For those wondering why we don't lasso the calf. I am right-handed, and the throttle for the four-wheeler is on your right, so it doesn't work well, but more importantly, I am not trying to traumatize or hurt the calf. We just wait for an opportunity to place the rope around its neck, simple as that. :) Thanks All for watching!!!

Mike, one of the best aspects of you sharing your life with us is that you don't sugarcoat things, or try to protect your viewers from the more unpleasant aspects of reality. Thank you for your honesty and your obvious concern and care for your animals!!

Though it is sad that a cow passed I can't stop laughing watching you and the wife trying to corral that calf.😄 You didn't tell us how many hours it took to finally get that baby. Truly enjoyed this video.

I was raised on a dairy farm back in the 1950’s. Ok they were Jerseys. I remember one day during the summer my dad had found one of our herd that had died. He went to bury her and he tied her back legs and wax going to just drag her ; when he started up the tractor…she had already started “blowing up”!!! And her back legs just came off leaving the rest of her!!! Daddy came back to the house and finished throwing up!!

We all appreciate your showing the difficult part of you daily life.

We just went through something like this a couple of weeks ago and we had a really tough time getting the calf to cooperate and not continue following her best friends momma. It turned out that one of our first time heifers (her best friends mom) either loves babies or loves nursing or, being a first time mother did not know that it was odd for her to nurse someone else's calf. My daughter told me later that she saw that the orphan calves mother and first time mom really hung around each other a lot, so it's possible that both calves tended to nurse whoever was closer and may have a time or two nursed both, because after spending half a day with trying to actually get her back to the corral where the bottle calves were, the other calf and her mom followed us,and as we were trying to negotiate the calf into the corral, she got hungry and started feeding from the other calves mom. Its not a bad deal to have another mom take up the slack and feed one its one less come bottle time but while we have been lucky and if we lose a mother and have a mother that just lost a calf we can get them to accept each other, but never had a cow, with her own calf well bonded to hern taking on someone else's calf. Talked to the vet who said cows will automother someone else's calf if they hang around a lot and what might have been going on is the old cow really was not in condition to raise a calf and the younger one had taken to nursing both. He has use put all there in a corral together for a few days and watch how they were doing and we were seeing two calves nursing on her together at times and separately at times,and when she would call and one calf would not come she would keep calling til she had both with there. They are now all back out with the herd and she acts like a heifer with twins :)

Mike if the bottle feeding doesn't go well, older calves drink milk from a bucket pretty well sometimes. Just like drinking water but instead he's getting milk. Good luck!!! Stay safe!!!

I compost a cow by digging a 4 foot hole, put straw down, put the cow down, a row of lime, another row straw, then a couple yards of compost from our pile to help start the heat & it won't stink. After a year we dig it all up and put in the big compost pile. About 60 yard. Absolutely awesome dirt for yards & gardens.

So sad that Little Andy #9 lost his Momma. The Circle of Life can be cruel at times. Soon he will become friends with Marty and Frida and all will be as it should. Love watching you and your family. May it rain enough to give you a Awesome Hay Crop and fill all your Dugouts. 😉

Boy thats a tough thing to lose a cow.Never heard of composting a cow ,however it seems more respectful than calling the rendering truck.This way she lives on as part of the ranch.She was certainly a very important member of the herd.I was wondering when you start feeding a supplement (Calf Manna?)to the bottle calves?Very informative and respectful video.

I feel honored that you named him Andy Great job!!

Oh my gosh, I'm sorry but you had me laughing. The fast speed moment. LOL That calf gave you a run for your money.

Poor orphan Andy😢! He’s like first my mom died and then this guy chased me all over the field. He put a rope around me knocked me down tied me up and put me in a stall! Then to top it off he gave me some crappy stuff he called milk! He’ll be running around with the other calves and bean in no time having a blast! Will be interesting to follow the journey of the composing cow!

I have been waiting for this video since I started watching your channel. I haven't commented because I didn't want any backlash for the channel or myself. I know this isn't the first animal you've lost on the ranch, and I have been wondering how you take care of the cows you've lost. Thank you, for answering the silent question and it's nice to know the animals are taken care of in a "kindly" manner.

Very educational vlog on the composting of cow # 97 . She served well alive & will serve afterwards... Thank you for sharing Mike & Erin you both do an AMAZING job...🤗✝️

I have a farm friend whose family raised cattle, and never once did I think to ask what they did with the remains. I think it's pretty cool you reuse and recycle her.

We have so far this month in our rain gauge sits at 3.5 inches of good rain. Sure hope you got more than that! Hubby said the next time you need a calf roped he'll come out with a horse and get that sukka for ya!😊🤠🤠

I’m sorry for your loss. 11 calves, that’s awesome!

