If you are lucky enough to work from home, you are truly blessed. Living and working on a ranch is absolutely the best job I have ever had. However, working on a ranch is entirely different. The positive rewards is seeing and working with your animals every day. Yes, the cattle are our inventory but they are also our duty to make sure they are healthy, well fed and part of our lives. If this sounds like we have a different approach to ranching you are RIGHT, we do. We personally take care of our animals at a different level. We see, touch and observe each animal every day, no days off, it’s a 24/7 work week. Our first thought in the morning is about the animals and last thought at night.
So maybe I should also share what I mean by our animals. First we have four cutting horses in varying ages. Feeding the horses is Mary’s job. Looking after the water and making sure they are exercised is Steve’s job. We have had horses over 20 years now. Cannot imagine not seeing the horses multiple times a day. What a great job we have working with the horses.
Our next set of animals is our donkeys. We have three donkeys that all were rescues. The donkeys are a major part of our herd. Our Jennies are with the heifers. The sweetest animals ever. Fluffy and Baby Ruth are such good protectors for the heifers. They patrol our land with eagle’s eyes, and we have the comfort of knowing everyone is safe. Every morning our donkeys come up for their special food to start their day. Our bull donkey is Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cotton is very shy and likes to hang with our bull, Moose. So when we go into the bull pasture we can see Mr. Cotton off to the side waiting for us to leave so he can hang again with Moose.
What would a ranch be without dogs? This has been a tough year for us. Our sweet sweet Rosie passed. It was a sudden passing and boy it was hard on all of us. Jake who is the lead dog, took it the hardest. It’s been a month now and all of us are almost getting back to normal without Rosie but it’s not easy to get over such a sweet dog. Jake is the best dog ever He is on top of all the activities of the ranch. All our dogs have been rescues and boy were we lucky with all of them. Our dogs give us such love and companionships that we were the lucky ones.
Sharing our next group is so much fun, our cats. We started with three cats, we have two of our original cats and since we have acquired over 10 new cats to our property. These new cats just come to our ranch and make themselves at home. Once we figure out there is a cat that needs to be fed, we trap the cat, go to the Vet, get shots, fixed and come back to the ranch to live out their lives. Today we have six cats with another two living in the hay barn. We do have the best cats each with their own personality.
Finally, the best is our cattle. Every morning we get to see how they are doing. We get to notice how big they are getting. How sweet and gentler they are becoming. The birth of new cows is a sight to behold. Boy are we blessed seeing the cycle of life is so special and sacred. I thank God everyday for putting us in charge of the entire animal crew here at Black Dog ranch. There are lots and lots of work that goes into our cattle. Making sure we have the best genetics around. Making sure our cattle are sweet and gentle for our clients. Creating an environment for all our animals that are safe, healthy and stress free so that all our animals live a great life. Seeing, petting, feeding and observing our cattle is the best part of the morning. So for us working from home is the best experience that we have been given. We have been blessed.
Steve and Mary Erichsen