Smilin' Ranch - Life on the Ranch

Fall Cattle Work

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 16:09:01 GMT

Early Mornings, Cool Weather, Hoofbeats and Panting Dogs

Most people have a certain season or time during the year that they dub as their "favorite time of year." I would say most would stray more towards fall and winter because those seasons include some major holidays and have spirit galore! I on the other hand, LOVE FALL! Not because of the pumpkin spice and sweater weather... it's because of the Fall Run!

In our world this comes every, single year. It starts in September with pre-conditioning calves (giving them their vaccinations and deworming), then moves in to gathering and shipping yearlings, next is gathering cattle (mamas and babies) on grass and bringing them home and finally shipping the calves to the sale barn for our single pay check for a years worth of work.

When fall work comes, we don't just do this for ourselves. We trade help with the neighbors and work their cattle too. We also get hired to "Day Work" for other ranches in our area to help with their fall cattle work as well. This requires a couple of good horses, maybe a colt or two to drag along and of coarse our trusty cattle dogs!

Some ranches are early morning starters, for instance, there at 6:00 am and riding out in the dark so it's just peaking light as we turn back toward their home place to start collecting cattle as we ride. Other places (like us) like to start mid morning after chores are done and kids are off to school. Waiting a bit also helps the fog burn off a little this time of year so we can see the cattle better in the pastures.

Whatever the situation is, its always been good for my soul to get outside horseback (or muleback) to cover some ground and hunt cattle. The only sound is silence in the distance when beginning the round-up. When cows start to catch the jest of what's going on you'll start hearing them calling for their calf from a ways away. As the round up starts the dogs are starting their panting a bit and my mount usually has a steadied heavy breathing after the warm up to get to the back of the pasture.

Once the round-up is in full motion the cowboys (or cowgirls) start feeding off of each other actions and rate their speed off of the next guy across the way, that way everyone is rounding up at the same pace and no one is getting ahead of each other! Before long everyone has collectively gathered their part of the pasture and the cow dogs have sprung some out of the trees to make sure none were left behind. The cows and calves are all now in one big group be be pushed into a holding corral where they can be counted, sorted and worked or shipped.

Every time I get an opportunity to saddle up another day, have a good mount under me and have a trusty dog by my side... I NEVER take it for granted! My heart and soul lives for this time or year and it's even better when I have the best guy by my side that basically taught me everything I know about this line of work! Ty day-worked when I met him and we've been able to keep the gig for over 15 years together now. If there is ever a time we get hired individually (few and far between and it's usually me who stays home), he knows there is some making up to do when he gets home because I'm probably out of sorts because I missed out!

15 Years of Ranch Wife Wedded Bliss

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:38:43 GMT

Anniversary, Vacations and Reflections...

When it comes to being married in general, this day in age, it's hard to keep a good thing going! According to a google search I did (I know, real official), 40-50% of first marriages end in a divorce. Things aren't like they used to be where a wife stays home and tends to the kids and a husband brings home the bacon.

Although, I don't have a "Real" job, I have been booted into the work scene/business owner since committing to run my own micro dairy in 2020! Ty and I work day in and day out to make sure all of the tasks are accomplished on the ranch from milking cows to cleaning pens to tending to the beef herd to making sure facilities are kept.

September 25th, Ty and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. A typical anniversary for us is the regular daily tasks, nut usually we check cows out in the pastures. But on our anniversary, Ty gets all the gates! I know, this sounds silly... but this really does make a gal feel special! Ty's the first one to tell you that I am the best gate opener he knows! I am a "words of affirmation" type gal, so hearing him say that to people makes me all giddy inside (I do secretly know he says that to keep me happy, content and feeling appreciated for opening gates and in return keeps him in the pickup driving)! It's a win win in my opinion!

After checking cows he will treat me to a lunch at our local Mexican restaurant where we get our typical orders but get spoiled with a complimentary anniversary brownie and ice cream for dessert! We continue on the rest of the day doing all the typical things but with a little extra flair because it is, in fact, our anniversary.

This year I put my foot down and told Ty we had to do something for our special 15th year! I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I just had to make sure he was on board for leaving in the midst of our fall run with preconditioning calves and daywork. He was on board so I booked a hotel a couple months in advance to go to Custer, South Dakota and watch their Annual Buffalo round-up at Custer State Park!

