We have been praying for moisture, after yet another dry winter (this on the heels of two hard winters). We are getting intermittent rainy and snowy days, which usually we are grateful for. Last week, we got a snow storm which came with high winds which made it unfit for man and beast.
At Powder Wash, we lost several calves, lambs and ewes, in spite of sheds and shelter. On the Red Desert, the ewes “blew out”, which means that in sheep just walked in front of the howling winds. In these conditions, we tell the sheepherders just to stay in their camps. Since there are few fences, the sheep are usually miles away from where they started, but they are OK, and we have to find them and put the herd back together.
Still, the moisture brings promise of green grass.
Baldie cow with black calf
Squaw Mountain with fog at sunset
Red Desert wild horse shares the range with cattle
Ladder Ranch
TL Saborido
April 24, 2013 at 11:16 AM
Your pictures are stunning. My wife (English graduate student and devourer of literature) and I (research scientist who scribbles poetry all day long) are looking for advice on how to get into ranching and raising livestock. You want to be a doctor? Go to med school. But what if you’re 27 and 28 and want to raise sheep? Where do you go to learn?