The elk are coming? The elk are coming?

Yup, those are some of our cows down by the fence, and those are all elk up higher in the pasture.  Elk don't normally move this high up this early in the year.  But we have had very cold nights and days reaching into the 40's.  With that, the snow cover is just beginning to disappear in places, and the elk are looking for browse.  Our guess last evening was about 100 elk just above the pasture where the Anderson cattle herd is.
Seven calves were born in the last 24 hours.  We sure are glad Matt is here, as he has had to supplement feeding with gastric tube for a couple, and bring in two moms and calves to the barn.  He had asked Betsy to help with milking a mom this morning, but just as Betsy left the house, Matt called- the calf had begun nursing vigorously, and no need to milk the mother.  We are scheduled to work with Matt around noon, as he will be ear-tagging 10 calves, and some will be big enough to need restraining.    Ever seen calf-wrasslin' in the rodeos? Ever picture Steve and Betsy trying it??
Yesterday, our excitement was Ginny's car sliding off the icy driveway into a snow drift as she went down to the road to pick up mail.  She walked back up to get a shovel, and called us.  So there we were, Ginny, Betsy and me walking down the drive, each with a shovel over our shoulder.  As Betsy, in the middle, turned to speak to Ginny or me, I asked Ginny if she had ever had the opportunity to watch the slapstick routines of the Three Stooges.  She replied, " I certainly tried not to!"  But she could picture the stooges routine of turning and knocking the next stooge in the head with the broom or shovel over the shoulder.  So there we were, the Three Stooges marching down the drive.  The car was embedded up to the chassis, so we had to clear out under the car, to get back down to where the wheels could work, then drove it out. Ginny also came up for dinner last night.
Matt is sick, but carrying on.  We are offering to pitch in with calving watch, and will likely do the mid-afternoon check today.  Night watches again are certainly a possibility.  Glad we weren't out last night, as he reported blizzard conditions at midnight.  Betsy and I would have been disoriented and had trouble finding our way back to the barn, much less finding 85 cows and seeing if any calves had been born!!
Ranch supply trip to Bozeman tomorrow.

Loki in Big Sky Country: