Latest / Ranch Wives Unsupervised / Why Can’t You Just Leave? – The Ranching Schedule No One Understands
Transcript
- Trinity Dirks: Okay, so we, I get home yesterday from my appointment. Keiths like, oh 104 calved I like, oh perfect. He's like, yeah, but she calved like a mile north. Oh, great. So we need to, not run, but like, this calf was lived She calved him in the bush a mile north us. So we came up, went, I don't know, like pulled up with the side by side as far as we could, then hopped on the sled, took a little like toboggan, tobogganed it out by hand. I took the sled back and I went to the side of the side and then we waltzed our way back down. Happy calving season! Let's go! could have calve literally anywhere. It was a mile north to calve. How did he know she was there? Because Dad had seen her. Oh. And was like going out to, I don't know if he was hauling feed her so I could see the cow. Yeah. We had went and looked the night before we couldn't find her. Way in the bush. Good thing that calf lived Bye guys. I mean, they do like that bush. Yeah. I didn't know they were gonna... she like hopped the fence to go a mile. Okay. It's fine. We'll just... He lived. Good ol bull calf , but... Little bit. Little bit risky out there. That's funny. It is. Happy calving Happy calving season. It's So what are we getting into this week? I think we should discuss how ranching is not an nine to five. And how that really can affect your social life and really change the dynamic of just your day to day life. I didn't realize how much that would affect when I married into it. But like, I have friends that are oh you're so flaky I'm like, no, my life is cows. Like, I don't get to dictate within reason. I don't get to dictate what we're doing. If my cows are out, I'm sorry I'm late or I'm not coming. Or if you like, even social events or like family events, I had a hard time with because like you can't just drop everything to go to a wedding. Who's taking care your cows while they're calving? Yeah, we missed Easter this year because we were calving. Exactly. And it's easy for me-ish, my family gets it. their calving. They have cows, right? Yeah, it's like I can't come. You know what I know? Yeah, you know what I really struggle with is for me, it's always every year. It's May long. Everybody's out camping with their friends, having fun. I'm on Instagram. Everybody's out doing their thing. There's me at home hustling food out to the people. Yeah. Like, Jorim and I can never do a weekend away like that with our friends because that's like our busiest weekend. One of, not including like September. Like, our spring, that's one of our busiest weekends. And I'm always just so sad every year because they're out seeding, they're out calving, they're doing this, they're doing this, they're doing this. Everybody's out having fun. It's like a hot weekend I'm just like ⁓ sad. So actually last year my sister was like, well why don't we just come out there and we'll camp out there and we'll hang out with you. See? Supportive family! I was like, thank you! That's what I needed. you needed That's what I needed. But I had to voice that to somebody first because I had been struggling with that for a couple of years and then finally I told my sister and she was like, well why don't we just do something then? Lots of people don't even think about it or doesn't register that you have to... Like you miss family gatherings. We're lot like friends. our friends' house like camping. You miss... There's lots. Like Keith, we used to go camping quite a bit when we were dating because we weren't out here full time. All this stuff and then we were out here and it's like... That's probably not... thats it. Not happening. where are we camped oh yeah the back cowpasture And we do there is times where that is literally what we do. We'll take the rooftop tent and go to the back pasture. along the creek. That's fine. It is a different can't do that with friends. No. But. No. mean they can come out for it, but it's different. It is really different. And something too, like, it's interesting. Something I think is super interesting is if you have a nine to five and say, I can't make it because I have work. ⁓ questions it. Like, I actually can't get time off work for that wedding or I can't get time off for this. When you're farming, they don't understand. Yeah. They're like, well, why can't you just take a day off You're your own boss. Yeah, I actually had so I'm not the cows are my boss. But that's it. I actually had so much backlash against that. And I'm like, OK, I get it. It's different. This is my nine to five. It's just not a nine to five. Yeah. And a lot of people don't understand like you like. You're like, this is my 24 seven. This is my 24. Exactly. This is the 24 seven. And like you can't just leave when your cows are calving because that calf is your check. Yeah, that is your check. It might look a lot different, your check might only come once a year or twice a year, depending on when you sell, but that is your income. So if you go and you gotta baby that thing keep them all alive as much as you can so that it pays the bill and pays for you to get through the next