooves today.  (We had to chisel at them with a screwdriver).

When we loaded Charlie in the trailer, he didn’t really like it. He kept moving around.  Unloading him, he was fine.  Then we took him to his spot in the barn. A little while later, we weighed him in. He weighed 1,218 pounds.

Final weigh-in at fair.

There was a meeting a couple hours later about how the steer shows would work and what we’re supposed to do. Then I finally had a lunchable for dinner because we were super hungry and we didn’t want to wait until we got home so late.

I was tired and needed to get to bed; I had to get up at 5:50 in the morning (augh!) so I could go back to the fairgrounds and feed my steer.

Stay tuned to read more about my week at the fair.

Charlie and Sadie

Hi! My name is Sadie. I’m 9 years old and I’m excited to be old
enough this year to be in 4-H and take a steer to the county fair.

My steer’s name is Charlie and he is very gentle. His breed is Hereford Angus Limousin. I wanted to show a steer because I like cows and a lot of my family does it so I wanted to try it too.

My Grandpa and I picked out my steer.

I got Charlie from my Grandpa’s ranch in Oakley. I picked him out in December and then he came to our place in March. For the first few months, I just took care of him by feeding him grain and hay.

At the first of July, we started wetting him down and brushing his hair every night. Once a week, we gave him a full body wash. I also started walking him around and setting him up with a show stick. Then we started blowing his hair in August. I also have a spare steer named Buddy, but I’m not going to take him to the fair.

Our county fair starts this week. On Monday, we cleaned out our beef barn at the fairgrounds, spread out sawdust for the steers to lay on, and put decorations up.

Putting up decorations and getting stalls ready.

I also have a cooking project that my mom teaches. I made Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were delicious. I can’t wait to see what ribbon I get!

I’m excited and a little nervous about this week. I’m going to write a little each day about my experiences. I hope you like reading about my week at the fair!

We’re excited to share posts this week from a little guest blogger. Please check back daily to read more about Sadie’s adventures at her first county fair. So many life lessons occur when children have the responsibility of taking care of an animal. And talk about the family memories

We’re excited to welcome you to the blog and website of the Idaho CattleWomen Council!

Here you’ll find more about women who are passionate about the Idaho cattle industry and who support the beef industry. Many of us may be your friends and neighbors. We work hard every day to raise beef for your table, as well as our own. We hope to share with you the diversity of the women and their families who make up our cattle community here in the West. We welcome comments and questions, and hope you check back often!