4-H-My childhood love!

I am taking a break from memorizing grasses for one of my college class to tell you about one of my favorite things growing up!  I loved 4-H, plain and simple.  I lived for the fair and loved putting all the effort into raising quality animals with the hopes of a champion.  Let me start at the beginning. The decision to join 4-H came at the age of 9 and believe me it was the best choice I have made so far in life.  A few of my friend who were older had lambs the summer I turned 9.  They were raising them to show in 4-H and oh man was I jealous! I came home was so excited to join 4-H and show lambs I forgot for a moment that we live in town and I couldn't have sheep in town.  My parents agreed to allow me to join 4-H and be involved in cooking and sewing and if I stuck with those projects then the next year I could get some lambs.  (We were in the process of moving out of town).  I agreed and I completed both those project and was ready for some lambs.  I think my dad is amazing for allowing me to show lambs and helping me every summer...even when I got older!  We bonded while working on 4-H projects together :)

Ok, back to my first year, I bought some lambs from the neighbor who happened to be a Vet and these were the plainest lambs possible!  I think I got last place but at that age it did not matter at all to me, I love the experience and was ready for the next set of lambs.  You may wonder why with a father who is a cattle buyer I showed lambs.  I thought that was the only thing I could show for a few years and later in my 4-H career I showed some steers and even a heifer or two. But back to my first year, well the next April came and it was time to get lambs again and the Vet had sold all his lambs.  My dad felt horrible so he called around and found a wonderful lady name Jackie Urick in Stanford Montana with some lambs and we headed up to her sale!  She had amazing lambs and I was now in the running to win.  Read this article in Jackie!  You'll love her :)
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100518/SPECIALSECTION09/5060330/Need-4-H-lamb-Call-Jackie-Urick

To this day I want people to know that 4-H is more than winning, much more!  Yes, I will admit I won a lot of awards and was always considered competition to the other members.  But more importantly it gave me life long friends!  We spend hours in the show barn talking and being silly.  We would talk about our projects and go on rides together etc.  There was always a friendly rivalry going on between us and we always like to have the better animal.
Another thing I learned was responsibility. My animals were fed before I ate and they were number one. I took care of those lambs and they were my little babies!  I washed them and played for hours with them.  I remember one time my dad thought was water tank was too dirty so he asked me if I would be willing to drink that water.  Hoping I would say no and clean it, but instead I said sure and marched right up to the house and got a glass and walked down there and filled it up and drank it. Needless to say, the water tank was cleaned the next day. :)

Overall I look back and love my time in 4-H and I would encourage anyone to sign their child up!  It will do great things for your child and bring them more confidence!  I posted the link below so you know how to sign up.
http://www.gallatin.mt.gov/Public_Documents/gallatincomt_extension/4-H/What%20Is

Have a great Wednesday!
Karoline Rose

Update on Halee Joe Butte!

She went into surgery early this morning.  We have not heard how surgery went but please keep praying.  They moved her out of ICU and into a room on a different floor which is a huge plus.  She woke up this morning and was smiling and talking.  They are planning on wiring her jaw shut for 6 weeks sense it is broken but not enough to do surgery on it. The breathing tube got taken out and she was able to eat chocolate pudding.  Thank you everyone for your prayers and there are a few ladies collecting donations.  Please check out the facebook page for her and her family.  Thank you!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Many-angles-for-Halee-Joe-Butte/241640745879181

God bless you!

Karoline Rose

Please pray for Halee Joe Butte!

Joe Joe was in a horse wreck on Friday the 2nd of Sept. She was life flight to children's hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Halee Jo was a flower girl in Jacob and Kelsey's wedding, She is currently in ICU and all is sounding good for the kind of accident she had. Facial fractures, scull fractures, jaw fractures, and a very small amount of bleeding on the brain. Everything seems to be going well today.  She may be able to get the breathing tube out today! she is able to move her lips like to "KISS MOMMY" and her arms and legs, she rubs our fingers. Please also pray for her parents and her sisters.   God has control of the situation and he will preform a miracle on her.  Thank you for your prayers and support! I will update as soon as I know something.  God bless you and yours.


