Ranching Life

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Grieb Ranch Farms in Japan

With the T family

This summer, Stan Willems of the Grieb Ranch experienced a great opportunity to visit Japan. Grieb Ranch has maintained a connection to a Japanese dairy farming family since the 1980’s. This summer’s opportunity started with a student travel conference in Tokyo, Japan. Stan then traveled north to visit with the Japanese family on their small farm that raises feed for its dairy herd near the northern village of Mogami near Shinjo.

Map of Japan with Tokyo and to North, Shinjo.
Stan enjoyed riding the Bullet Train which travels up to 200 miles per hour.

Dairy farming output in Japan has increased in the last decade as the Japanese diet has changed and includes more dairy products. Japan has limited land and is very mountainous making agriculture production challenging. Only 12% of the total land mass is available for agriculture and most of that is for rice farming. The northern island of Hokkaido, with its colder climate and larger farm size is the primary area for dairy farming. The products from Hokkaido are primarily used for dairy products. Dairy farms closer to the major cities produce most of the fresh milk that Japanese drink. Japanese dairy herds are small compared to the US, with an average herd size of 50 head.

Grieb Ranch shirts

Grieb Ranch shirts in Japan.

Stan stayed with fellow farming friends at Rocky Ridge Farms near the village of Mogami which is located North of Tokyo. There he spent a few days plowing and tilling for a future crop, repaired some stairs, and checked out the local agriculture production in nearby, Shinjo. This farm stay was the highlight of the trip as he reconnected this friendship which began in the 1980’s.

Stan fixed these stairs at the Rocky Ridge Farm.

Stan fixed these stairs at the Rocky Ridge Farm.

Click these links for more information on Agriculture production and Dairy farming in Japan.

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Play Days and Playdough: Making Squishy-Fun Memories

Squishy fun memories
Our home at Grieb Ranch is a ways from town. So through the years when making something squishy-fun from playdough was our chosen entertainment, we made our own playdough. The tradition continues as play days with Grandma are often spent making more squishy-fun memories with home-made playdough. Here is our recipe:

Kool Dough for Kids

2 ½ C Flour
1 T Cream of Tartar
2 Pkgs of Koolaid (gives it color)
1 C Salt
2 C Boiling Water
3 T Oil

Directions: Combine dry ingredients. Add oil to water and mix well with dry ingredients. Knead as cools until smooth. A Kitchen-Aid mixer with the paddle attachment pulls this recipe together very fast. Store for future fun in a ziplock bag.

P intent on making playdough animals

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Hardware Disease: Goodbye Tonka

Tonka Grand ChampionConnie’s favorite cow, Tonka, died last week. She was a favorite because Ethan showed her at the Santa Barbara County Fair in 2011 and she was the Grand Champion Heifer that year. Adele, this year’s Reserve Champion was out of her. Ethan still proudly wears the Grand Champion buckle he received.

IMG_2002Recently, Tonka was acting strange and losing weight. So she was brought down from the hills and put in a pen for observation. There were signs of something as a lump under her jaw had developed. She was checked for woody tongue but that was not it. Her brisket started to enlarge which indicated “Hardware Disease”. A “Bounty Hunter” metal detector was used to determine if there was any metal in her.

Cattle are not discriminant eaters and frequently swallow bits of metal and nails and parts of fencing as they graze the hillside. These metal pieces accumulate in a chamber of the stomach called the reticulum which is also near the heart. The metal pieces can puncture through and impact the heart or cause infection throughout the body. Yes indeed the “Bounty Hunter” lit up which meant that she had metal in her. The detector also saved time during the autopsy as it showed where the metal was. Metal pieces had settled in several places in her body and one had caused an abscess.

Bounty Hunter was used to find the metal in Tonka’s body.
Magnet that is placed in the cow to attract metal pieces.
Magnet pulled from Tonka with metal pieces attached.

Tonka had a magnet placed in her several years ago to help prevent this disease by attracting the metal pieces all in one place. However her magnet stopped working as a coating grew on it and it no longer held or attracted metal pieces. Above is a pic of the magnet that was pulled out of her body. Note several metal pieces that stayed attached to it.

FullSizeRender(1)When a cow dies what happens to the body? There are several options. One, is to call the Tallow works and they come out and pick up the animal. Two, is dig a big hole and bury the animal. Three, leave it out in the hills and let the buzzards, bears and bugs do a fast job of making the carcass disappear.

Goodbye Tonka. Thank you for leaving your legacy with Grieb Ranch.

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A Day In The Life at Grieb Ranch

A day in the life of Grieb Ranch

A day in the life at Grieb Ranch. We were out gathering cattle at Grieb Ranch, recent rain stimulated the grass to emerge; giving a hint of green, the morning was clear and we could see to the ocean. The cattle were making their way back to our main area . . . we turned to see that it was just another beautiful day on Grieb Ranch. We were thankful.

Yes the recent storm dumped enough water to allow Connie to skip watering for a week. However the hay stacks got wet, and the moisture caused the grass seeds to germinate but without regular watering the grass will die and not re-germinate. Yet we are thankful. Even when the rain actually can leach out the nutrients in the grass which then provides less feed value to the cows, we are still thankful.

