The Ekalaka Eagle - Your Community Builder

Farming on cow/calf operations gets slipped in instead of sleep between calving, feeding, branding, fencing, and all the other spring work. It is often a high-speed, high-stress form of diversification that causes a lot of laundry problems. Anyway...

Cattle producers have two options as I see it. One is to bury our heads in the sand and keep doing what we have been doing and expecting a better result “next year,” and the other is to educate ourselves and do something proactively with the...

Several years back, I inadvertently stumbled upon a new method of calving--the homeopathic method. This like the discovery of all great things such as fire and disposable diapers came about quite by accident. Calving season was winding down, so many...

Many people try to be very careful prior to going on a big trip, so they don't fall and hurt themselves badly enough that they could not travel. Ranch people try to be extra careful prior to calving season, because that is probably the worst time of...

I love blogs that are honest and authentic, so I was elated when I stumbled upon a really entertaining blog written by Lindsey Habets of Conrad, Montana. Lindsey wrote a series of blogs from both of her toddlers' points of view that are humorous...

by Susan Metcalf This year we spent most of the high school basketball season huddled around our television watching the games on the NFHS app because of Covid restrictions. Now that restrictions have been lifted, we find ourselves in the bleachers...

My favorite holiday of the year is Dr. Seuss's birthday, which was March 2. Yes, Theodor Seuss Geisel would have been 117 years old this week. He and his 60 plus books have inspired young readers since 1937 when “To Think I Saw It All on Mulberry...

Winter has been fairly kind to us up until this past weekend when we suddenly plunged into the deep freeze. We do not start calving until mid-March, but my heart goes out to the people who are calving and lambing in this cold snowy weather. It...

Each month, the “Western Ag Reporter” is going to highlight a front page "feel good story" to remind readers that although times are tough in agriculture, there is a sunny side. I think the only reason farmers and ranchers remain in agriculture...

After a few hours in office, Joe Biden has signed executive orders that have angered Canada, diabetics, users of epipens, oil and gas workers, Keystone Pipeline workers, union laborers working on the border wall, Border Patrol, ranchers on our...

With our economy reeling from shutdowns, it is suddenly fashionable and necessary to be frugal. I grew up frugal, because my parents were 40 years old when they got around to having me, so they were children during the Great Depression. We rinsed...

As 2021 rolls in, we look back on 2020 with horrified hindsight and look forward with hopefulness to a good 2021. As I sit here reflecting on the pandemic of 2020, my mind wandered back to Y2K. Remember Y2K? We thought the computers would not recogni...

Technically, I am retired. Granted, I have a couple part-time jobs that occupy my leisure time, but every year I find myself in the same predicament as I look down the barrel of the Christmas gun. Every year, it is as though Christmas sneaks up on...

The countdown to Christmas is on, and I am even more panicked than usual because of added Covid holiday stress. This year, like every other year, I had grandiose plans of creating a Christmas that would make Martha Stewart drool. The reality is that...

Even Dr. Fauci declared on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, “We say it, not being facetiously or having a soundbite or anything, but you know: close the bars, keep the schools open." To ABC's Martha Raddatz, Fauci stated, "Obviously, you don't have...

I was born into my parents' outfitting business, and I have spent many years as a hunting camp cook, so I have always revered hunting guides. I love to listen to hunters' tales of how their guide nearly killed them off dragging them to the top of eve...

The official Christmas shopping season kicks off after the turkey leftovers are put in the refrigerator. We won't be having any Black Friday frenzies this year thanks to Covid. Instead I want to encourage everyone to support small businesses in their...

by Susan Metcalf One of the nicest compliments I receive is when readers tell me that they have hung my column on their refrigerator or mailed it to someone (often anonymously) to try to make a point humorously and semi-tactfully. Since we are going...

Parent teacher conferences are traditionally held at this time of year, but this Covid year many of those conferences will be postponed or held via telephone, Zoom, or Google Meets. The parents of the high achieving kids always show up eager to...

With Covid restrictions in place, it is more important than ever this year to remember to honor Veteran's Day next Wednesday, I hope you will take time to honor all of the Veterans in your community. In our Big Timber, Montana community, we have an...

As I sit here tonight looking out at the 20 plus inches of snow coating everything, I have to believe that this might slow the buying frenzy of out of state buyers who have flocked to Montana from highly populated areas. Almost as soon as things...

As the election draws nearer, I feel compelled to point out that Joe Biden’s 4 trillion dollar tax plan would raise taxes on all of our households both in life and at death, according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Biden has set his sights o...

The general season for elk and deer is starting. This means that many hunters are contemplating robbing a bank or at least a convenience store to make ends meet AND stay within the hunting budget their wife has given them. You see, phonier than any...

I really am not a Tweeter. In fact, I do not have a Twitter account, but I do love to write fake Tweets. In fact, there is a special holiday coming up that positively screams for fake Tweets. Columbus Day is my favorite holiday of the year. It is...