Posted by Tim – CNP, OHP
BellMar Ranch & Gardens
December 18, 2025
BellMar Ranch & Gardens
December 18, 2025
Three dairy cows in the barn sound cute on paper.
In reality, it means moving literal tons of manure by hand with a pitchfork.
Twice a day...
Every. Single. Day.
The manure spreader is frozen solid — won’t budge until spring.
So there’s no spreading it on the pastures like we normally do.
Instead, we’re building a manure mountain right beside the barn.
Pitchfork load after pitchfork load.
Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow.
In –25 °C wind that turns your breath to ice before it leaves your mouth.
And come April, when the thaw hits, we get to move the whole damn pile again.
That’s ranching.
It’s not glamorous.
It’s not Instagram-worthy.
It’s just pitchforks, frozen gloves, and a growing pile of what cows leave behind.
But those three cows will eventually give us milk for the house, cream for the butter, and the start of something bigger.
So we keep shoveling.
One forkful at a time.
Spring will come.
The pile will spread.
The fields will grow.
Until then, we build the mountain.
Tim - CNP, OHP
(The guy with the pitchfork frozen to his hand)