PSALM 121

1I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

3He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

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Fair Fun and Friends

Ethan and RH 2015

Ethan and his Replacement Heifer ready for the Santa Barbara County Fair 2015.

Last week Grieb Ranch was off to the Santa Barbara County Fair. Grandpa Grieb stayed home and manned the ranch while the rest were working and well yes, playing, at the fair. Along with all the animal supplies many other things had to be brought and set up on site: the stall decorations, the blocking chute, the travel trailer to sleep in and the Replacement heifer to show. First on the fair agenda is the pregnancy test – if the heifer is not pregnant she can’t be shown. Next is the showmanship class followed by the breed judging class. All these classes set up the animals for the auction on Friday of fair week. Every day during the week the animals are groomed, fed, watered and of course the cow stall is mucked several times a day. All free time is spent hanging with fair friends and doing fair activities like the rides.

Wow! One of the Replacement heifers from Grieb Ranch and shown and worked with by our friend Katie Howell was Reserve Champion FFA Replacement Heifer and Local Bred Reserve Champion! These awards are a Grieb Ranch first! Katie started working with “Adele” shortly after she was born out at Grieb Ranch.

Extra excitement this year came from the sky as thunder, lightning and pouring rain caused all participants to run for cover and resulted in a mandatory evacuation of the camp trailer area on Sunday morning. Imagine the chaos as hundreds of rigs were tying to get out of there at once. July is typically one of the driest here on the Central Coast so to get a rain storm like this in July during a drought was truly unexpected.

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Ol’ Red

old red beforeboot holding cloth 2Grieb Ranch folks got out the rubber boots last week . . . not because it rained, but because they needed the boots to hold down the drop cloth as they painted the house. Next on the paint gun agenda was Ol’ Red.Painting red 2

Ol’ Red has been a fixture of Grieb Ranch since the 1970’s and has been places that some people only dream of going. It could spin quite a yarn if it were able. The first time Connie drove home from the Santa Maria fair by herself pulling a trailer, it was Ol’ Red that she pulled.

Another memory takes place in the back country off Hwy 166 where Connie was sent to pick up a wild cow. Ol’ Red gave her quite the scare when she ventured down a steep hill the trailer started to pass her. Turns out the trailer brakes weren’t working! Yikes. She had to wait for some cowboys to rope Ol’ Red and keep it in place while someone else drove the truck into a safer place and set the trailer back behind the truck.

Flap, Flap, Flap the sound came from the trailer recently as Connie was hauling heifers from the hills into the lower corral. Connie stopped and checked the trailer and found the tread coming off one of the wheels. She was able to wind the truck and trailer down the hill to the lower corrals still fully loaded with the flap, flap, flap sound continuing. Once on the flat lower section the heifers were unloaded and then began the fun process of changing out the tire in a bit of an unconventional way . . . a tractor was used as a jack! Little P witnessed this tire change and quickly started practicing the method on his own. Ethan was also available to lend a hand and some muscle using the lug wrench to remove the bad tire.

Using the Tractor as a Jack
Little P practices using a tractor as a jack.

So with a new tire came new paint, but not just paint, Ol’ Red also got new mats on the replaced floor and rust converter as an undercoat. Ol’ Red is still red – quite RED – and shines with its new coat ready to take on new adventures for Grieb Ranch.

Old red with new paint full pic 2

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“Mr. T” a Stalwart Teacher of Kids at Ag Adventure Camp

3 boys and a horse (960x825)

We just spent most of the past two weeks teaching kids about Agriculture and God’s creation at Ag Adventure Camp put on by the Apela Foundation. What a joy it is to watch the delight in the girls and boys faces when they ride for the first time, or hold a chick, or milk a goat or experience God’s handiwork and beauty.

Mr T waits to be groomedOne of our Grieb Ranch horses, “Mr T” has been a stalwart participant in giving kids the opportunity to ride for the past four Ag Adventure Camps. Most kids have never been on a horse prior to camp and most are excited. First-timers approach the horse a bit gingerly as the closer they get the more they realize the size and power of the creature. However, as they ride they discover the joy of helping this powerful yet timid-by-nature creature negotiate around the arena.

Sam Savitt horse story author and artist sums up the horse perfectly,

“He is in some ways, a paradox of nature. Because of his size it is difficult to realize that he is a timid creature, quick to fright and flight. Yet he can be taught to gallop into the thick of artillery fire, ford a flooded river, endure head-on collisions of the polo field, and face a maddened steer, or jump a course of the most formidable obstacles you’ve ever seen. He has a simple one-track mind, but he possesses a terrific memory.”

Mr T teaches ridingWe help our Ag Adventure campers understand how a horse thinks and reacts and teach them to guide a horse using their eyes, sitting up straight and using a giving hand. In a given Ag Adventure Camp week Mr. T might have as many as 32 new riders. He keeps going along and doing his best to follow each rider’s instructions as the riders learn how to guide him around the arena and around the poles.

