What a week! Monday was slightly less jam packed, although my partner and I attended several of my classes. We sat in on a Beef Science lecture about the legalities of animal drugs and dosages, which was important information to be aware of. We then took a short break to wander through Aggieville for coffee and morning tea. After that we were back at Weber Hall for Livestock and Meat Evaluation where we started by observing beef carcases in the chiller. We then moved into the arena where we estimating fat, weight and loin eye areas on a number of different pigs - a nice variety of species! The remainder of the afternoon was relatively quiet, before we got ready for dinner at the Little Apple Brewery. The Brewery is part owned by Lori and Galen Fink, who I met right at the beginning of my trip, so it was nice to support someone I know! After our delicious Certified Angus Beef steak, we made our way to Aggieville to enjoy the night with friends.
Tuesday morning we got up and organised for a little road trip to Bruning, Nebraska, to visit some friends of mine. We got in the car and began the little over two hour trip to Bruning Farms. Bruning Farms is a family owned business operated by Fred and Penny (Reiss' parents), and Reiss and Heather Bruning. Bruning Farms manages a registered and commercial Angus herd of around 700 cows with primarily spring calving. My partner and I met with Reiss and Heather for a quick catch up, before we were soon tagging along with the hired help, Heath, and Reiss to haul pairs to summer pasture. We finished hauling and went with Reiss to AI heifers. Before we could get to the AI'ing, Heath called us over to give him a hand with a sick calf. The calf was thought to have bloat, but after trying to expel the gas, we realised that it must be enterotoxemia. Unfortunately, the calf didn't live much longer, and an autopsy by the vet the following day determined that we were correct in our diagnosis. Following the incident with the calf, we finally got around the breeding the heifers. The Bruning's are currently trialling a new heat detection ear tag and have been using the program to confirm what the behaviour they would normally breed on. After the breeding was done, we headed back to the house to help Heather finishing making a salsa, before we jumped into the truck with the food and a few drinks to check the pairs we had hauled earlier. We were lucky enough to see a beautiful sunset and happy pairs, all while we were chatting away.
Wednesday morning arrived and we enjoyed breakfast with Reiss and Heather and then set out to begin the day. We started with the autopsy of the calf from the previous day, with the vet explaining what to look for and what would have caused it. We moved on to giving two cows FSH shots to bring them into heat. Then, we helped Heath doctor another sick calf, but this time with pneumonia. Once these tasks had been completed, we walked through the heifers to pull out the couple that were in heat. After AI'ing the heifers, it was time to get organised for our 'real American ranching experience'. We loaded four wheelers, horses, tack, beers and food into a couple of trucks and set off for Bruning Cow Camp, the summer pasture. On arrival at Cow Camp, Reiss gave us a brief tour of the place (extremely beautiful!) and talked us through the pastures and their management over summer. We then made our way back to the cabin for a delicious burger lunch where the chatting and jokes continued. Following lunch, the men set off on the four wheelers to check fences while Heather took my partner and I to get organised for a ride. We climbed aboard the horses and made our way through pastures and past ponds for a few hours. The weather was perfect and we got to see much of the property - it was a really enjoyable afternoon! Once we had all had enough, we were back to the cabin to meet the men for afternoon tea of Cobbler cake, before we started to pack up. Heather and I left the men for some shooting practice, while we made our way home to get dinner started. Reiss and Heather had asked if I would make a 'traditional' meat pie for everyone, so I set about cooking my mum's recipe. It turned out really well and I got a 12 out of 10 from Reiss so I couldn't complain! After dinner, we jumped in the truck to set out looking for raccoons. Within half an hour, we'd seen a possum (although it was dead), multiple raccoons and a skunk! We were really ticking off the animals this week! Eventually we called it a night as we had to be up early to make it back to Manhattan. The next morning we enjoyed our last breakfast together and said our goodbye - it was a shame to leave!
Thursday was spent on the road back to Manhattan and getting organised for the rest of the week. Friday began with classes as per usual, but as soon as that had all wrapped up, I was in the car with two girlfriends on our way to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stillwater is the town where Oklahoma State University resides and is where one of my friends completed her undergraduate degree. We were headed there to catch up with her friends for the weekend. we did a quick tour of the town before getting ready to meet all her friends. It was nice to see another university and compare Manhattan to another college town. The next morning we ate breakfast, did a little shopping, and met with some more K-State friends. I then jumped in the car with the other girls and we made our way back to Manhattan. Sunday was a quiet day of lunch with friends and trying to stay out of the wind! Nonetheless it was a great week and I'm looking forward to my last two weeks at K-State!