It doesn’t look like she died many hours before because she is still limp. Good thing you can take care of her calf and her body can take care of the ranch.

After watching Mike trying to wrangle #9, I was with Erin and okay with letting the herd mosey on down to the corrals and sort him off there, LOL That baby-sitting mama cow was getting pretty serious with her displeasure of you messing with her own calf's buddy. Snortin' and pawin' the ground preliminary to mowin' you down . . .

Great video. We have had a few senior citizens die on my ranch. They have all been over 16 year old and we are thankful to them for providing a healthy number of calves. Many of their calves have now produced many more calves here on the ranch. Thank you for sharing with us.

I have an old Jersey in the family milk cow herd who gave me 20 calves before she stopped. She would mother anything. She still wants to go through the motions, so we bring her in and put her on the Miller and give her treats. She earned the effort. She’s not too broke down yet, I’ll keep her around until she’s in pain.

Weeee-Doggies! Certainly got your share of exercise! I was hoping you'd name him Raggedy Andy because he ran you ragged. lol Hope the little guy is going to be Ok. Love seeing Frida and Marty. They look happy, just like Andy will, soon (?). Thanks for the share in another day on the ranch!

Great job catching up with orphan Andy!

Sorry for the lost of #97. But on the other hand I love seeing all the green. We all will be getting a lot more rain this summer.

What an exciting day on the ranch. Thanks for dragging us along, Mike. Look at all the green grass.

Watching you chase this little cow... All I had in my head was the song by Toby Keith "Should have been a cowboy". Your doing great, sorry about the loss of your cow, but happy to see green on your land this year. Hope and prayers for more rain. God Bless. :)

Persistence wins! He must have been nursing off another cow to have that much energy! Glad you got him.

Showing the good, the bad and the ugly of life on a farm is commendable. I know a couple of other channels that do also, but most avoid showing or talking about it, this gives people starting out farming a false sense of what to expect and when death or disasters happen they end up feeling like failures. I truly appreciate you keeping it real! I'm sure that #97 only had the one bad day and now I pray that # 9 Orphan Andy accepts the bottle and flourishes. Stay happy, healthy, hydrated and safe. May God continue to bless you, your family and your adventures.

It's been a day of "out of the ordinary" for the Ranch. Pretty interesting with your handling of dead livestock. Her calf wasn't so hungry or just stressed, looks healthy. I don't have to buy Rodeo tickets this year cause I just got done watching you Mike, LOL

Oh, trust me, that calf wrangling was definitely educational! 😂

So sorry you lost a heifer. Now you have a Andy. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting never heard of composting a cow. Mike you and Erin did a great job.God bless ❤.

Mike, please remember to lubricate all that haying equipment. The grease that’s been sitting in those bearings likely has some water in it and there’s some oxidation. You’ll want to force that out. Hit all the zerks! Sad to hear what happened to the mama cow.

Omg Mike what a special and beautiful bond you have with your animals God has blessed you

The circle of life she certainly was an important part of the ranch and it is only fitting that she serves the ranch that one last time now it's time for the next generation to do his part . Great job catching the calf without causing him to much stress but I can't say the same about you Mike LOL but it was all good in the end thanks to you and Erin . Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺

Whee doggie Mike. I got tired just watching you trying to catch that calf Andy. Spirited little guy. Glad you got ahold of him. Was a little worried that you would drop before you got the calf. Not an easy job. So sorry about Mama #97. It happens. She had a long life and many calves. She will always be somewhere on the farm. Always a great intro, great music, great video and as always educational. Thank you Our Wyoming Life for taking us on your journey !!!!!

Thanks Mike for showing what happens when you guys lose a cow and its nice to know that it doesn't go to waste 👍👍👍

I know there’s editing but I am impressed with you and Erin’s composure with each other in a stressful situation. I was stressing when you were wrangling the calf.

Thanks for sharing this part of ranching. Keeping it real is what I respect most on your channel...no BS and just the reality of daily life on your ranch....thanks for bringing us along!

I love that you show the good and the bad. People will second guess and criticize (even more so when they have zero experience), but when you are there day in and day out... you do the best you can and fortunately more days work than don't. I'm sorry you lost your cow.

I just LOVE that you are so hands off with your animals. You don't force human nature into them and really trust the moms and babies to do their thing 99% of the time. Also, speaks well for the genetics you have on your farm. ❤️

Nothing like watching this and staying in our RV at the ranch. One cool place.