year. Exactly. And I've had a lot of people be like, oh, you get a calf check. It's free money. Yeah, see, I... You're like, is literally my only money. Yeah. Well, I mean, not for me. But there's so many bills to pay. With cows, all the things. So you gotta pay for your feed. Yeah. yardage Or like, yes. Or you have a tractor bill. Or you're paying for fuel for the tractor or all of the above. Or like the one year, I was like, we finally were like, kay we need to like build a house, do this stuff. Our tractor broke up. $20,000 later. That's it. Well, goodbye calf check. Yeah. Mm-hmm, you know and that's okay. That's it. I think you're like, okay prices are really really good. ⁓ yeah It's four times what our cow check is So I there is a genuine disconnect and I'm not saying that you can't make a living off of ranching because I don't want to short sell that you can yeah, you absolutely can It looks a lot different. It looks very different and it depends like if you've got high ⁓ your tractor you paying off your tractor or because like a new tractor can go anywhere from 150,000 to my new tractors no it's 500 yeah yeah okay so you guys are a lot bigger yeah like but you're so we're not running like our chore tractor wouldn't cost yeah but it doesn't matter the reality is it's our yes our calf cheque looks great but our expenses are four air times that stuff yes yeah so if they don't necessarily correlate and again like I would say we're looking a lot better than we four years ago. you're wanting to update your corral system, fences like cow prices Those have went up higher which hadn't for years. Yes. They have went up so the difference in the middle isn't quite but we're hitting we're getting like in a couple years three years from now or whatever it's probably just going to be the same. Yes. Everything else costs just as much so the calf cheque isn't going yeah it's not going any farther than it was. Yeah. Previously before the cow and they're saying like cattle prices are high Yeah, they're high, but they're also not as high as they could be or should be yeah with catching up Yes, with everything else. Yeah, and I think that was a huge disconnect and like even for myself I would say until I... But bull prices have skyrocketed. It's crazy. Absolutely. We bought a bull two years ago for like 6,500 bucks. Yeah, and that was like that was like a decent good Maybe not your highest, but it wasn't your lowest. You're like a good breeding stock. can get, like lowest was like $3,000/$3,500 Yeah, usually. Like a stock. Whatever. this year, that's not it. we paid, we The lowest is like $10,000. Yeah, we bought, we had to buy five this year, which was, you know, A. poor planning and also one just... croked on us there were certain things that just transpired. Things just happened. So instead of buying three, we bought five. Yo, I spent more on a bull than some people spend on their wedding. you know what I mean? These don't correlate. No. Well, my sister's like, because they don't, she's like, my savings account has to have a thousand dollars in it and yours has to have 50,000 in it. And then we're even for like an emergency fund. Yes. Yeah. Because when... Something goes wrong, my car is a couple hundred dollars. When something goes wrong, your tractor is like 20 grand minimum. And if it goes down during haying you're gonna scramble. You're gonna pay top dollar for whatever it is because you have to have feed. Walter, excuse me. Get. Sorry, we just have a podcast kitten. and he's driving me crazy. But there is something to it, that there is a large disconnect. And I will say, I... the time off and the finances, I did not understand fully until I was in it. Like even looking at mom and dad's books from, because when we started taking over, were kind of going through, she'll track, obviously she tracks everything, but then she will project for the following years. I kind of like learning that. And those projections were so off. was just crazy. to see. ⁓ because there was we weren't really in a building phase. were in like a sustained phase and we run cheaper. We run old equipment. So our cost to put up hay is a lot ⁓ than a lot of people. I'm not going to shortchange that either. We do have a cheap way to put up hay but it does take us longer. Yeah, because we're not going as fast. Yeah. And our equipment isn't as big. So there is because I sometimes I have some friends that are like Oh! You're still haying? it's a trade off. And that's the trade-off we chose. So time versus money. 