May 1, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
Cody was a well broke, gentle mare. She had been a stellar saddle horse until she was about 16, thengot promoted to broodmare, which she also excelled at. She wouldn’t kick, strike, bite or buck, so a pretty solid horse.When this event happened, it was late fall and I had taken her to the vet […]
April 25, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
Long ago, the cowboss and I were riding together one day and we were checking over some fences,checking water gaps, and water, or lack of, on the far south end of the ranch. As we came to a gate leading into the last pasture, a little bunch of horses spotted us and came trotting up […]
April 22, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
It was the middle of May and the broodmares were getting very close to foaling. They ran out on thehayfield north of the house. Some of the mares were old and needed grained every day, but the closer they got to foaling, the more suspicious they became and wouldn’t come in for grain. So, they […]
April 17, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
The steer had been given to me as a weaned calf. He came from a registered outfit and was destined to be a bull until he broke a hind leg. The owner didn’t need any more for their freezer, so he asked me if Iwanted him. Of course, always glad to get something to feed […]
April 15, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
Cows can sure be notional critters. Case in point was a little black cow I ran on a share deal years ago.Her tag was #213. She was an old range cow from up in Montana and wild as an antelope when thosecows were bought. Most of them settled down when they got used to me […]
April 8, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
The spring of 2009 was a doozy. There were three blizzards in 14 days starting with the spring solsticestorm. There were feet of snow laid down and piled up by the wind. It was a mess. My cows had just started calving and due to the deep drifts and storms, we hadn’t been able to […]
March 27, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
Calving time is actually my favorite time of year. I enjoy seeing the calves bouncing around and since Icalve on green grass, it’s not as tough as the old days of calving in March, thus more enjoyable.Some years ago I was in the midst of calving season. First thing in the morning I’d walk the […]
March 19, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
Calving had been going along for several weeks. There were about 500 head of cows that we calvedevery spring on the ranch. We had been there for several years so had a pretty good handle on the cowsthat were worth keeping an eye on when they calved. One cow on the place had such a […]
March 11, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
The dam in the winter horse pasture had gotten low and finally frozen to the bottom. It was a cold butnearly snowless winter and the horses couldn’t even eat snow to get by, so I had to make a way for them to get water.It was about 100 yards from the corner of their winter […]
March 7, 2024
Jan Swan Wood
We were at a local roping held over Labor Day weekend. My son was going to rope and I was going tokeep the grandboys occupied. They were really little. Carson was three and Taygen a year and a half old.I’ve always figured the best and safest place for tiny people when at a horse related […]