This, my friends, was just what the doctor ordered! It wasn't a tropical vacation a whole travel day of flights away or some romantic cruise where you get spoiled to the hilt with massages and pampering. This was a six hour drive and didn't break the bank! We got to experience a prep day to scout out where we wanted to view the round up, got some souvenirs and did some site seeing. An early morning wake up on a cool morning to try and get the best place to put our chairs as possible for our viewing needs! We brought snacks and drinks and had no rush, just enjoyed our time together (even if ty took a little nap in our 4.5 hour wait).

I used this anniversary to possibly prepare and research for our next anniversary to be able to apply to ride in the round-up in 2026! See, I like to kill two birds with one stone! If I get selected, we will be there again next year, just in a different setting!

I love that over the years Ty and I have built a strong relationship through all the ups and downs. I put out a pretty lengthy, mushy Facebook post on the day of our anniversary and spoke from my heart. I spotlighted that at 15 years I am just beginning to see the love that these 30+ year marriages have. It's an unspoken love and knowing each other inside and out. It's being one and having an unwavering trust in one another. It's knowing how to support your spouse in all types of circumstances and helping guide them through it, hand in hand.

At 15 years in and I still love the guy more every single day! And, I'm sure his first choice wouldn't have been a buffalo round-up but he was perfectly happy to do exactly what made me happy! To top off our anniversary day, he bought me a beaver fur winter bomber hat! Most women get jewelry and flowers for their major anniversary's... my husband knows my heart and made it perfectly perfect for me!

Life's Short... Buy the Tiny Calf!

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:45:16 GMT

Cute Calfs, Impulse Buys and Happy Kids!

Ty and I have worked at the sale barn in Lexington (this round) for about five years, him a little more and me a little less. We see all types of animals come through that place! Anything from horned cattle to Holsteins to heavy cull cows to high end feeder cattle.

I am going to be the first one to admit that I feel like I have got a deal or two on something that has come through the ring that may be a little odd, but still just fine. One time I bought two weaned Shorthorn heifers that brought $400 each! They ended up getting shown by the kids in 4H one year and are now on their second calves with us! I also bought a "Jersey/Simental" cross weaned heifer for $425 one year that I figured would make a heck of nurse cow! When transitioning my micro dairy to all A2/A2 cattle, I tested as many of my current dairy type cattle that I had. Just as this cow (Tracey) got close to calving her first year we got the results back, low and behold she was A2/A2!!! This blew my mind! Tracey is currently in the princess pen at the ranch getting milked right along with the rest of the spoiled girls and in my eyes worth quite the penny!

Things happen for a reason. Looking back on these situations shows me that even though it wasn't a planned buy and I probably really didn't have the money to buy them anyways, in the end they've had great outcomes!

Last Friday, one of those moments came up again! In the group of baby calves at the sale barn there was one that stood out to me! It wasn't because she was the best calf in the pen or because she looked healthier than all the others. It was because she struck me as a more mature or older calf then the rest in the pen... except she was smaller than all the newborn calves in there! It baffled me for a bit and when I went over to the fence to take a closer look she came right over to bawled at me. I stuck my hand out and she immediately latched on to my finger and started sucking like she was starving although she obviously hadn't been starved a day in her life!

This was all about a couple minute deal and then I was back to work. Ty knew I had been eyeballing her so when the calves went in to sell, he hollered over to me and alerted me that that calf was in the ring with the rest of them. I jumped off my mule and went to the auction block to watch what was going to unfold.

With absolutely no expectations in my mind to get this little calf bought that just kept following the ring men around as they sorted the 15 +/- calves as they sold out of the ring, this little girl was the last one left! The last calf is usually the least desired calf to be purchased on a typical day at the barn. She was small and by no means the type of calf any regular rancher would want to put on a cow to raise into a potential $2000+ calf... she would never turn into a prime animal at all. But, what she was was a calf that was healthier than all the calves in that ring and for me that's more important than paying for something that my die the second you get it home!

With her being the last one in the ring, the auctioneer began his ramble. They got their first hit at $125 and then had constant bidding from the crowd in $25 increments all the way up to $300. At $300 it stalled and the auctioneer was making his last call of "$300 going once!" At that very moment I reached forward and tapped him on the shoulder, he looked back over his shoulder at me and I gave him a nod for the $325 bid. He asked around a little more for the $350 bid and no one bit, so he closed out the bidding and she was all mine!

