Ava Grimm feeds a nearly week-old lamb while some of the other Sunset School students watch. Paws Up Ranch Managers Kyle and Leigh Kelley were looking for a bottle lamb to raise for the petting zoo at Paws Up. He is fed every two hours. Grimm, who had never fed a baby animal from a bottle, found out very quickly how hard he could pull on the bottle.
Students on a hayride through the pasture with heifers and calves less than a week old. Leigh Kelley (blue and white hat) told the students that they know they are doing a good job for the grass, the range, the cows and the wildlife if they see deer, elk and other wildlife using the range they manage.
Kyle explained that the calves find their mothers by their smell. Also, they each have their own particular sounding voice with which they talk to and call each other. When the cows were feeding Kyle grabbed one of the calves to demonstrate how protective the cows are of the newborns. This group of heifers quickly turned their focus to him. After he released the calf, they left the hay and went to check on their own calves.
Wiley Kelley bottle feeds the calf while Mylee Corcoran waits for her turn. The calf in the barn was a twin. Kyle Kelley (in the hat) told the students, "The mother only has enough milk to feed one [calf] and she's really mean. So I brought [the calf] in here because it makes it easier [to bottle feed this calf]."
The Sunset School students pose for a photo in the hay bales. Pictured (L-R): Jadesa Stevens, Mylee Corcoran, Sydney Nygard, Alison Kilpatrick, Claire Kelley (front), Lucas Nygard, Ava Grimm, Leilah Butler and Adelaide Cruz.
GREENOUGH – It is calving season in the Blackfoot. Sunset School students had the opportunity to learn about the calving and ranch operations at the Paws Up Ranch from Ranch Manager Kyle Kelley and his wife Leigh on April 26. Students took a hay ride through the 'fresh' calving area where the calves are less than one week old, toured the calving barn and bottle fed a calf and lamb.
This is the second year Sunset School has visited the Kelleys whose daughter Claire attends Sunset School. Leigh offered to host the students and show them the working operation of Paws Up.
"We are their closest neighbors," said Leigh. "Some schools get to take their kids to the pizza parlor or the bank to see how it works. I would love for them to have a better understanding of what's going on around them when they are out and about. And I just think that animals and outside time is good for any kid's soul."
Before heading out to the calving area, students enjoyed a lunch of homemade macaroni and cheese and fruit provided by Paws Up.
Paws Up raises primarily Black Angus. They also have buffalo that they sell for meat and African Watusi cattle that are for the guests to enjoy. Depending on rainfall and snowpack they run 350-500 head of cattle.
Paws Up raises all its own feed on 400 acres as well as leases grazing land from Lubrecht Experimental Forest and The Nature Conservancy. Kyle plants winter wheat, peas, barley, oats and alfalfa. They rotate the crops to optimize production and maintain healthy soil conditions.
The Kelleys, along with two other ranch hands, put up all the hay. They feed round bales that weigh 1,500 pounds each. Kyle said that, because of the cold this winter, one bale would feed 22-25 cows. They fed 14 bales of hay per day through the cold snap.
Leigh said heifers have been calving for the past month and a half. They are only expecting 20 more calves this season. Kyle said the most calves born in one day this year was 22.
Each of the calves gets an ear tag with the same number as its mother. Kyle said the first number on the heifer's tag is the year that they were born so he knows know how old they are. Heifers are bred after they turn one and they have their first calf at two years old.
"Cows are production animals. Right now they are nursing their baby and in 45 days they will be bred again so they will be growing a baby and feeding a baby. That is why is it important to have the right nutrition and have plenty of feed because we are asking them to do a lot of work," said Leigh.
Kyle added if a cow is not having a baby every year, then she is not bringing in any money. If they don't produce they will go to market. Leigh said it costs an average of $400 per year to run a cow which includes vaccination, worming, feed and adequate salt and minerals.
Because this year was so wet, Leigh said many of the calves had naval infections because their umbilical cord did not dry up. Each calf had to be assessed and, if infected, administered antibiotics because calves cannot get over a naval infection without medication.
Leigh explained they give the more than one-inch long pill using a pill giver that slides to the back of the throat and forces the calf to swallow the medication.
"If [a calf gets] an infection in its naval that is really dangerous because [the infection] goes directly to [the calf's] blood supply," said Leigh.
On the hayride students were able to observe the behavior of the cattle. Leigh said the best way to observe cattle is from a distance. She pointed out one heifer that was away from the group and didn't come up to feed with the rest of the group.
"She either has a new calf or something else is wrong," said Leigh. "It tells me I need to go check on her."
After driving over to that particular heifer, the students got to see her new calf that had been born that morning. It was already standing on its own.
"Field trips like this help us be mindful of our community and the operations that are in our community. Our community is so rural. We utilize what we have around us," said Sunset School Supervising Teacher Toni Hatten. "It is a nice way to get out in our community and know what is going on and utilize our parents who have all these different backgrounds of knowledge."
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