Come With Me For A Day At The Homestead

by Texas Homesteader~

Summer is officially here and WHEW it’s really heating up lately. We’ve already endured one the the wettest springs in history around here so many of the routine tasks we typically stay on top of have been pushed back for drier weather.

Although there are still plenty of muddy areas around the Homestead, we’ve got lots to do today. So we’ll do whatever we need to do to get the job done. Did you ever wonder what a typical day at our NE Texas Homestead really looks like? C’mon with me for A Day At The Homestead…

Did you ever wonder what a typical day at our NE Texas homestead looks like? C'mon with me for A Day... #TexasHomesteader

Early Start

Knowing all we had to do today I was wide awake at 5:00 a.m. & ready to get the day started. I typically work from my computer in the mornings and as I was hacking away on the keyboard I glanced out the window to my world. The sun was just coming up and the cattle in the closest paddock were all waking up & walking up the hill to graze. Beautiful!

As I stepped out on the porch I was serenaded by all manner of birds – their songs all coming together in perfect harmony. Closing my eyes and breathing deeply I was very aware of all my many blessings, especially living and working at a place that speaks to my heart. It’s gonna be a great day!

Herd Pregnancy Checking

Today we’re hoping to pregnancy-check several cows in our herd. To test for pregnancy we collect a small sample of blood to mail off to the lab, which tests it for the presence of a pregnancy-specific protein. In preparation for today we’d already rotated the cattle to a nearby pasture.

So all we’ll need to do today is bring them into the barn paddock, into the pens, sort them and run the cows that we want to check through the chute. Although slated for a PG check, there was one cow we no longer needed to PG check since the bull wanted to be her one & only the whole time we were moving to the barn! I’m guessing she’s in heat now so we’ll check her next month.

Soon the cattle were all sorted and the blood samples were taken, so we moved them back into the pasture. Since we were rotating pastures anyway we pulled the mama who calved last week and blended her & the calf in with this group of the herd. This dam breeds back amazingly quickly and we don’t want to miss that first window of breeding opportunity!

Then we headed to the post office to mail the samples to the lab. While we were out we ran to the hardware/feed store in a nearby town to pick up the rope halter we’ll be using to halter-train one of our prettiest & most calm heifers. I love that RancherMan insisted on buying the pink one for me…  🙂

Stop For Lunch

Then we sped back home where we grabbed a bite of lunch & I spent a little time answering emails, etc. When we saw the other group of the herd coming close to the fence we decided to go ahead & separate two of the animals into a pen close to the house where we could interact with them more easily: the heifer we want to halter break and another cow who is the last calving hold-out cow. We figured since cows don’t typically like to be alone we’d pair these two up so we could keep close tabs on both of them at the same time.

Working With Heifer

After they had settled comfortably in the pen for a bit RancherMan brought the heifer into a pen, slipped the halter on her to get her accustomed to it and worked with her for a bit. Then he released her back with the mama-to-be.

Although this heifer is already very calm, we’ll work with her each day to get her accustomed to being handled so much. It always comes with a thorough brushing and some cattle cake – I think she’s gonna like this routine!

Did you ever wonder what a typical day at our NE Texas homestead looks like? C'mon with me for A Day... #TexasHomesteader

Supper Time

Now it’s time for me to swish inside to whip up a little supper for us. I knew it would be a busy day for us today and that I’d drag in after a long, hot day not wanting to spend time in the kitchen, so I let my slow cooker do the cooking for me. The Spicy Whole Chicken was cooked to perfection, all I needed to do for a healthy meal was add a couple of veggie sides and some homemade bread – DONE!

After supper with the sun beginning to get lower in the sky I get out to the veggie garden for a bit. It’s so hot with the sun right overhead that I use the evening hours to do garden chores, less intense sun rays and a little bit of shade to boot.

Although there’s not  much produce in the garden yet, I’m struggling mightily with bermuda grass taking over my raised beds this year due to an incredibly wet spring that let it get away from me. So I spend each evening out there checking for pests and pulling grass & weeds, I hope to be able to get the upper hand with daily persistence, but Bermuda grass is a formidable foe.  Time will tell…

So there you have it, a typical day here at the homestead. It can be hard, hot, grimy work but there’s absolutely no other life I’d rather live!

~TxH~

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16 thoughts on “Come With Me For A Day At The Homestead

  1. Terri Presser

    What a wonderful day, I bet you slept well after all your hard work. Thanks for the peek into your life and for sharing it at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings

    Reply
  2. Amanda

    Thank you for sharing a day in the life with you at the Merry Monday link party!! So interesting to see what a typical rancher’s day is like.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      Every day’s different Amanda, but on this day I just snapped photos of our progress throughout the day and shared it with our readers. I really do love our lives here… ~TxH~

      Reply
  3. Anne Payne

    It’s good, honest hard work and you seem fitted for it, along with your husband. Y’all’s ranch is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your pictures and a typical day with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop!

    Reply
  4. Alexis @ Chemistry Cachet

    Great pictures! I grew up on a farm in North Central Texas, and I miss it 🙂 It has been getting really hot here too…although we keep getting so much rain around DFW very unusual for this time of year! Hope you have a great rest of the week! Stopping by from #wakeupwednesdaylinkyparty!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I didn’t grow up on a farm Alexis but we absolutely love it out here! You’re certainly right about all the rain we’ve gotten – crazy, right?? LOL So glad you stopped by. ~TxH~

      Reply
  5. ColleenB.

    Oh, gosh, I remember growing up on the farm that we got up before the rooster crowed; as we used to say. (worked from sunrise to sunset) I absolutely dragged my feet (or in some cases my butt) back in them days, but now I’m up very early and start my morning chores. My dad used to say; “stay busy, stay out of trouble.” (had no time to get into trouble)
    Beautiful sunrise photo by the way and sounds like there is never a dull moment around your homestead.
    That’s the thing about living on a farm / ranch or whatever; there is always things to do and things that need to be done.
    Have a wonderful and enjoyable day.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      When we ‘retired’ from corporate employment & moved out here & started working for ourselves many people got the mistaken idea that we were sitting around with nothing to do because we didn’t drive to an office each morning. MAN were they wrong! You’re right Colleen, there’s never a dull moment out here (and rarely a spare moment) but oh how we love this life. Hope the storms that hit us around midnight missed your neck of the woods last night. (yaaaawn…) ~TxH~

      Reply
  6. Patricia

    We’ve had similar problems with rain and Bermuda and weeds! Ditto to not staying on top of it- man it does get away from you quickly!
    Interesting takes about the cattle, pg tests and halter breaking. Yall are busy!
    I enjoyed your tour! 😉

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      Still trying to stay on top of the Bermuda Patricia. Time will tell whether I win this battle or not this year. So glad you stopped by! ~TxH~

      Reply
  7. Carol

    Bermuda grass is my nemesis right now, too! I swear it’s runners can sprint a foot deep and 3 feet across when I barely turn my back. Will I ever win or will we have to coexist? Do you have any secrets?

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I polled our Facebook followers thinking there HAD to be a secret, so far none have been able to shed any light on a secret to rid the garden of Bermuda Carol. I’m still battling but if/when I find the secret I’ll be sure to share! ~TxH~

      Reply
  8. shirl

    love your place 🙂 you are an excellent writer 🙂

    Reply

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