100%. Because at some point when you don't have the money, you have to put the time in. Yeah, yeah. That is the trade-off. There isn't another way around that. No. And I think to like... And the extra week in the end of your own time isn't it worth buying a brand new tractor Or a baler or whatever. It's not worth it for us. But I do think that is something that... Like it humbled me. I'm not going to lie. think this will be really easy. We didn't make, I kid you not, if you look at our books, we were in the red for the first six years. Yeah. Five years, sorry, I correct that, five years. Yeah. In the red, not just like, that's like out of pocket money. So like Keith's mechanics job was paying for us, just our personal ⁓ expenses. Not including what we had to put into the ranch ⁓ times because of like the way things got brought over. So there is something to that and people are like, oh, like you could just, like, I mean, even at family members, like I missed my cousin's wedding, my brother missed it. No problem. Yeah, because he was working. He was working. I missed it. Well, I don't know why you can't just come. Well, I'm working. But there is that and that sucks. But I have said, I have said this. But do some people think like, oh, you're just a stay at home wife and you're just like. Baking doing your milk cow. Yeah, like not actually like working 100 % and I like again I have chosen to be more Involved. Yeah, then that other some other wife's do whatever is involved. They would have to look into the expense of a hired hand. Yes, and that's just it. Yeah, so there is there is that as well, right? And Keith and I did sit down and do the numbers It didn't make sense for me to go to work at an admin job in town pay for gas going back and forth when I could how we can get further Especially when gas is so high right Yeah. at the end of the day, this is our dream. So the sacrifice is, I will be, and it's not a sacrifice, because I do enjoy it. Did my social life get sacrificed? Yeah. And you know what, I don't know for you guys, I have lost friends over, and it's not personal. It truly isn't. But it is the season of life I'm in. I think it's different when you grew up in it, because my friend Circle has always revolved, around that. yeah yeah that's fair right so I never I never. You also have friends that are like Lacey's not making it okay whatever yeah like nobody's like a friend. never did like I home schooled like you know so my friend circle was made by the people who understood farming yeah yeah yeah whereas when you marry into it I feel like it's a lot worse. It's totally different. Because you had friends that you could hang out with every weekend I never have. Yeah, that's fair. And I would go for dinner once a week, or meet with the girls, or whatever it was, go for coffee. And actually, on a mental state too, that was wearing. I was at home in the winter, was still , . mechanicing but it wasn't really enough. It was tricky. There was a season where he was like , well if you're gonna have a milk cow, you have to be home, because you're not getting up. before I would work to then milk it to then drive to town. Like it's not, there's too much. We did do it for a season, but then we weren't getting home. Like if he worked late, we would carpool in together. We wouldn't get home til like seven or eight sometimes. And then we're cooking dinner, doing chores and then doing it all over. So we're like leaving the house, like getting up at five to leave the house by six, six, 30, whatever it was. Just to hustle, hustle, hustle. And it just wasn't. And it's not fulfilling. No, and it was like burning us out. It was burning me out too. And so like, I don't know, there was something when I didn't have a milk cow there was like a three month span, was like, k I will go to work for three days a week. It was just at a coffee shop and I enjoyed it because it was social. But there was like this off. And that is something that is really, especially when you're so far out. yeah. And people don't necessarily want to drive. No. 40 minutes to come to see ya That's the other Typically I'm the one going to. You're always the one, they're come. You should come, you should come. And for me, we live 25 minutes from you and an hour. 45 to an hour from you. Yeah, 45 from you then. Yeah. And I don't think twice about coming to visit you, like either of you, right? No. But just like you up your kids and you go to town and you do your stuff and you bring your kids to town and you do that. I have very few friends that live that 5-10 minute drive. So your mindset is different? where as somebody that lives in town and like, oh it's such a long drive. Yeah, so far. There's a lot of people that don't want to do the hill either. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. There are a lot of people that don't I there's times I've cancelled on you guys because that hill was gnarly. Yeah, it was just valid. But like in the summer. It's not in the summer. want to do the hill. Oh, okay. Well, I can't relate with that. was saying like there was... In the winter time, yeah. Yeah. The roads I got stuck in town once because the roads were so bad. Yeah. But still, it's like, I do have friends that come out and visit. I have one girlfriend that always comes out and visits and hangs out. It's very appreciated and it's awesome that people do that. But I also don't mind coming to town and going to those people's houses anyway because then can make a town day of it or whatever. I don't really think twice of it. Normally I'm like, no, I'll just come to town. It's fine. And if you can, it works. But the other thing she was like, I have a couple friends that are like, well you never come visit . like, again, it's unintentional. But from May to like, September, October, I can't. Probably commit to much. then, from November to