Late June brings our annual trailing from the lambing grounds, north of Dixon and Savery, to our Forest grazing permits on the Routt and Medicine Bow National Forest. We start the sheep on the trail for the Colorado permits first, since it is a longer drive. All has to be planned throughout lambing and docking, so that the oldest lambs are in one bunch, and ready to go first. It is about 40 miles for the sheep who are heading for Farwell Mountain, near Columbine, Colorado.
We try to stage the sheep so that they are one day apart, which makes it easier to move the camps as we go along. We count the sheep through the government corrals on the Stock Driveway. This gives us an accurate count as we head into the Forest, and is required by the Forest Service as part of our permit rules and regulations.
It is also our last easy chance to corral the sheep and dock any lambs which have been born since the last docking, put paint brand numbers on the marker sheep, and pull out any bum lambs who need to go to the Home Ranch for TLC.
Once we leave the corrals, we are officially on our summer country (even though the Colorado bunches still have days ahead of them on the trail). It is time to face the bears!
working sheep at the Government Corrals
Pepe, Bahnay and Salomon putting numbers on the marker ewes
Salomon, sheep and guard dogs headed for Farwell Mountain
guard dog leads the way
Ewes drinking at the ditch near Three Forks
Filomeno on the job
almost to the Routt Forest
dust along the road
heading into a tinderbox
Modesto, Bahnay and Riley
Oscar at Haggarty Creek, Medicine Bow National Forest
Teofilo at dawn
looking for her lamb
First day on the permit
Ladder Ranch
Ellie k
August 3, 2012 at 3:46 PM
What does the inside of the living wagon look like?
Ladder Ranch
August 3, 2012 at 4:15 PM
The inside of the sheep wagon is a perfect example of form follows function. At the back, there’s a 3/4 bed with storage underneath and a table that pulls out. A bench runs along each side, with more storage underneath. On the right side is a wood burning and/or gas stove and on the left side is a shelf for the water bucket. There are also hooks for lanterns and shelves for cooking pots. Outside is more storage for grain, horseshoeing tools, etc. They have a double axle and high clearance for travel over rough terrain. I’ll put up a picture of another sheep producer’s wagon which is pulled by a team of horses.