Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Cows, heifers and calves

winter%20heifers%20with%20Squaw%20Mountain.jpg
Heifers waiting to calve
Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole

heifer%20with%20calf%20in%20shed.jpg
First calf heifer with her calf
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

When people ask us what we are up to, Pat likes to answer “Cows in the morning, sheep in the afternoon.” Today, it was pretty much cows all day long.

We are calving heifers now. We have good sheds, and unlike last year, our “low birth weight bull” is living up to his reputation. It is one of the great pleasures of the year to see healthy calves and lambs on the ground. It is like a punch in the gut to lose one.

We bought some cows this week. Today our son Eamon and his friends came home from college to help us brand them and vaccinate most of the rest of the cows in preparation for spring calving. We calve the first calf heifers early, and put them through the shed, in order to pay extra attention to them if they have problems. The experienced cows “calve out” on the range in late March and April. We check them frequently, but they are not husbanded as closely as the heifers.

cow%20with%20cows%20in%20background.jpg
Angus cow waiting for her shot
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Eamon%20handing%20Pat%20branding%20iron.jpg
Eamon handing Pat the branding iron
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Eamon%20with%20Ladder%20sign.jpg
Eamon holding up the cows
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Bruiser%20looking%20under%20panel.jpg
Bruiser at the ready
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Pat and Sharon O’Toole are ranchers in the Little Snake River Valley near Savery, Wyoming, right on the Colorado-Wyoming border. They raise cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and children. Pat “immigrated” from Florida in 1970. He attended Colorado State University, where he met Sharon when both worked for the campus newspaper. Sharon grew up on their ranch, where they live and work with her father, their daughter, son and granddaughter (soon to be grandchildren!). Pat is a “water buffalo” and has served in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1986-1992), on the President’s Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, and is the current President of the Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for farmers, ranchers and irrigators. Sharon is an author, poet and journalist. She writes extensively on Western issues and is a columnist for “The Shepherd” magazine. Pat and Sharon are the parents of three children: Meghan, 27; Bridget, 26; and Eamon, 20.

Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Cows, heifers and calves

Post a comment

About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Search

Archives

Recent Posts