While the calves typically go to market in mid-November, one of the Helena Valley's biggest ranching operations chose this year to keep them through winter.
The choice, said brothers Mark and Dave Diehl, was a tough one. They could have sold the calves at a loss into a sour market, or spend the money feeding the animals through winter, hoping prices rebound by spring and the company's feed supply can last until March.
It's barely winter according to the calendar, but in reality, the season has arrived in force. Moderate December snow and arctic-like temperatures remind Dave of past winters, the kind the old-timers talk about over coffee at Smith's Place down the highway in East Helena.
Dave wonders if this winter could be the one they've been waiting for. If it is, he fears, it could spell hard times for the ranch and its limited supply of hay.
“We're old enough to remember these kinds of winters,” said Dave, sitting beside the wood stove, still wearing his heavy coat and hat. “The risky thing for us is how much feed we have to use. If we have to start feeding a lot now, well, our place probably doesn't have enough feed this year to carry us into March.”
The “calf factories” are out at pasture, kicking through five inches of snow to graze. Barring a heavy snowfall, the ranch will leave them to forage until January, when they'll bring them in to feed.
It's the 300 calves, herd bulls and “open cows” that have the Diehl Ranch Co. burning through its supply of hay earlier than anticipated. Mark was hoping to go another month before he tapped into the feed supply.
But winter came hard and early, forcing Mark's hand. Now it's a matter of keeping pace with the operation's hungry cattle and Mother Nature's fickle moods.
Precious round bales of hay weighing up to 1,300 pounds sit stacked behind a rickety wind break, which looks like a relic from the pioneering days.
The snow has piled up behind wooden planks, split and broken in the wind. Cattle bellow nearby and steam rises from their noses, casting an icy mist above the corrals.
It's around 14 below zero when Mark climbs into his tractor on a weekday morning. With the wind blowing across the field, it feels like 23 below, but at this temperature, a few degrees hardly matters.
Hydraulic machinery breaks down. Water pumps freeze. Frostbite stings exposed skin. Three days earlier it warmed up to minus-2 degrees. On this morning, it was minus-17 without the wind.
“You go out and do something and come back and do some office work or something,” Mark said on coping with the cold. “You don't just stay out there as much.”
The ranchers swear the arctic temperatures don't bother their cattle. While the animals don't rise to the status of a family pet, Mark clearly cares about the black and brown beasts. He goes so far as to discuss their personalities and says, grinning, that every cow has one.
It's the wind that causes problems and the wind they've got to watch. Dave tells stories about cattle walking for miles with the winter wind because they refused to turn around and face it. On days like that, there's a lot of chasing to do.
“The wind is more dangerous than the temperature,” Dave said. “Cows can handle 30 below without a problem. But if you add a little wind to it, well, that gets dangerous.
“The wind will push them,” he continues. “Several years ago, we had a situation where we were trying to get the cows in. We spent the whole day just getting them a few hundred feet, and we couldn't move them. They wouldn't face and walk into that wind.”
That was back in 1989, perhaps one of the last, worst winters Helena has seen in years. The timing of the calving season, coupled with a severe cold snap, had Mark working long hours through the night. Born wet into weather like that - into weather like this - a calf could quickly have problems.
Luckily for the Diehl Ranch Co., calving season is still months away. Right now, last year's calves sit huddled in the corral putting on weight.
Cold or not, the work goes on.
“You've got to check to make sure everything is watered and flowing, and if it's not, thaw it out,” said Mark, jumping off his tractor. “That's the first major problem. The second major problem is that equipment doesn't run very well.”
The snow upon the stubble field is windblown, leaving dark ridges of frozen earth cutting through the ice. With the valley stuck in a solid freeze, it takes longer to do simple chores.
Tractors are slow to start. Feeding takes hours to complete. Walking to the shop is a grit-and-bear-it affair.
Mark manages a sense of humor, joking that his cows are on welfare right now. They're dependent upon everything - his ability to brave the cold, to provide the food, to keep the water flowing, to keep the equipment running.
Ranch hands Nick Diehl and Casey Jones help out. Today, they're repairing a portable heater in the workshop, never mind the thick, blue haze of burning waste oil clouding the room.
The furnace hisses loudly, a red-orange fire dancing behind the iron door. Light shines from a window, casting an eerie beam through the fog.
The warmth keeps the tractors from freezing and ensures the steel says strong. Moving 1-ton rounds of hay requires a different set of rules. Weakened by the cold, Mark said, the steel components can snap.
It's why he keeps the bales below 1 ton. But even at 1,300 pounds, they're hardly light, and they may not last if the weather doesn't break. If the ranch runs low on hay, the ranchers will look to augment the feed with straw.
The cows, Dave says, don't mind.
“Actually, cattle are warmer when they eat straw than they are when they eat hay,” Dave says. “Somehow, it generates more heat in them.”
“It's kind of like drinking whiskey to stay warm,” Mark adds with a laugh. “There's a diminishing return with it, but there's a certain satisfaction that comes with it, too.”
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