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Monthly Archives: September 2018

First lambs to the feedlot

Ewes and lambs heading for the corrals

Oscar sorting lambs

This has been one of the driest years on record. Usually our ewes and lambs graze on the Routt and Medicine Bow National Forest allotments until the end of September. This year, with much less rain than usual, we are sorting the feeder lambs off early to send them to the feed lot. Most years, we send the oldest (and heaviest) lambs first and the youngest lambs last. This fall, like many range producers, we are bringing the sheep down to the Home Ranch so the lambs can be sorted. This gives us less mouths to feed at home, and they transition onto a nutritous growth ration. All this is happening several weeks earlier than usual. We are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Each year, we gauge the present and try to predict the future. While our fellow Americans are trying to dry out from Hurricane Florence, we pray for rain, or snow–or both.

the sheep in the newly painted corral

Oscar and Raul’s lambs waiting for the truck

through the corral poles

down the chute

Raul and Edgar bringing up the lambs

a wether lamb with a ewe lamb earmark–marked “capon”

capon in the chute

Eamon counting lambs

They went that-a-way

 

 

 
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Posted by on September 26, 2018 in Animals, Family, Folks, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

Ryan Fire

Ryan fire at night

It has been a summer of fire, with smoke hanging heavy in our Valley much of the time. Only one of these fires, on Baker’s Peak, was close to home. Some of our neighbors lost pastures in fires to the west of us. Fire crews have been hard at work all summer. Professional firefighters go from one fire onto the next, as they achieve control. Many local and volunteer firefighters have also stepped forward to protect their friends and neighbors, and their property. We are once again veiled in smoke, mostly  from the Ryan Fire, which is actively burning on the Wyoming/Colorado border about 30 miles to the west of us.

Current Situation

Total Personnel 223
Size 15,477 Acres
Estimated Containment Date Monday October 15th, 2018 approx. 12:00 AM
Fuels Involved Timber Fuel Model. Beetle-killed lodgepole pine and spruce/fir. Pine contains 40-50% dead standing and abundant down timber available to support surface to crown fires. ERCs are near the 97 percentile.
Terrain and fuel driven crown runs.

smoke over Battle Mountain

smoke rising over Battle Pass

 
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Posted by on September 23, 2018 in Events, Nature and Wildlife

 

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Fall Equinox

Squaw Mountain, Lucky Butte, Flattop

 

 

Equinox has come
and gone. Dark creeping closer,
shading dawn and dusk.

Sheep Mountain

 
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Posted by on September 22, 2018 in Nature and Wildlife, Poetry

 

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Gathering cows in Big Red Park

Cows in Big Red Park, ready to rotate to a new location

Cows and Hahn’s Peak

Tiarnan and Sarah on the job

Tiarnan moving the cows to Silver City Creek

 
 

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