Mr. T came to the Grieb Ranch four years ago just before the second year of Ag Adventure camp. He was purchased from a ranch in Texas. Grieb Ranch uses him to round up the cattle in the hills and for regular riding around the ranch. He is a 10 year old, sorrel color, registered Quarter Horse. Mr T has a full registered name, CTR Peptos Surfine, which is a bit difficult to remember and because he has a brand near his left stifle which is a circle surrounding the letter T – Mr.T is the name we use.Mr T's brand

We enjoy Mr T and are thankful that he continues to give the Ag Adventure kids memories of riding that they will treasure for a life-time.Kids with Mr. T saddled

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All In A Day’s Activities

3 boys and a horse (960x825)The list of things to do never ceases to end at the ranch. We are gearing up for Ag Adventure Camp next week where several of us introduce agriculture to kids who don’t get to experience what we do everyday. Several of our Grieb Ranch horses provide the kids with riding experiences to treasure. Many of these kids have never had the opportunity to ride. We bring in baby chicks which amuse the campers. We enjoy the delight on these kid’s faces as they hold the delicate, little, fuzzy creatures. The goats give hands-on experience in milking. The kids learn to rope a steer . . . a dummy steer, shoot a bow and arrow, play horseshoes, shoot BB gun and just simply take in the great outdoors and experience so much of God’s creation working together.

We have sent some calves to market as the grass goes to seed. It is this time of the year that we process/butcher a nice grass-fed steer for our meat for the year which makes for some nice tender steaks. We have also hatched out some new chicks.

Grass-fed beef
Make Way for Ducklings.
All in a day's work

All in a day’s work

And in the midst of all this we had a unique happening at the ranch. As if we do not have anything else going on at the ranch . . . A young cow got her head stuck through the fence. This was a first for us. We had to get a jack to spread the bars to get her out… we then used rope to help turn her head.

On top of all of this Ethan is getting a heifer ready to show at the fair. He recently participated in a 4H Presentation Day that was held at UC Davis. He gave his presentation, “Pre-Show Heifer Fitting Guide”, where he received a Gold at County Level, Regional Level and then State Level. Ethan Certificate (936x1024)Congratulations to Ethan!

All in a day’s activities!

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Tex: The Go-To Horse

Smiling cowboy

Tex was the Go-to horse. We always relied on Tex and he would do anything asked of him.

He was the horse that kids could ride, the horse you could swing a rope off of, the horse who would always help round up the cattle, the horse to take on a long pack trip, the horse to take camping, the horse we knew our kid could be safe on, the horse that introduced numerous kids to horse back riding at Ag Adventure Camp. Tex participated in Daniel and Jessica’s wedding. He carried the bride from the wedding site to the reception.

Tex taught kids to ride at Ag Adventure Camp
Tex was always relied upon to work cattle.
The horse we knew our kid would be safe on.
Tex carried the bride from the wedding site to the reception.

He became part of the Grieb Ranch horse string in the Fall of 2006 as a two-year old. Tex was Daniel’s horse. Daniel got him in trade for work done at a man’s ranch in Sioux Center Iowa while at college. Daniel broke Tex to ride and to get him ready to pull calves back home Daniel pulled classmates across the snow-covered football field on inner tubes behind him while riding Tex. Tex was hauled from Iowa to Grieb Ranch after Daniel graduated from college.

Daniel enjoyed Tex’s personality, saw that he had good conformation and liked the Quarter Horse bloodlines he came from. We all enjoyed how he greeted us with his special neigh and we knew he would love doing whatever was to be asked of him that day – even on his last day.

IMG_1362 (1024x683)

Tex has left us treasured memories, and experience gained. Thank you Tex.

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Croquet Anyone?

Croquet Anyone?

Ranching can sometimes feel like, “all work and no play”, yet we love to make memories as a family and treasure the many fond memories we have playing games on Sunday afternoons and holidays at Grandma and Grandpa Grieb’s house. There were three outside games we all enjoyed as kids: Croquet, Kick-the-Can, and the ever-popular Bamboo Patch game.

Now that the tables are turned and we ARE the grandparents; our family tradition of playing games together continues.

The big fields next to Grandma and Grandpa Grieb’s house were often filled with the harvesting and drying of apricots. However, when the fields were cleared after the harvest we quickly took up that space for our outside games. Croquet was one of the first games we set up. Grabbing the mallets, balls, ball stakes and wicks we set up the familiar pattern. We then developed our hitting skill by whacking the croquet balls with a mallet through the ball stakes. The game is played by 2 – 6 people and the object is to get from one wick to the other through the stakes taking turns. The first one to hit the stake on the other side is the winner. You can break up into teams or just fight for ball position as individuals.

Three of Four Generations playing Croquet
Finishing Strong

Recently we got out our Croquet set at Grieb Ranch for four generations to play. As we were setting up, Papa (Carl) declared that he would surely beat us all. Little did he know that the playing field was dotted with holes left by the chickens where they spend part of the day sunbathing. Those holes made the game more challenging than usual and much laughter was heard across the playing field.

Memories by Connie Grieb Willems