like, now, the roads are bad. The roads are bad. so, I don't mind driving one bad. I don't. It doesn't bother me too much. there is, we kind to do it like once a week. Yeah, you don't want to do it like a ton. And they don't want to do it either. Like, it is such, it is just a very different thing. something that I was like- They're like, oh well, there's lots of family events i've showed up to without Keith. Because one of us can make it but not both. Because somebody needed to be here or somebody needed whatever. They're like, well, your husband doesn't want to come? No, he would love to come. He just can't. He just literally can't. again, it's not personal. That is the reality of being the job. And I do think, you know, like, if we had a hired hand... or whatever, maybe it would be different. I am currently the hired hand do you know what I mean? And for you, your husband's working off. You are in the main. I guess your kids are the hand. My kids are very helpful now. They are, I'm so happy for you. You're in such a sweet time of life where they are both so excited to be there and want to do it. You just have to stand in the gate. I am not being demoted yet. Hold on now. You are the twin cutter. That is your job. Couple more winters and we'll talk about it. Or your sister will be doing that. And you'll be driving the tractor. And I will be drinking my coffee. Yeah, I'll be drinking my coffee while you do that. What would you say was like your... So your reality check was like not going for May long. Would you say in Lace that you've had like... You've never had that reality check? No, I've also not as social as you guys. No, not. I'm very happy too. Like, my kids went to visit my sister for a week and David was working and you're just like, I do not leave my house. I'm so happy. Yes, you're not like, I'm gonna plan this and this and this. Whereas I would be like, okay, I'm having a dinner with this friend. This other friend group I need to hang out with and then this and then this. No, that's not me. So I feel like even in that too. Yeah. Our personalities or like whatever you want to call it are super different. Yes. I am, that's right, happier. Yeah. To be. Yeah. Okay, the other thing that I actually struggled with so hard growing up, you could go to the grocery store, you want. You forgot an avacado or just go grab it at the store. You're like, you forgot something? Well, that sucks. Like, I can't remember what there was one time Oh, I think I forgot, like cheese or something. And I'm like, you don't actually realize how much of certain items you go through until you actually can't The first couple years were, no, probably the first six months. My groceries were all over the map. Keith was like, have no food, we have too much. I don't know. I don't know. , very . Yeah, I'm so sorry. It took me a while. You have to use a lot of pantry Yes, mm-hmm more than like fresh veg and fruit. Yes, because seasonal eating. Yes. Yes little bit more than all eating. Yeah, a little bit more. Yeah, and you're also just like oh, here's spaghetti again because we don't have any fruit and veggies because I'm going to town in two days. Yeah, here we go. Yeah, do you think like when you went into ranching were you surprised by like the book side of things like the expenses versus The outcomes versus the incomes? Yeah. It's very different with farming. Yeah. guys are like getting to the next level. Watching the money go in and out. What a nice check. ⁓ shoot. It's gone. It's gone. This fertilizer bill is massive. Or like your seed bill. Or even your equipment. farm your There's much more equipment too. ⁓ You need the fertilizer tanks and you need these things and then you need this thing. I can't keep track. Okay, so here's my idea. I told my parents this today because I was like, I need to actually get this done. what I want to do is take a picture of like each truck that we have and then each trailer that we have and then each tractor that we have and then the seeder and then the planter and then all these things. But like take photos separate and then have it on like a white background. So that I can print it off, label it, or not label it, laminate it, cut it all out, then put like, okay, the planter can go with this tractor. Okay, this truck hauls this trailer. ⁓ this is, and like have the names underneath everything, because I'm like the Western Star. What is the Western Star? ⁓ we have one Western Star, so obviously that's the truck. But like, I'm like, but wait, which color? So we have a truck and it's called the Smurf. And that one is white and blue. So we named it the Smurf. But like everything else, Jorim's like, oh the T7030, the T7040. And I'm like, I don't, what? Which one is it? Maybe like a memory a little kids memory game. I can just like, okay the T7040 is hooked up to this. Or whatever. I'm probably like naming the wrong things with the wrong. She's definitely needs the memory game. And this is why I need it. with it. the kids can play with it. a good idea. And then, yeah. was like, this is a good idea. Because there's so much to it. There's so much different equipment. There's so many things. The grain bins, everything. It's so crazy.