Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Seamus helps Pat with the hydraulic chute
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Each fall, after the cows are shipped, it's time to pregnancy check the cows. They have spent the summer living the good life, grazing on the high altitude, high protein grasses of the Sierra Madres. After the calves are weaned and shipped, the vet comes to check the cows. In the summer, a cow has two jobs: raise her calf and get pregnant with next year's calf. If she fails at one of these jobs, it is likely that she will make her next stop at, well, McDonald's. If she fails at both, her fate is sealed.

Our vet, Warner McFarland, comes out from Rawlins, Wyoming, some 100 road miles away. This is cow-calf country, so he spends several months preg checking thousands of cows. It is a manury business, since he must manually probe the uterus through the rectum. He further gets a visual image of the fetus with his ultrasound machine. This helps determine the gestational age of the calf. If the cow is due to calve at a later date than we want, she is likely to be sold to someone who wants a calf born in that time period.

While the cows are in the chute, we check their teeth, their udders, and vaccinate them. We listen for Warner's welcome cry of "pregnant!"

This year our banker, Morgan Larson, Bank of Wyoming, even showed up and helped out. They are, he noted, a "full service bank."

Warner preg checking with an ultrasound machine
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Sharon vaccinating the cows
photo by Meghan Lally

George helping out at the chute
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat marking a broken mouth cow
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Meghan's office
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Warner McFarland, up close and personal with his client Donna Connor
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat and Bruiser, through the bars
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Seamus with his steely blue eyes
photo by Sharon O'Toole