Happy New Year!

2020 is here! It’s the beginning of a new year, a new decade, and even more fun!

Last time you heard from me was on Marie’s birthday, September 24th. That evening, there was a tornado in the Town of Wheaton. The tornado affected many of our neighbors just a mile away from us. It was devastating, but reminded us to be thankful for the safety of family and neighbors as well as the goodwill of men. The community came together quickly to clean up the damaged homes and pick up the remnants left in farm fields. The pathway of tornado left a lasting change to the view of our countryside. The rebuild of homes and properties will continue into 2020.

In October, Marie attended two events with the beef cattle. First was Kids & Cows in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Marie enjoys that event, because its purpose is to allow people of all ages the opportunity to learn about showing beef cattle, fitting them for show, and judging. It was actually snowing that day, but the event had a record number of kids and cows at the event (77 head of cattle and 81 participants).

Minnesota Beef Expo was the following weekend in October. Seven head of Miniature Herefords from Sandy Acres headed over there to the junior show. Four kids showed our cattle. They received five blues and our calf, Cadence, won Reserve Champion for the Miniature Hereford Division. That was the final show of the 2019 season and Marie is already looking forward to 2020!

In contrast, I am glad my mom, Marie, is home more now. I even had the opportunity to go on a road trip with her and Jeff! We delivered sheep to Withee, Wisconsin and I was able to help unload them. Moving sheep is my favorite job. Even the most stubborn ram was no match for me.

Throughout the fall, Jeff harvested the corn and soybeans he planted this spring. He finished harvest prior to getting any significant amount of snow. He even was able to get a little over a hundred bales of (corn) stalks to bed animals with this winter prior to our early appearance of winter. While on the road trip, I observed that many farmers still have corn in their fields with snowfall coming so early.

I turned FOUR on Christmas Day! They say I’ve grown up a lot over these years, but I’ve actually just perfected my craft of herding so they don’t realize I’m still same old Wally. Mom even bought me my very own toys for a gift that she hides from all the other dogs that visit us so they don’t chew them.

In December, right before Christmas, we had the opportunity to sell two of our spring 2019 calves, Sarah and Hannah, to a family from Tennessee. Their new owners love them.

Today, New Year’s Day, we took a sleigh ride with Turbo. Mom has been taking Trixter and I out almost every week since show season ended. We started riding in the cart this fall, and now after all this snow, we’ve been going out in the sleigh.

Happy New Year! What does 2020 mean to you? To me, it’s a new year full of possibility and lots of lambs to herd soon!

Love, Wally (the trusted Border Collie at Sandy Acres)