Thank you for showing all the steps in composting. You took a lot of care in dealing with the remains. The calf sure had a lot of energy. It was interesting. Take care. Stay away from that nasty weather and storms that are affecting some ranches and farms. 🤔

Sorry to hear about 97 dying. Wow that was a real chore, with all you had to do to get that fellow in the barn. Well, eleven calves is really good, that's something, that makes it a little more easy to take, at least in my book. Thanks for the video, hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and I want to wish y'all a great week ahead.

Thanks for sharing! This is great information that is not usually shared. Very educational for ag and non-ag viewers.

Thank you for sharing this. I sure it was frustrating as hell in real time but did make for some good ranch comedy.

Sorry for the loss, but she'll bring long term nutrients to the farm, the calf rodeo was a little comical 😆🤣, thanks for sharing Mike, I'm sure Andy will catch on too.

Sorry for the loss of your cow. Glad you are keeping her on the ranch.

Mike you sat down to tie at the rear of the calf in all the excitement....you are lucky your face didn't get kicked in......but thru it all, I laughed my arse off. Hilarious...I've roped cows and calfs and that I related to and it truly was funny!!!

Hi Mike & Erin,orphan Andy was one little determined calf 😀You won though.Have a great week!I am sorry about mama cow.🌷🌷🌷

Wyoming I have a problem. After I discovered your channel I started to binge watch. 3-4 hours a day ! All week. While you were doing chores I was watching and not doing my chores. This is not good! Your channel is sooo much better than watching fake news, politicians calling each other liars and pundits telling us what we just heard and arguing with each other. Love your program but I really have to get a handle on this.

This reminded me of a TV show "Are you smarter then a 5th grader... "Are you smarter than a 40 day old calf"

Thank you for sharing all aspects of ranching and sometimes it’s not nice but yes way of life. Will be interesting to watch a 40 day old calf to to bottle feeding.

I feel sad for the little guy. But I do know you guys will take excellent care of him. OH, I love seen all the lovely green grass on your property.

Mike, I'm sorry about Andy's mom. I think what your doing about the compost issue is a good thing. I know some people won't agree with it. But they need to realize it's a good thing. Your doing a great job.

It's great that Andy is going to be able to continue. Hopefully he'll catch on to the bottle quickly. The "Rodeo" was interesteting... I was waiting for Yakkety Sax to start playing and we could have the Benny Hill Show with cattle.

This is my first time watching one of your videos. So glad I did! Time to learn about cows! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the video of the reality of ranching. And for showing just how difficult it can be

Bummer about the cow! Praying for Andy to take to the bottle quickly. Y'all have an awesome idea with composting the cow! God Bless OWL!

Out of curiosity I checked and Andy first appeared @ 5:45 of Day #12 (Ready for the Storm) of the 30 in 30.

another great video with something in it I've never seen before great job on not putting the cowl to waste she'll continue to serve the farm great job Mike😊😊❤

Wow, Mike. It was great to learn about this. I always wondered what happened when a cow dies.

I've been watching the weather on My Radar app. I'm glad for the rain I'm seeing that your getting out there. Fingers crossed that it continues and you have a nice hay crop. 💘 🐂 🐄 🐐 🐔 🐖 🇺🇸

Thanks for including us in the whole educational process.

I've never seen your videos but I'm so glad I finally did. Although content was sad to a non farmer it was interesting to me to watch. Look forward to hopefully watching "orphan andy" grow

Really great the way you care for your livestock. Been a traumatic day for the calf. He will get the hang of suckling from the bottle. Love watching your videos. God bless you and your animals. 😉👍

Mike I feel your pain in frustration when trying to catch calves lol there is a company who makes a calf catcher similar to your sheep hook that works really good.

Thank you for keeping it real. It’s a good life lesson on the realities of ranching. Keep up the great work.

Omg, funniest rodeo I have watched in a long time. I needed a good belly laugh, awesome. Crazy day in the life of a rancher and his calf. Loved it. Glad you both are okay. Thanks for sharing the rest of the story. And no way would I eat her. What you are doing with her is feeding you in a round about way. Great video as always.

A bunch of ranchers are screaming! That’s the best video I’ve seen in weeks. You ought to call him Spirit!

Years ago I worked at a large East coast slaughterhouse. They had the world's largest railroad cattle cars. During a heat wave the railroad had problems and cattle were on hot train cars for over two days. By law if the cattle were inside of these cars they were supposed to give them water. If course they could care less so we had over 125 dead steers and a few cows that were bloated up. We had to install a few 2 ton lifts to hoist them up to help cut up. They put pieces into 55 gallon drums and a local rendering plant picked the extremely smelly load up over two hot days. Took us a week to get rid of most of the flies. Surprised that you just don't dig a hole and bury the old cow.

