“The Cowboy Way might be best described as several large volumes of information, mostly tried and tested procedure and methodology, that’s accumulated through the years. The information’s origin might be obscure at times, but the many contributors span centuries, oceans and cultures. The Cowboy Way is about recognizing right from wrong, and establishing relationships with live animals that depend on the cowboy for almost everything. Working horseback is a key part of this philosophy.” – The Western Horseman – Reclaiming The Cowboy Way

Here’s to a day of Leaning the Cowboy Way

Follow the Leader

Learning the Cowboy Way

Like Father, Like Son

Mr. P helping in the chute

Mamma wants her boys to be Cowboys

Photo Credit: Shelby Caitlin Photography

Milky Way, a Jersey cow, came to live on the Grieb Ranch in February.  She belongs to the O family who come out and play and work with her to get her ready for Ag Adventure Camp. She is a bottle calf, meaning at this stage of life she is fed only from a bottle.

Raising a Bottle Calf

So what does it take to raise a bottle calf? A lot of time and energy.  The first weeks of life are the most crucial.  She was fed a bottle of milk twice a day 6am and 6pm.  The milk bottle is made with non-water-softened water (to reduce salt intake) heated to 100 degrees. Snowflake Milk Replacer (a dry milk substitute) is added to the bottle and we shake the bottle up.

To keep her warm each night, Milky Way is blanketed with the adorable pink calf blanket to reduce the loss of body heat.  On the coldest February nights a heat lamp was used to warm the environment.

At a few weeks old she was introduced to some solids including good alfalfa hay, calf manna grain and she always has free choice of fresh water.

The O Family Helps Take Care of Her

Tom, Jocelyn, and Levi, members of the O family, come out to help take care of her.  Milky Way loves the extra attention they give her and she especially loves when they take her on walks to get her halter broke.

She has had her first round of shots to keep her healthy and soon she will need to be de-horned.

Hopefully in 2 years she will be a milk cow, providing milk for the family.  We are enjoying having Milky Way around and the O family’s frequent visits. We will keep you posted about Milky Way’s progress.

“God is not done with me yet!” was the clear message I (Connie) got while on a routine horseback ride to the top of the hill for the morning cattle feeding. Rain makes our Grieb Ranch hillside roads almost impassable because they are so steep. Since rain was in the forecast (yippee), we moved the red trailer to the top of the hill to store the cattle feed. Access to the red trailer, after and during a rain storm, is via horseback.

Feeding the Cattle In the Rain via Horseback

It is my job to feed the cattle in the early morning hours so I saddled up good ol’ Joe the horse and encouraged him up the hill, while rain fell. Our morning routine changed in a split second as on our way up the hill, Joe slipped and the ground gave way. We ended with Joe falling to the ground with me on his back.

Fortunately, this was not my first rodeo and I was able to quickly slip my mud-covered rubber boots from the stirrups and slide off his back and out of the way, but I did not land on my feet! Thankfully, I was off before he struggled back onto his feet. Once standing, Joe was off back down the hill – free from the control of a rider. In the meantime, I struggled to a standing position and trudged through the mud to get him so we could head back up the hill to feed the cattle.

Where we slipped and the ground gave way.

I lead him for some time to both steady my nerves and to find a steep bank that would make mounting easier. Once back up in the saddle we made our way to the red trailer at the top of the hill. I dragged hay from the trailer to the feed bunks and headed for home, mounted.

Home and Off Again

Once home, unsaddled, rid of the rain-soaked clothes then on my way to my “real job” in town, I was hit with what had just transpired and became a limp noodle. My mind was filled with the recent memory of watching the Louis L’amour movie, Conagher which depicted a scene where a cowboy and his horse both slipped, fell and died. This similar event of my day caused a mild shock to my system.

So the day closes with the knowledge of “God is Good” and I am grateful for one more day.  I even  planned to take the evening horseback trip up the hill before the expected rain storm the next morning.  Papa, who is 89, said I could saddle a horse for him to feed.  He is just that kind of amazing man to offer.  I thanked him and said, “I will do it.”

Is it Spring, Summer or Winter?

Here on the Central Coast ranchers count on the hills being green by Thanksgiving. Getting the green helps us push off the feed year until February.  Well this year, a first, we didn’t even get rain before Thanksgiving, so the hills were brown and we set ourselves up for completing our supplemental feeding by February 10.  However February brought record heat and no rain followed by freezing wind, where we bundled up to feed at the end of the month! Another crazy first.

Friends help us brand

broken legged steer

Mr. L learns the branding ropes

Friends, Family and More Firsts

We did enjoy our friends helping with our branding, lots of baby chicks being born, casting a broken legged steer, lots of feeding, and fighting the ever-persistent rodent population on their damaging rampage.

The back hills are without cattle for the first time ever in a February.  Instead, the cattle are in the holding field ready to ship if the rains do not come.

Yet, at the end of each day we count our Blessings and are grateful for another FULL day.

Brand new “Baby Bigs”

This Spring, Grieb Ranch welcomed a new colt for the first time in 30 years.  “Baby Bigs”, as Little P calls him, was born trouble free. His registered name is “Buck N Big Time”. Dam, “Gemma”, is a Buck N Tuff daughter and sire is “One Big Time”, owned by Rick Machado Livestock.

Momma has been re-bred and went in for a Sonogram to see if she is in foal again.

Bigs is growing strong. He may have a brother or sister joining Grieb Ranch next year.

One of the traditions at Grieb Ranch is to plant a fruit tree for family members to give them a connection to the land. The Grieb family also gets family members started in the cattle industry by assigning them a calf.

The newest addition to the Grieb family, baby Andrew, has a heifer calf named Andi. Grieb Ranch anticipates her becoming a top-producing cow for him.