By Brandi Buzzard on January 20, 2025
Snow Appreciation on the Ranch
How a rancher finds joy amidst bitter-cold temperatures
My friend Emily Reuschel is a podcaster and speaker who shared this thought recently on her social media:
“If you choose not to find joy in the snow … you will have a lot less joy in your life, but still the same amount of snow.”
As most of my fellow Kansans know full well, we were hammered with ice and snow at the beginning of this month, ushering in a cold spell that is a bit early by our normal January standards. Any other year, this wouldn’t be such an undertaking for me, as my husband and I have generally split up our chore duties to keep it manageable for both parties. However, two months ago, my husband broke his leg in three places on the first day of breeding season. We had not even gotten the heifers gathered to begin our artificial insemination (AI) protocol and boom! A spiral fracture, steel plate and 13 screws later and we were staring at the reality of this year’s breeding looking very different.
Understandably, this has left our herdsman and me navigating the mountain of work associated with transitioning our breeding plans from AI to bull breeding for the whole herd, vaccinating heifers, keeping cattle fed, equipment running and water flowing while down a set of hands (and legs). But I digress, back to the ice and snow…
While working up a sweat earlier this week chopping through several inches of ice, Emily’s words ran through my mind. On one (gloved) hand, I could grumble through the chores, keep my head down and focus on getting things done.
On the other hand, winter is so pretty! The glittering snow, the unique icicles, the frosty horse muzzles – there is beauty in everything. I challenged myself to fill my lungs with refreshing air and look for positivity, so here’s what I have appreciated and found joy in the last few weeks:
- Discovering undisturbed fox, rabbit and deer tracks crisscrossing our ranch in the snow.
- Aspiring to get the largest piece of ice possible out of the tanks (3’ x 1.5’ is my biggest chunk so far).
- Easily finding chicken eggs in the coop, because the hens dislike snow and don’t want to free range.
- Justifying the purchase of new mittens because my old ones have finally fallen apart.
- Winter sunsets and snowy landscapes make for the prettiest pictures.
- My pants are fitting looser because chopping ice, climbing in and out of the tractor and pitching hay equals cardio!
The past two months have been some of the most challenging I’ve experienced on our ranch – adaptation is something farmers and ranchers must deal with constantly, even though we aren’t always happy about it. However, through these trials, I have learned how to place controlled internal drug release (CIDRs) to set up our cows for embryo transfer, which is something I had never done before. Adding another skill to my ranch resume has increased my confidence and strengthened my sense of value to our operation.
There are nine weeks until spring and only two more weeks until my husband is cleared to walk without a boot. In the meantime, I’ll continue to find joy in the snow – and I hope you will too.
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