Spring is coming in fits and starts. Today as I write this the weather outside is windy and cold, most unpleasant. Just hunker down and the weather will soon change and we will be back to melting temperatures and sunny skies.
This weather is a challenge for the cowboys as many cows are calving this time of year. Frozen ears and calves getting too cold when born are a constant problem for the guys looking after the cows. If a calf can get dried off and have a good suck he is away. Calving barns and some place out of the wind are a must. Good luck with the calving, fellas, and don’t get too tired.
With all this snow melting and a call from a ratepayer, I went for a road tour. I am the councillor for Division 3. Straight north of me across Highway 16 is RR 3242. In the four miles from Highway 16 to the Lashburn battery the water crosses the road 13 times. Eleven out of 13 culverts have water running across the road or water on the road. I do not remember when this road was built, but there must have been a sale on 18-inch culverts. They are very inadequate for the water that is coming. On two of the three major creeks, running water had washed half the roadbed out. Foreman Chris got a load of rocks dumped into the hole the next day and fixed it up. It was a dangerous situation. Foreman Chris said that he had 32 water or road problems that day. That is what I call swamped. The creek next to my mother’s homestead was flowing but there must have been a big culvert put in there as there was no big backup. Hopefully this cooler weather will slow down the spring runoff. This is mostly an oil haul road with only one family living on the road. I would like to see this road built up in the future, but I know there are many more pressing roads that will come first. This road cannot be built without financial assistance from the oil companies and at the moment they do not have money for projects. I can understand that.
On the home front, Jaco and Quinny have been digging in bin 11 to get down to the drain. The canola is set up hard. The crew think they are about three feet from the bottom. This dirty job cannot get over soon enough as far as I am concerned. The crew who are doing all the work are thinking the same. If they can get a hole established to the drain things will be much easier. We have other better things to do as I bought an airless paint sprayer. I will keep to myself what I thought of the intelligence of the clerks in the store where I bought the sprayer. I do not like it when I phone ahead, am quoted a price, ask the clerk in the store the price and when we got to the till the price was $50 more. That is just plain dishonest. I will not be going back into that store anytime soon. We are going to paint the big sliding doors at the elevator and two smaller doors. I would like to paint the whole elevator but maybe not right now. I also have a painting project at our house. This is under negotiations with the house boss and after 46.5 years I am not stupid enough to go and do something she doesn’t agree with.
I went to the Source Speckled Park Sale in Lloydminster. Some cattle sold really high, but some took a little less. This is a sale put on by my son-in-law Roland and Melissa Chibri and their family and his father and mother, Dale and Linda Chibri. Roland and his father Dale Chibri worked tirelessly to get the cattle fitted for the sale. They had help from Max Graham and Tyler Spence. I am impressed with the quality of the cattle. I am also prejudiced as it is my son-in-law and my daughter and their two girls, Faith and Torrie plus many other helpers. Other consigners for the sale were Max Graham and family, Wilf and Ruth Sunderland and Tyler Spence.
One of the most interesting things on the sale was eight Speckled Park embryos. They are exportable to United Kingdom and Australia. In fact there are more Speckled Park cattle in Australia than there is in Canada where the breed originated. There has never had a live animal imported to Australia. Imports have, so far, been all embryos. This is how it works. You take an embryo from a Speckle Park cow and freeze it in liquid nitrogen. You fly it over to Australia or where ever it’s going. You place the egg in a host cow and then put in the semen from the bull you want and walla. Nine months later, if you are successful, you have a little pure breed Speckle Park animal. I think I heard they got $850 an embryo. They also sold vials of semen from Roland‘s prize-winning bull. I think the sale was a quite a success.
Roland and Melissa have bought the home quarter of Melissa’s grandparents, Bob and Ada Polinsky. When I saw the extensive corral and calving barn system they have made, I phoned up and made a date to take Bob and Ada on a tour. I didn‘t tell them where they were going. I loaded them up in the Expedition, took them down to Lashburn and with the car in four wheel drive we went on a pen tour. I think Bob was speechless as he said he didn’t know where he was. He was 200 feet from the house he built and lived in for years. The corrals are on a slight hill side that was bush, old buildings and treasures when Bob lived there. Ada was not speechless. She was busy talking. She could not believe all the corrals and calving barn in such a short period of time. To end the tour Melissa made everyone supper — Speckled Park roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy. I may have hurt myself filling up. I think a good time was had by all. With full tummies, I then took Bob and Ada back to Lloydminster and me, back home to bed.
Joke of the week sent to me by Becky Doig: The Saskatchewan Department of Labour believed that farmers were not paying proper wages to farm workers. They sent an agent out to interview farm workers.
They went to the farm house and demanded to speak to all the employees. Well the farmer said, “I only have one. His name is Clarence and he has worked for me for five years. I pay him $200 per week and room and board.”
“Is there any more” said the agent.
“Well” said the farmer, “there is the mentally challenged guy. He works 18 hours a day, seven days a week and he gets about $10 a week and pays his own room and board. I buy him a bottle of Lambs Rum a week and a case of Labatt Lite every Saturday so he can cope with life. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally”.
“That’s the one I need to talk to” said the agent “the mentally challenged one.”
“That would be me” said the farmer. “What do you want to know”?