I didn't need a baby calf for any reason, getting a baby calf around at this time of year will actually add more to our chores! Now, here I am leading the poor, lost little girl to her pen so I can take her home when the sale was over! She led to the trailer by trying to suck my finger and I picked her up and put her in the front compartment.

When I got her home, Gus was the first one to meet me and had a halter in hand because I had sent him a picture earlier in the day. He no more than got her off the trailer and was running across the yard as she chased him bucking along here and there! In that moment I knew I had made the right decision!

Is this little calf going to grow up to be a prime animal, No. Is she going to make excellent breeding stock, No. But, is she going to bring joy to our family and ranch, YES! Is she going to be able to go to social events in town and help represent our ranch so kids and adults can get hands on with ranch animals, YES!

There are times that I probably put the cart before the horse and jump the gun a little. I didn't have a plan in place for the little calf I brought home but I knew she could contribute somehow. The very next day she went right to work when she got loaded up on our Smilin' Ranch Company parade float for our Harvest Festival parade in Gothenburg! She was a hit and got her big debut when she was in our petting zoo in the park that day! She also got to make her rounds in the park where she got admired and petted by all the people who saw her!

The moral of the story is, sometimes you just need to let your gut take control and make the decision without hesitation! It may just be one of the best split second decisions of your life! Think about the long run... core memories will be made for your family! They will talk about with their grandkids about how, "their Mom bought a miniature calf named Bridget at the sale barn and we had so much fun with her! She even ended up living until she was 20 years old!"

Balancing Life

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:40:39 GMT

Parade Prep, ChatGPT and Balancing Life...

As I'm sitting here in The Milk House waiting of some butter sticks I made this morning to firm up in the freezer so I can package them, I get to thinking just how busy we are and how much we pack in to our lives. Thinking to myself, "This seems like a great time to sit down and get another weekly blog put together!"

Love Where You Live. That's the theme of this years Harvest Festival Parade in Gothenburg to be held at 10:00 on Saturday, September 20th!

Of all the things we could do to represent our awesome community, I just keep pulling unimpressive ideas from my mind. I usually have some inspiration and creativity when it comes to these things! This may partially be a little overwhelming in my thought process because The Milk House isn't all I have to worry about. I have the Smilin' Ranch float to put together also and am helping to get the 4H Group, Antelope Livestock planned out as well and helping with a dash of the NE Draft Horse Associations as well.

Desperate to get some inspiration I reached out to my social media world and got so many great ideas from my trusty followers! The thing that surprised me was how many people reached out to ChatGPT! What... the... Heck?!?! This is not something that had even crossed my mind. I will admit that I do have the app downloaded on my phone from people encouraging me to make my life easier and use it... but have I ever used it... NO.

I can't believe the ideas that it tossed out that people were able to contribute ideas for the parade floats! Because of this help, it did help me land the ideas for both The Milk House and Smilin' Ranch Co to help show why we Love Where We Live! Now we just have to get everything put together and hopefully its not too much work to get everything to town!

Within that planning and building of parade floats we are fitting in football, cross country, doctors appointments, celebrating the in-laws 46th anniversary and even some grocery shopping. This isn't even mentioning keeping the day to day ranch life going and animals taken care of and daily operations of The Milk House/Milking Cows!

It seems as though everyone is busy these days! For us it really just depends on how we coordinate our life and the sacrifices we have to make in areas to make things flow! Some days do I have to milk extra early or a little late to make a kids event, Yes. Is there times that a kid has to step up to make sure their siblings chores are done, Yes. It's all a balance and as a ranch family of five, we have found a routine within "Mindset and Sacrifice" that works for our busy lifestyle... AND... we still have FUN doing it!

Here comes Fall... 2025

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:53:11 GMT

Back to the Grind and Mental Breakdowns...

Well, here we are almost 3/4 of the way through 2025! Where has the year gone?

As I sit here Tuesday morning (9/9), I find myself inspired to start the blog back up. Things have slowed here in The Milk House, as we are down on milk supply. Currently milking eight cows (twice a day) that are all late into their lactations, waiting on Theo to calve at the beginning of October to help out our supply! There isn't enough supply to make much at the beginning of the week, so here I am... tapping back into my blog!

