Full Circle Ranch

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March 20th, first day of spring. When hopes spring eternal with promises of all things new: gardens planted, early flowe...
03/21/2026

March 20th, first day of spring. When hopes spring eternal with promises of all things new: gardens planted, early flowers blooming, fields of seeded crops sprouting fluorescent green and spring calves!
For days Nellie has been in our maternity ward. We knew time was drawing near as she was exhibiting signs and oh so uncomfortable. Wee hours of the 20th we saw on the barn camera her laid out like this and had us rushing to the pens but no, not yet. At 9:30am her water broke. Let her naturally progress for an hour but things just were “off”. She willingly cooperated with John to get into chute so he could palpate and assess situation. There was a head, just no feet/legs because they were folded back underneath calf! John worked, worked and worked for over an hour trying to push, pull, reposition calf until he was flat worn out and had no feeling left in his arm (if you’ve ever inserted arm into cow’s birth canal and they’re contracting with labor, well it gets tight). Calls are made to local vets. No one available for farm call but if can load her and bring in, can be seen to. Thankfully Nellie has been a real trooper to this point and did indeed load into trailer and we made a run into Brownwood. At this point we had to wait on vet as he was busy with another surgery, and by this time we are resigned that with the time that’s elapsing will have a dead calf but hope to save Nellie. It was a very hard repositioning and assisted pull, but almost 4 hours later an ALIVE calf was delivered. Both are home and doing amazingly well.
Meet PETUNIA, a spring name meaning resilient because she beat the odds.

Christmas presents come in all forms and the best one we all had this year was a live birth! Chick-O-Stick (Brian and Ma...
12/29/2025

Christmas presents come in all forms and the best one we all had this year was a live birth! Chick-O-Stick (Brian and Marla’s heifer) was due so we’d had her in pens near us checking every couple to three hrs thru each day. Of course being heifer it’s a crap shoot when she was to calve. John did middle of night checks and I did early predawn ones. We knew she was getting close on Christmas Eve. All day on 25th nada. When I cked on a.m. 26th pretty sure her water broke or maybe it was just a big p*e cause then nothing happened except extreme discomfort. John called two vets and of course no one available for ranch call. Brian said wait and watch. We had early lunch. Marla walked out with kids and texted she was down and seemed to be having contractions. John palpated her cause nothing was presenting. He found feet but no head (it was flipped backwards over body). For 1.5 hrs he and Brian worked with chains and hip jack to get calf out. After 30 min we were resigned to delivering calf however necessary to save cow. Unbelievably they finally were able to push calf BACK IN far enough that John could flip its head forward, then held it in place between front legs while Brian used jacks to pull it into birth canal and out. It was alive!!! We cleared its airway, hung it upside down several times to help clear lungs, roughly rubbed it for stimulation. It was shaking like crazy and neck severely bent due to way it had been positioned. Didn’t know if it had brain damage, seizures or what. They got mom up, John milked her and tube fed baby some colostrum and gave her a dose of gut paste. Did this twice over couple hours. That evening we found calf up and nursing! She’s been fine and getting stronger everyday since!!!
Maddie is adamant her name is Christmas Baby!

Calves on the ground! Hitting in every pasture but these are out of first time heifers we keep close to home for monitor...
12/18/2025

Calves on the ground! Hitting in every pasture but these are out of first time heifers we keep close to home for monitoring. We’ve had one assist and one natural. Will see what Chick-O-Stick requires. John pulled middle of night checks and I’ve done early morning. She’s bagged and progressing. Hopefully will calve in light of day for us, sure makes it easier!

Making rounds to see all the herds. Our heifer herd bull Sonny was hand fed from a calf by John so he still gets extra t...
11/27/2025

Making rounds to see all the herds. Our heifer herd bull Sonny was hand fed from a calf by John so he still gets extra treats, especially on Thanksgiving Day from John. Topping off the liquid feed tubs cause they all heartily enjoy that, as evidenced by multiple stains on the white faces.

Keeping the cows fed. Loading up 8,000 lbs of cottonseed cubes in Rowena TX USA. High protein and high fat = happy cows...
11/06/2025

Keeping the cows fed. Loading up 8,000 lbs of cottonseed cubes in Rowena TX USA. High protein and high fat = happy cows 🐮

It’s National Dog Day and a day we salute our hard working cow dog Snuffy! Does he zig when he should’ve zagged, yes. Is...
08/26/2025

It’s National Dog Day and a day we salute our hard working cow dog Snuffy! Does he zig when he should’ve zagged, yes. Is he sometimes in the wrong place when we’re trying to move cows/calves (yeah, me too). But he’s our right hand helper and makes our life easier when we need help getting the job done. At end of day, he loves a swim in the trough, a stolen cow cube for a treat and a good belly rub…until we get up and do it all over again the next day!

Hauling hay! As we divided up where they were to be taken, enroute to one of our farther fields, driving across the low ...
08/11/2025

Hauling hay! As we divided up where they were to be taken, enroute to one of our farther fields, driving across the low water crossing Black Bridge, John looks over at me and grins saying all we’re missing is a couple inner tubes and some ice cold Coors. Rest of the way had Pink Floyd and Queen blasting on the radio and memories of our summers in the 80’s! (Except with nicer and more efficient toys)

John spent yesterday in Abilene at a great forum focused on grazing and soil health. It was a chance to swap ideas, lear...
06/27/2025

John spent yesterday in Abilene at a great forum focused on grazing and soil health. It was a chance to swap ideas, learn from others, and share what’s working on our place. Always good to connect with folks who are all trying to improve how we manage our land and livestock.

Here’s the post from TXGLC with more about the event:

Even when we’re relaxing and watching newest episode of Sonne Farms, Snuffy heard the cattle trailer and cows so he was ...
06/03/2025

Even when we’re relaxing and watching newest episode of Sonne Farms, Snuffy heard the cattle trailer and cows so he was engaged watching tv with us!

05/26/2025

Getting after weeds in the Kleingrass field last week!
We’re using the Agricision OnTrak GPS guidance system on our 300-gallon Wylie sprayer to make sure every pass is right on track—no skips, no overlaps, and no waste of those expensive gallons. Precision tools like this help us take better care of our pastures and make the most of every drop.

05/07/2025

Video of the drone in action seeding rough terrain that we couldn’t plant with a regular seeder.

We recently completed a pasture and field renovation project involving the seeding of native grasses and Kleingrass on n...
05/07/2025

We recently completed a pasture and field renovation project involving the seeding of native grasses and Kleingrass on newly cleared ground. In areas with rough or rocky terrain, we utilized a contractor equipped with a modern agricultural drone to ensure even seed distribution and access to otherwise hard-to-reach locations. For the smoother sections of the field, we employed a Brillion seeder to achieve optimal seed-to-soil contact. With the groundwork complete, we're now monitoring weather conditions and hoping for timely rainfall to establish a strong, productive forage stand for future grazing.

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Brookesmith, TX
76827

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