I'd be worn out after 11 babies too! RIP #097. Thanks for sharing

Sorry for the loss of your cow. The calf looks healthy at least. Have a good day! Love yall!

Wow, one of those crazy unplanned days. I'm sure your kids will help Andy adjust. Thanks for sharing.

Very informative! So great the Andy’s mom got to stay and become an integral part of the farm. Hope Andy gets curious and takes to the milk bottle.

#97.. Thank you.. Baby Andy is so adorable.. thank you Mike for this educational video 💜💜🫂🫂

Mike, happy to hear that you're confident you'll be haying this season! That's a great thing to hear! Ya know I was watching your rodeo there and you breaking your sheep's hook is the best thing that could have happened when the **bleep** and the video cut out. I thought Erin had just hit that other calf that had run out in front of the gator! So to hear that it was just that hand tool that snapped was good to hear...

I sure hate his mama died. Hope the little bull calf will tame easily and become a friendly little feller!🥰

Thank you for interesting video on the compost process. Looking forward to the update in Nov

Very interesting with mama cow. You were very respectful to her. I did love watching the calf roping, it was a hoot

WOW...what a interesting and learning video. You showed and told thing's I had no idea happened. I must say ya'll are very resourceful. Thank you for the lesson in real life on a ranch.

Number 97 prayers to u with Blonde cow and the rest of the heavenly herd u truly are beautiful

I'm sorry about mama cow. But WOW look at that green! I was so happy to see your newsletter, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed until you get that hay baled! Edit: Also, #9 is the one I noticed during the 30 in 30 that has the pretty chocolate color. :o

Watching you and Erin trying to capture the calf reminded me of the John Wayne Movie "Hatari" when, using vehicles, they were trying to rope wild animals in Africa. It made me laugh, but glad you were able to get a hold of him. Keep up the good work.

I have to say Your BEAUTIFUL Wife was right there HELPING she didn’t mind getting her hands 🙌 DURTY you are so LUCKY 🍀 to have her support when you need it……Watching from Virginia….🌹

That was cute that he went to sleep took a little nap on your knee.

Composting livestock has been around for many years. There's a lot of info about it at most ag extensions or colleges with ag programs. Fun fact, it is also becoming an option for human composting in a few states. Happy researching!

This is so interesting. I just found your page today 6-11-22. Been watching your videos all day, trying to get caught up. There is so much work you have to do and it's 7 days a week. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Can't wait for the composting. Very excited to see and watch number 9 grow up. November is my birthday month. Wish it was raining 🌧 in AZ.

Glad you were able to get Andy up to the barn. It did make for moments of laughter as you tried to catch him. Somehow I could hear Matt laughing too. How many calves did you end up with? Will you share what the hayfield looks like now? Have a great evening.

Great job Erin and Mike. This is a great Teaching Channel for some others to learn how to deal with certain situations. Thank u for sharing important knowledge.

I am obsessed with these farm life videos. Whether it’s hoof maintenance, cow life or sheep and goats. It’s very cool to learn this stuff

She was a great cow and continues to do so. Good Job.

sandi brock has mentioned composting her dead sheep and NEVER discussed how it is done.

Good job mike.... I'm just very sorry for the mom and the calf😔But also this will be big with a lot of love and care❤I like to watch the videos of your ranch, because in Germany there is no such thing... I think it's great that you can create cow compositions, because so you remain a part of the ranch and will not forget❤continue to have good luck on your ranch🤗

I'm sorry (no, I'm not) about laughing at your calf rodeo! I love that you show ranching for what it is. I love that Mrs 97 can stay useful on the ranch even after her passing. That's actually a beautiful thing.

I used to live on a farm and had a _big_ old Angus bull die one day in the paddock next to our yard. They weren't my bulls so I wasn't aware of it until I smelled it... It was Summer when this happened and in the 32°C/90°F+ heat... they begin to decompose _fast!_ I noticed the smell we always just call "dead" in the morning and went looking around our yard for a dead fox or something, but didn't find anything. The smell just got stronger and stronger throughout the day and by sunset it had filled our entire house and was overwhelming. Went and did a wider search and about 60m/200ft from the house was a _very_ swollen bull. We called the owner and they came and scooped it up with their tractor just like in this video. We were so glad it didn't pop when they scooped it up, because that smell would have hung around for days and days in 32°C/90°F+ no rain Australian Summer weather. I think he ended up fertilising a potato crop.

Great teamwork you two!

Great team work. Thanks for sharing!

I so love watchin y'all! I grew up on the farm here in Ks and there's no other raisin than on the farm! Ya make me really homesick for that life! Keep sharing with us and I will be drooling with each video!