cold tickles, first frost—
a fine sheen reflects stacked coins–
fog shrouds Sheep Mountain.
Fog over Sheep Mountain; First frost
Tending camp on the North Elk River
Border collie supervising Bubba and Pepe
The ewes and lambs graze on the National Forests in the summer months. They move through a rotation so that they are not in any area for long. Part of the journey for Pepe’s sheep includes several weeks in high mountain pastures near the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area. He stays in a tent and we pack in his groceries and dog food. When he drops into the north fork of the Elk River, we bring his camp to him. This involves a drive down a death-defying curvy road to a wonderful mountain meadow. Bubba came along, both to learn the way and to provide the muscle.
Pepe’s horse, pine-beetle killed tree
Pepe and Bubba: twins separated at birth?
Summer’s Almost Gone
horses crossing the road
It’s not quite time for winter to be coming on, but we’re starting to see yellow leaves and cool mornings. Here’s some photos from the last of our summer days.
bringing up the heifers
buck lambs
Eamon opening the gate
McCoy ready to ride
lambs and ewes near Little Red Park
Siobhan’s elk. She had a “depredation” tag for elk eating our alfalfa. That’s alfalfa all around!
Make hay while the sun shines
Stacked like golden coins,
summer’s promise, winter’s hope,
waiting to be spent.
bales on the Lemmons Meadow
Stylin’ and movin’ the buck lambs
Wilber showing off the latest fashion for sheepherders
We needed to move the buck lambs to a different pasture. Wilber was dressed for the occasion.
Dante and Wilber moving the buck lambs
A long dry trail to summer grazing
Yearlings on their way to water
July 1st is the on-date for the forest permits where our ewes and lambs graze for the summer. While the ewes are lambing at Cottonwood, the yearling ewes hang out in the Badwater pasture, some 40 miles to the north. The ewes and lambs are usually settled on their permits for the summer by the 4th of July. The permit where the yearlings graze for the summer has an on-date of mid-July so it’s their turn to trail. Yearlings can move a lot faster than the five miles per day required by the federal agencies, so they usually move right along. This year was exceptional. Due to drought, very little water was available as we trailed. We discussed hauling water, which is difficult and expensive, but Alejandro said he’d rather make more miles and go from water to water. This meant that one day, the yearlings covered about 20 miles, which usually takes three days. They were tired, but really happy to see that reservoir. They are young and healthy and did fine, but I hope we don’t have to do it again. We rested them in our State Land pasture on the lambing grounds, which had feed and plenty of water, then pushed on to their summer permit. They spend the first few days on our neighbor’s private in-holding. We appreciate the extra grazing, and he values the reduction in grasses for wildfire protection. Alejandro did an excellent job in shepherding them through the dry country.
The reservoir’s in sight below Muddy Mountain
Trailing the yearlings onto their summer permit (Yes, that’s smoke in the air.)
Settled at last on Condict’s. That’s a smoke plume from the Morgan Creek Fire on the right.
On to the Forest!
Leo trailing the sheep up the road
July 1st is the on-date for most of our sheep grazing permits on the National Forest. We have to stage them on since we have several bunches which graze on federal permits in the summer, and it is the on-date for our neighbors as well. They usually trail one day apart so we go up the line and move each camp to the next spot until everyone is settled
There is always a grateful sigh when we know we are through lambing, through docking and through trailing. The next challenge is withstanding the predators which view our ewes and lambs as tasty snacks, especially in a year when the deer population is low. My Dad’s cousin once said, “Well, you’re up there in the nice cool flies.”
Now we are up in the “nice cool bears.”
We have grass and we have water. The grazing greatly reduces the fuel load and the fire danger. We are worried about fire in this year’s drought conditions. So it begins.
Pulling the wagon and flagging the sheep up the road
crossing the South Fork bridge
Leo
closer than they appear
lambs hitching a ride
It was an early morning for Meghan!
Tiarnan helping Leo
Ladder Ranch