Have a great weekend!
Karoline

Cattle Industry: My way of life

I can't imagine my life without cattle!  It seems as if almost everything I do has something to do with the cattle industry.  I live and breath cattle. Being in the Cattle industry means more than just raising the cattle, its a way of life.  Growing up in a small town I can remember several times during high school, the school secretary would get on the loud speaker and say Karoline Rose head home your heifer is calving. My teachers have no problem with me running out the door and jumping in the truck and heading home.  They knew that tending to my cattle at home was much more important to me than English class :)
The cattle industry is a family within itself.  We are more than willing to help out our neighbors and to lend a hand when needed.  The neighbors can be 5 minutes away or many states away they are always there to help out.  There was a rancher here in Montana that lost about half his herd to a horrible storm and the cattle family stepped up and many people donated heifers and cow calf pairs to him without any thought.  They wanted to help and they know he will do the same if needed.  Lauren Chase from Montana Stockgrowers followed that story.  Here is the link to both the pictures .http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150304126582059.388947.121110932058&type=1 and the articlehttp://www.ktvq.com/news/ryegate-area-rancher-farmer-loses-half-his-cattle-in-recent-storm/.  This is one great example of the love for cattle, ranchers show.
My father said, "The kindheartedness Montana ranchers showed to that man who is down on his luck is exactly why I wake up everyday and love my job. We serve God and America."

When pulling into my driveway you won't see a fancy house or anything.  But you will notice the 3 or 4 pickup trucks parked outside and they usually have manure all over them.  We work sunrise to sunset tending to both our cattle, dogs and our family. The animals often come first but family and God are extremely important to us.  Have you ever noticed a cowboy get off a bull at a Rodeo and bow his head thanking the Lord for keeping him safe.  Still to this day that simple act gives me chills, he has demonstrated the love for God that the agriculture industry shares.  We depend on God for everything, without rain we don't have a good crop, without crops we can't feed out cattle, without cattle we can't feed our family.  It all come back to the Lord and the land and animals he has given us to spread the food and wealth around.  Check out this ministry that raises animals to feed to the less fortunate. http://www.holycowmontana.com/Home.html

Stock dogs- which are my fathers favorite.  These animals are more that just dogs.  They go with us on almost every ride when we check cattle and they are always working. At my house we often raise pups and sell them to other ranchers who need an extra hand on the ranch.  The dogs are first working dogs but they bring smiles and light to the neighborhood children.  Without these dogs my job would be ten times harder.
I am here in Salt Lake City getting some more tests done on my brain ( my father is still surprised that I have an active brain).  We will be here for a few more days and wont be sent home until they have some answers.  The cattle market is falling a little bit today and we have noticed a shortage of hay in the South so they will be shipping a lot of hay in our area to the South.  Thanks for reading.  Have an awesome day!!

Karoline Rose
406-577-6310

Check out our facebook and twitter pages :)
God bless!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rose-Cattle-Company/198466533540626
http://twitter.com/#!/rosecattleco

More Wedding Pictures!

Lauren Chase from Montana Stockgrowers is an exceptional person and we are so lucky that she follows us around and documents our life.  Thank you Lauren! Below are some pictures she posted from the wedding!! 

Check out Lauren's work on Montana Stockgrowers facebook page!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Montana-Stockgrowers-Association/121110932058?ref=ts

The Nile Merit Heifer Program!

As many of you know I have a little pure bred Angus herd.  This has always been a huge dream of mine.  Since my father grew up on a ranch of his own I think he passed down his passion and love for showing cattle to me.  I was always active in 4-H showing sheep and spent a few years showing steers. Both 4-H and the Nile heifer program changed my life forever.

http://thenile.org/userfiles/file/Merit%20Heifer/2012%20MH%20Application.pdf

The Nile Merit Heifer Program is an amazing program that gave me the opportunity of a lifetime.  I applied two years in a row and was disappointed but in the end it was the best thing that ever happened to me.  The second year I applied I pulled up to the mail box and can remember receiving a huge envelope and knew right then I had won!

Current Creek Angus Ranch donated a heifer from their herd. I was offered any yearling heifer I wanted! They are so amazing and they gave me a huge gift.  Still to this day I am not sure they know how much they impacted my life.

Today my herd is 10 head and all but two of them are the result of my Nile Merit heifer.  I urge you to suggest this program to anyone who is under 17 and loves cattle.

Have a great day!  Its raining here and I am off to 16 hours of work :)

Karoline Rose

The Wedding

This past weekend was Jacob and Kelsey's wedding.  It was awesome to welcome Kelsey into the family.  One was my favorite parts about this weekend was seeing my brothers face when he saw her walking in with her father.  He was blown away! It was great to see all the extended family and to dance the night away.  Below are some pictures taken by friends and family.  The professional ones will be posted as soon as I get them.  I hope everyone is having a great day. 

Kelsey read a quote from Ruth in the Bible:

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." (NIV)

Talk to you soon!

Karoline