We have had an eventful year so far! This spring, around the beginning of March, I parted ways with a person I thought was in this adventure for the long haul. I can't say that I never saw it coming but it was apparent that the end goal was not the same and the drive wasn't there to make The Milk House bigger and better... in her eyes it just looked like more work. I can't blame her, it is a lot.

That one single change launched us into something I never expected... GROWTH! I put my nose to the grind and worked mostly every milking and the store hours most days for about a month and a half. This, in short, led to what I would call (and the people around me) a mental breakdown. I didn't want to run into hiring someone else right away because I wanted to make sure I was hiring the right person. This had become an overwhelming thought when I was deep into the grind and keeping this monster of a business functioning. I can't complain that I have built a business from scratch that is thriving... I've had dark days as a business owner before, but never a dark day about a growing "Thriving" business!

With a husband that is very mindful of my emotions, kids concerned about their Mom and a best friend that came to my rescue (even showed up for the 5:00am milking the next morning after my breakdown), I made it through! We all worked together to come up with a plan to start getting some help around here!

Since then we have hired a few people and also fired a few people. This business has pushed me into being a Boss, and that is a new concept to me! Each instance it challenges me with I always learn a few things in the end! We are currently functioning with one part time milker and three part time people in The Milk House making product throughout the week and Dallee and I filling in all the cracks. Oh wait, we can't forget about Ty who keeps my girls happy, healthy and fed everyday!

With the tourism end of our operation growing, we had a special opportunity to actually buy the Gillespie home place that we live on! We closed on the property on July 30th, 2025! We are now homeowners and SO looking forward to what is ahead! New Milk House facility as well as updating the house at some point is all in the near future, hopefully! It seems a little overwhelming, but with a dash of tourism thrown into it, I know the people will flock in to get a taste of what we have to offer as a family willing to let people join in on our adventures!

Anywho, coming into fall the kids have gone back to school and are all now attending Brady Public School! Woodrow is in Pre-K, Gus is in 7th and Dallee is a Freshman! Our fall daywork is gearing up which is my favorite time of the year! We have some sports going on and draft horse shows that we are trying to fit into all "the things" as I say!

I am looking forward to getting this blog up and going again, as I feel its a great outlet to keep people updated and gets some stuff off my chest. In this case, my mental breakdown earlier this year... It's not that I want to broadcast it, I just want people to know that in the right circumstances, even the strongest people can break, and that's OK!

Colostrum! What do we do with it??

spurgirly@gmail.com (Malloree Barnes) — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 18:45:46 GMT

Oreo Calved, It's a Girl!

New life on the ranch is abundant this time of year. As we gear up for calving our beef cow herd, we usually have a few nurse cows bred to calve before our calving start date of March 1. These cows help to support the extra beef type calves throughout calving. Miss Oreo was right on track when she calved early morning on February 19, 2021! With a less than eventful delivery (this is her 4th pregnancy), she had her little heifer calf up and going in no time!

Colostrum, also known as liquid gold, is the first form of milk produced by a cow (people make colostrum too) before delivering a new born calf. This thick, nutritious liquid is packed with vitamins and antibodies that help protect the calf from bacteria and viruses. It is essential for a calf to get a good dose of colostrum within the first few hours of life. The colostrum will get them started on the right path to being healthy!

Obviously one little calf cannot handle the supply of colostrum a dairy cow has built up before calving. There are many different methods to how long you let a dairy calf have colostrum from the mother, I personally leave the cow and calf for 24 hours and do nothing as far as milking the cow. After the 24 hours is up I get the cow in and milk the rest of the colostrum out of her. This starts the process of her coming into her milk and gives her udder some relief as well. The baby and her are returned together so the baby can continue to get milk and more nutrients from the mother.

What do we do with the Colostrum??? Well, this is where we benefit from being able to collect that precious, "Liquid Gold." After, collecting the colostrum through milking the cow, we divide it into quart size portions. After sealing the containers up and labeling them with the date and cow that provided it, the invaluable liquid goes into the freezer to preserve its nutrients for a baby that may need it during calving.

This is very cost effective for us as a ranch. To buy a manufactured powdered colostrum mix that is comparable to the colostrum our milk cows give would be at least $30+ per bag. Each bag would only feed that calf one helping (they need fed every 6 hours that first day) of the 24 hours it needs colostrum, so your looking at at least $120 to get a calf started on the right track in life.

