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Monthly Archives: January 2017

Aquarians and heifers

29 Jan
January cake for Sharon, our neighbor Nikki, and Brian

January cake for Sharon, our neighbor Nikki, and Brian

 

The past few days have seen several birthdays, so we had a communal birthday party. Here is the cake that Megan made for the occasion. Nikki decided to stay home with her new baby, but her husband John came and we celebrated a combined 142 years of living. We had some discussion of the arrangement of candles.

Today, Tiarnan and I took a walk through the snow. He’s another Aquarian with a Valentine birthday.

It was a good day.

Tiarnan on a snowy day

Tiarnan on a snowy day

Squaw Mountain with plowed snow

Squaw Mountain with plowed snow

Tiarnan and the heifers

Tiarnan and the heifers

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2017 in Animals, Cattle, Events, Family, Folks

 

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Winter from the air

22 Jan
Almost sunset over Battle Mountain

Almost sunset over Battle Mountain

 

Today, we set out by air to look for missing heifers. The runway at the Dixon Airport hadn’t been plowed, but the pilot, Justin, did an amazing job of taking off and landing in quite a bit of snow in what looked to me like the Volkswagon Beetle of small airplanes. Unfortunately, in spite of several hours and lots of miles of searching, we did not find said heifers. We did see a lot of amazing country, elk, deer, antelope, wild horses, sheep (ours) and cattle belonging to our neighbors. If you see heifers with a JO brand, a red eartag and a white eartag, please let us know.

 

 

 

 

Elk hanging out on the Little Snake River, below the River Bridge

Elk hanging out on the Little Snake River, below the River Bridge

Wild horse at four o'clock (not in a Horse Management Area)

Wild horses at four o’clock (not in a Horse Management Area)

the Headquarters at Powder Flat

the Headquarters at Powder Flat

Here's the Chivington Place being "reclaimed" after O&G

Here’s the Chivington Place being “reclaimed” after O&G

Eamon, as we come into the snow-covered runway

Eamon, as we come into the snow-covered runway

Meanwhile, back on the Red Desert, Meghan and Pepe were digging out the corn pile!

Meanwhile, back on the Red Desert, Meghan and Pepe were digging out the corn pile!

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2017 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Nature and Wildlife

 

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Lambs–and the livin’ is easy

19 Jan
Lambs on feed

Lambs on feed

 

After our lambs are born, on the range or in lambing sheds, after they spend the summer grazing on the Forest with their moms (dodging bears and coyotes), after they are weaned, they ride on big trucks to a feedlot near Greeley, Colorado. There they are fed on a natural ration until they become lamb chops, sold through the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative. In the meantime, they are well-cared for by the feedlot folks, who see to their well-being.

Sometimes the lambs share their feed in a sort of multi-species way!

Sometimes the lambs share their feed in a sort of multi-species way!

 

 
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Posted by on January 19, 2017 in Animals, Sheep

 

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Bucks leaving

16 Jan
Pepe, Meghan and Sam with the bucks

Pepe, Meghan and Sam with the bucks

 

Mid-December brings true love to our ewes and rams. The rams, at least, have been waiting in the wings since, well, last winter. Mid-January brings rest to the bucks, who have been working hard for a month. It is time to bring some of them home. Here are Pepe and Meghan loading bucks for the trip home. You can see that it is deep winter on the Red Desert. We were worried about not having enough snow for the ewes to eat for water. Now we are worried about too much crust on the snow for them to graze. Pepe and the other herders feed them corn every day to keep them strong. And pregnant.

Waiting to go home

Waiting to go home

Meghan hooking up the horsetrailer

Meghan hooking up the horsetrailer

Dos Amigos

Dos Amigos

 
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Posted by on January 16, 2017 in Animals, Dogs, Family, Folks, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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Sunrise

14 Jan
morning on the Mesa

morning on the Mesa

 
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Posted by on January 14, 2017 in Nature and Wildlife

 

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Critters on the Move

08 Jan
Winter sheep on the trail

Winter sheep on the trail

 

The bitter cold and deep snowfall during the past week has seen critters, wild and domestic, on the move. We decided to trail our yearling ewes and old ewes from the Chivington Place to Powder Flat , where they are closer to the haystack. Likewise, the deer, elk and antelope are all on the move. Here’s some of the migrations we saw today.

Yemy heading up the county road

Yemy heading up the county road

Yearling ewes and old ewes heading to Powder Flat

Yearling ewes and old ewes en route to Powder Flat

The guard dogs have their back

The guard dogs have their back

Yemy is keeping his adopted wild horse warm!

Yemy is keeping his adopted wild horse warm!

McCoy, Sadie and Cora moving the sheep

McCoy, Sadie and Cora moving the sheep

almost there

almost there

Feral (unadopted) wild horses on the feed line with our cows

Feral (unadopted) wild horses on the feed line with our cows

Wild horses with the cows

Wild horses with the cows

Elk near Sandman Mountain

Elk near Sandman Mountain

Buck deer west of Baggs

Buck deer west of Baggs

Does IN Baggs

Does IN Baggs

Some of several thousand antelope on the move

Some of several thousand antelope on the move

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2017 in Events

 

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Winter at Powder Wash

07 Jan
Powder Mountain

Powder Mountain

Not all of the sheep trail north to the Red Desert for the winter. The yearlings and the old ewes trail west to the Powder Wash country. All of Wyoming was buried in snow and chilled by sub-zero temperatures. I read that of the world’s ten lowest recorded temperatures, last week, five of them were in Wyoming. Our winter country in Powder Wash lies in both Colorado and Wyoming, but it was equally cold and snowy on both sides of the state line. The elk are on the move, and we are feeding extra hay to the sheep. Winter is well and truly here!

Elk on the move

Elk on the move

Eamon and Eamon and Edgar unrolling a bale

Eamon and
Eamon and Edgar unrolling a bale

Winter sustenance

Winter sustenance

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2017 in Animals, Family, Folks, Nature and Wildlife, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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Winter, at last

02 Jan
January snow

January snow

We’ve had inches, not feet, of snow…until today.

 
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Posted by on January 2, 2017 in Nature and Wildlife

 

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Happy New Year

01 Jan
New Year's morning and Battle Mountain

New Year’s morning and Battle Mountain

The year dawns new
and clean
and full of hope.
Sunrise sending
gleams of light sparkling
across snowy meadows,
shining up like
diamond shards—
crystal glimmers pricking
cool frosting spread
smooth across the fields.
In spring, these hills hide
baby calves with mama cows
mooing softly.
Summer hums with
growing hay, and tractors
rolling past midnight,
scheduled by dew upon
moonlit windrows.
Autumn brings lambs,
deer, elk, grazing on
harvest’s aftermath.
Then the long brown
quiet awaits
snow, and silence
and the shimmering
pallet waiting for sunrise–
painting the
New Year.

 
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Posted by on January 1, 2017 in Nature and Wildlife, Poetry

 

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