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Monthly Archives: November 2016

Over and under and on to the Red Desert

Here's Modesto's ewes, ready to head through Rodewald's gate

Here’s Modesto’s ewes, ready to head through Rodewald’s gate

 

 

Today,  the third band of sheep crossed over the UP line and under I80 at Creston Junction. They are trailing north to winter pastures on the Cyclone Rim and Chain Lakes allotments in the Red Desert. This is a long walk from the summer pastures on the Routt and Medicine Bow National Forests.

Here's the sheep topping the railroad overpass south of Creston Junction.

Here’s the sheep topping the railroad overpass south of Creston Junction.

Modesto in the mirror

Modesto in the mirror

passing the Fireworks Stand

passing the Fireworks Stand

under-i-80

heading north, past I80

almost to the gate

almost to the gate

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2016 in Animals, Events, Folks, Horses, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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Wrangling

Horses ready for a day's work

Horses ready for a day’s work

 
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Posted by on November 27, 2016 in Animals, Dogs, Horses

 

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Still Fall

Bringing the heifers to water

Bringing the heifers to water

 

We should be under snow by now, but we’ve only had a few skiffs, so in our book, it’s still fall. As much as we need winter, we are taking advantage of the relatively warm dry weather to keep catching up on fall work, and even getting ahead on some spring work, such as plowing. We are happy to have our good child labor, like McCoy, helping us out.

McCoy and Eamon at the end of the day.

McCoy and Eamon at the end of the day.

meghan-and-mccoy-with-dot

McCoy helping Meghan water the horses

Prince and the feral horses checking each other out

Prince and the feral horses checking each other out

November plowing in the Big Meadow

November plowing in the Big Meadow

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2016 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Horses

 

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working ahead of the storm

Bringing the ewes up the chute

Bringing the ewes up the chute

 

We are on the trail, headed for winter pastures on the Red Desert. Most of the ewes are at the Badwater Pasture, about 100 miles north of our summer country, and 40 or 50 miles from the Cyclone Rim and Chain Lakes allotments, where they winter. These are the yearling ewes, who are getting a fresh brand and a squirt of insecticide to ensure good health.  It was a windy day, with a winter storm predicted. We were working hard to finish so that we could all hunker down. It did snow some, but the storm went to the north. We are waiting for some snow on the ground so that we can trail on to the Red Desert. We don’t have much live water there, and the sheep depend on eating snow. We pray for some storms–just not big ones!

the yearling ewes

the yearling ewes

yealing-ewes-in-chute

showing off their fresh brands

Pepe and Meghan, hard at work

Pepe and Meghan, hard at work

Walter jumping the fence

Walter jumping the fence

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Maria is hanging out with the bucks

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Maria is hanging out with the bucks

 
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Posted by on November 18, 2016 in Events

 

This fall when the work’s all done…

Cows and calves in the Lower Meadow

Cows and calves in the Lower Meadow

It’s that time of year when we bring in the livestock–the cows and calves, the ewes and lambs–the time when we finish our summer’s work and prepare for the winter season. We sell most of the calves, and send many  of the cows to less snowy pastures for the winter. Some of the cows will go to our friends’ ranch near Laramie (where the snow is horizontal rather than vertical), Some will go to Nebraska. This means we bring them all in to the Home Ranch, work them, and load some of them on trucks.

First, we need horses

First, we need horses

Ready to bring them in

Ready to bring them in

And we need a crew--Eamon

And we need a crew–Eamon

Meghan and Peruanito

Meghan and Peruanito

Siobhan and Taylor

Siobhan and Taylor

McCoy checking things out

McCoy checking things out

Rhen on the job

Rhen on the job

Megan and Jeff

Megan and Jeff

 

Our neighbor John may be a belts and suspenders kind-of-guy

Our neighbor John may be a belts and suspenders kind-of-guy

calf on the lookout

calf on the lookout

ready to load

ready to load

Rhen supervising the truck

Rhen supervising the truck

Eamon watching the calves

Eamon watching the calves

 

 

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