Oreo gave us 3 1/2 gallons of colostrum, and that is after her calf was with her for 24 hours! We usually end up with some extra colostrum around due to the amount of fresh milk cows we have per year. If we have the extra to spare I will offer it for sale to local area ranchers and it doesn't stick around long. The ranchers that buy it appreciate the quality of the colostrum to give their calves the best start possible with the hand they were dealt. We personally give it to any calf we feel may have not got a good dose of colostrum, an extra twin and maybe even a calf that the mom died while giving birth (that doesn't happen often).

We are fortunate to have a well rounded operation that comingles within itself. Sometimes the nurse cows have to raise the beef calves and sometimes the beef calves need a little extra nutrition to start out life on the right track. I'm just tickled all of these resources are right at my fingertips.

I Sold a Nurse Cow to Pay for a Website

spurgirly@gmail.com (Malloree Barnes) — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:37:39 GMT

Welcome to The Milk House - Blog

Welcome!

Three years ago I would have never imagined I'd be sitting here writing my very first Blog! When this adventure began it was based around Nurse Cows that would help to support our extra calves (twins, calves that loose their moms, etc.) throughout calving. I knew having a cow raise the extra calves would benefit the calves more than me making bottles with milk replacer twice daily for them. From this developed a milking program that would eventually turn into a building being moved onto our property that would house all of the "Milk Stuff" that was taking up my house kitchen! This has become known as The Milk House with our family and the name stuck!

With this new found idea of making a business that would help to utilize my Raw Milk in every fashion, I decided that a website would help me spread the word and educate people about what I am trying to do! After looking around and searching website developers, I realized this wasn't going to be an inexpensive cost. I finally found the developer I wanted to help make my vision come to life and got a quote! With a game plan in hand and ready to start the process all I needed to do was pay for said website.

I started pondering about how I was going to run this hair brained idea past my husband and try to find the money to get the ball rolling. When I presented the idea about the website to my husband he didn't bat an eye when he told me that I should consider selling a nurse cow. Well, this is a great idea, but I get so attached! How could I think of selling any of the girls that have helped me raise strong, healthy calves for several years???

As fate would have it, a couple days later, I got a message from an old rodeo friend asking me some questions about nurse cows. The conversation led on and I realized this was a sign flashing right in front of my face! She was looking for a reliable nurse cow and I had just the one that would fit her operation! That's when I told her about Thelma and what she had done for our ranch and what a good nurse cow she was. She said she would think about it and get back to me.

I got to thinking about what she had done for me to help me learn about the nurse cow world. She was the 4th dairy type cow I had ever bought. I only bought her because she was very close to calving and I needed a cow that was ready to nurse calves at the beginning of calving that year. This was her first calf and she wasn't halter broke or even very gentle. When I went to pick her up, she had just calved the day before, there was a little gangly coyote sized calf standing next to her. Of coarse we had to name her calf Louise! Once I got her home and she started settling in, I decided this cow was going to be halter broke. After several attempts, it was evident that she was not going to stand for it. So, I gave up and we both came to an agreement: as long as she was good and went where I needed her to go by following a bucket full of corn, we would get along just fine! She did just that!

Thelma raised three of her own calves for me: Louise, Theo and Theda. She also raised two calves after weaning her calf every year. For a total of nine calves in three years! That is the power of a nurse cow, one cow raising three calves (that are as big, if not bigger, than the rest of the big beef herds calves) a year compared to a beef cow that only raises one calf!

A couple days had went by after talking to my friend about her. When she finally contacted me she said she was interested in purchasing Thelma. I knew she would give her a caring home and would love her as much as I do! It's hard on my heart to let an animal go that I have developed a relationship with, but this felt right and I knew it was meant to be! We arranged to meet and do the exchange a couple weeks later.

All said and done, I deposited the check and sent a check right to my website developer! Whew... let the building of my vision begin!

Now my website is up and running and I am absolutely in LOVE with what we came up with, if I do say so myself! I am glad Thelma got a new home and in return I got a tool to help me further my dream and to share my adventures through this Blog!

In the end, I Sold a Nurse Cow to Pay for a Website... I never envisioned those words coming out of my mouth. But, Hey! It makes a heck of a story!