Merry Christmas 2022 from The Badger Family

2022 has been a rollercoaster of a ride for us! I hope you all have had a fabulous year 🙂

January and February were pretty typical… the colder weather set in and it was all we could do to keep the cows happy and the shop warm with the wood stove. But we made it through… only one cow lost her calf before calving season. We think she slipped and fell on the ice in the pasture which caused it to pass away. As sad as it was, it’s part of the ranching gig!

In March, we welcomed a new family member to the farm… Ace!
He is a border collie/kelpie cross from a farm in Saskatchewan. He was started on herding commands with sheep and a little bit on cows so at least he had a foundation to have some sort of control on his crazy natural herding instincts. When we got him, he was about 10 months old… so that makes him about a year and a half now. He and I took a day-long stock dog clinic in October and we had a lot of fun… I learned so much about him and even other breeds!

April brought our first couple calves hitting the ground. And my 40th birthday! My sister, Jenn, flew up to spend the weekend with the girls and I since Cordell had to work. She had the girls make me breakfast in bed, she took me out for a pedicure and arranged for Dad, Deb, Paige and my bestie/neighbour, Chelsea, to go to The Keg for dinner. The first calf born on our ranch ever was actually born early on the morning of my birthday which I thought was pretty cool. She’s a big heifer calf that we kept back this fall as a replacement. (Unfortunately, the only one I didn’t get a selfie with lol)

May brought in our first official calving season… in total we had 18 happy, healthy and hefty calves born. I managed to get a selfie with every calf after each one was tagged and given their vitamins. Thank goodness for the invention of the calf-catcher! As much as I say the cows are a pain in the ass and how tired I was during calving season… I did love raising those little buggers. (Don’t tell Cordell that lol)

May was also the start of soccer season in Sexsmith. I “coached” Shae’s team… the orange Jellyfish! And by coach, I mean herd chickens! I guess that’s not fair… chickens are easier to manage than eight 5-year-olds lol. Zoey made a bunch of new friends on the grey Moose team… along with her cousin, Austin.

In June, we branded and vaccinated the herd along with banding the bull calves. Then they headed to summer pasture late in the month. Cordell turned 44 (!) Zoey turned 8 and we hosted a big pool party at the ranch for her. I also celebrated my one-year post-op from bariatric surgery and was discharged from the bariatric clinic here in Grande Prairie. Garth Brooks came to Edmonton for his stadium tour and I got to see him for the third time. He never fails to amaze me!! He and Trisha Yearwood are both so talented!

July brought a lot of heat which stunted the regions crops and caused them to mature early. Even though we actually did get our hay crop off this year as opposed to last year, it wasn’t what it would be on a decent year. We also volunteered at the Teepee Creek Stampede again and had a blast as usual. Shae rode her second sheep in the Sheepee Terror (aka mutton bustin’) and didn’t cry!

After Stampede, we brought the bull out to the summer pasture see his ladies… the summer pasture is about a 30 minute drive from our ranch so going out there daily was no small feat! We were constantly checking fence lines and the water levels in the trough that collected the spring water. Even though it wasn’t a drought year like 2021 was, we still had to haul a little water to the herd over the summer.

August brought more heat… we were in the pool A LOT! While Cordell cut and baled hay and the oat/pea crop we seeded in the spring, the girls and I picked A LOT of saskatoons! Well, in between me helping fix things when he broke down. Shae turned 5 and we hosted a pool party for her with her friends. We even bought this huge unicorn sprinkler they played in on the trampoline! At the end of the month, we went to visit Jenn and Reagan in Sylvan Lake then up to FSJ to visit Dad, Deb and my mom’s side of the family at my cousin’s wedding in Prespatou. It was A LOT of driving that week but it was sure nice to see everyone!

September, Zoey started grade 3 and Shae started Kindergarten. Kindergarten in Teepee Creek means full days of school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and the Fridays that the kids are in session (the whole school basically has every other Friday off). That meant a whole lot of getting back into the routine of school… which I was grateful for but I did miss sleeping in a bit. The cows came home at the end of the month and it was amazing to see how much the calves had grown at the summer pasture.

October was a good, laid-back month… I started part time at a local oilfield company doing some logbook auditing and looking into continuing a competency-based training program. Thanksgiving was spent at Kerri and Wayne’s (Cordell’s parents)… well, Cordell and Shae were sick with a tummy bug so Zoey and I went. Halloween was basically spanned over a whole weekend… they did a school party on the Thursday before then I took the kids to a community dance on the Saturday evening before. THEN I took them trick or treating as per usual on Halloween night.

November, our lives have been thrown for a loop. Our precious home caught fire in the afternoon of November 3rd. Luckily, I was the only one home when it started… the girls were both at school and Cordell was at work. Thank goodness for small favours. The dogs and I were the only one inside the house when it started. At this point, the cause of the fire has been deemed undeterminable. The house was a complete loss as well as the holiday trailer and both vehicles suffered heat damage. As of today (December 1st), we still haven’t seen a dime from either insurance company. Luckily, we have had amazing support from our family, friends and community. The Teepee Creek Stampede Assoc. held a benefit in our honour on November 26th and it was so amazing and humbling to see everyone come out to support us in our time of need. As of now, we are still staying at Kerri and Wayne’s house but have started construction on a garage where we can live until we can rebuild our house. If you would like to stay updated with our situation, my neighbour and bestie Chelsea has made us a Facebook group where I post pics with updates as well as reach out when we need anything. It’s a private group since we couldn’t make it public but you can log in and request to be added if you CLICK HERE.

As we regroup and grieve the loss of our home, life goes on. We sold 15 of our 18 calves at auction a couple weeks after the fire. This makes the second crop of calves from the farm and I’m glad we are realizing Cordell’s dream of being cattle ranchers… even if it’s just at a small scale at this point. I also sold a few mule colts this August/September… one of which went all the way to Delta, Ontario where she is going to be trained as a search and rescue mule.

Despite the hardships we are facing right now, I am confident that with the help of our amazing friends, family and community, we will get through all this. We still have each other and that is what matters!

I hope this card finds you well and we wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years and all the best for 2023!

Love,
Pam, Cordell, Zoey & Shae Badger

Pam Marie B.

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