Those TV shows about vets make it look easy. Doc gets a call about a calf that needs to be pulled, and he or she speeds over to the farm in a jiffy. There, things are set up nicely for a few quick turns inside the cow, and the calf comes out nicely. It doesn’t work like that in real life.

They say you can’t control the weather, but can we? A better question would be, “Have we been influencing the weather and our climate for decades?” or “Have cattle producer actions been contributing to global warming?”

I love words. I try to use some every day so I don’t get out of practice. What if I were in a wreck on my horse and couldn’t remember how to say, “Whoa!”? If I mistakenly yelled, “Wo!” instead, would my horse know what to do?

As I write this blog, there is little going on for our ranch right now, other than the nightly chore of feeding cows. This time of year always feels like the proverbial calm before the storm. Our first official calving date is 10 days away. While feeding, we inspect and count cows to see who will be the first to “go.”

This is the season of the year when we are poignantly reminded of all the things for which we should be grateful. Too often, however, life gets in the way, and we don’t take the time to consider all our blessings. Between breaking ice in stock tanks, trying to get teenagers out of bed to do chores and working to remember what was in grandma’s turkey dressing before we leave the grocery store, we often don’t stop to reflect on all we have.