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Category Archives: Dogs

Spring Fever

12 Apr

spring snow on round bales

bovine shadows

It’s springtime and the livin’ is crazy. After hunkering down for the winter months, we are moving livestock from winter pasture to spring pasture. We are lambing, calving and trying to get all of our livestock charges to where they need to be for the change of seasons. We trucked the yearling ewes, and a few older ewes, from their wintering grounds at Powder Wash to the Badwater pasture. We are seeing the Akaushi cross calves on the ground, after last year’s decision to try these Wagu-type bulls on our Angus heifers. The calves sure are pretty and we’re excited to see what they look like as they grow up.

Akaushi babies at Powder Flat

Pepe, at dawn, ready to load the yearlings

ready for the trucks

guard dog, on the job

guard dog on the truck

Meghan, supervising

yearlings unloaded at Badwater

 

Alejandro, with his bellwether, Panchito

 

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2021 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Family, Folks who help us out, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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Cattle and sheep and dogs, oh my!

20 Mar

Ladder Ranch crew–Rhen, Eamon, Edgar, Leo, Pat

Rhen on the chute after guiding his Dad who was backing up the truck.

Sometimes we have multi-species days. Pat, Eamon, Rhen and Sharon headed to Powder Flat to load heifers on trucks so we could move them to spring country north of Dixon. We are full-on lambing at the Powder Flat headquarters, so there was plenty going on there already.

heifers heading for the truck

Eamon on Aspen, ready to trail up the road

meanwhile back at Powder Flat. . .

 

guardian dog puppy in training

burning old straw by the lambing shed

Leo and Rhen feeding a bum lamb

Ladder branding iron

 
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Posted by on March 20, 2021 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Horses, Sheep

 

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Early Lambing at Powder Flat

07 Mar

Hampshire ewe with comfy lamb

 

Each March, we lamb our purebred ewes, Hampshire and Rambouillet, in the sheds at Powder Flat. We raise our rams for the commercial range ewes from these two farm flocks. Luckily, we have a good crew and the early weather has been mild.

Pat and Edgar with pen for outdoor dining

guard dog hard at work in a circle of ewes

guard dogs on the job

guard dogs on the job

Hampshire ewe and twins

bum lambs in warm straw

Leo feeding the bum lambs

Meanwhile, Maria is hanging out with the bucks

 

 
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Posted by on March 7, 2021 in Animals, Dogs, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Llamas, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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January on the Red Desert

05 Feb

ewes at Chain Lakes

The past two winters have been hard winters by anyone’s standards. Conditions were especially harsh on the Red Desert north of Wamsutter, where we winter our sheep. In 2018-2019, the ewes and bucks were snowed in on the Cyclone Rim allotment for weeks, and we couldn’t even get to the Chain Lakes allotment. In 2019-2020, the winter started early, so we found frozen sugar beets in the northern part of Wyoming and trucked the sheep to farms.

Now we are in drought. We have received around 65 percent of normal moisture so far this winter. An easy winter is easier on both livestock and herders, and on us as we drive back and forth to the sheep camps. The sheep depend upon snow for water for most of the winter. We’ve had several days of wind and thaw, which takes the snow and leaves bare sage and steppe. We now wait for a good winter storm, which we hope will bring much-needed moisture. Winter snow brings us spring grass.

Enough snow. Not too much. Not too little.

Joel with guard dog puppy.

Sentinel ewes

Pat and Pepe at Cyclone Rim base camp

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2021 in Animals, Dogs, Family, Folks, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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Pancho and Lefty

29 Jan

Alejandro with Pancho, the pet sheep and Lefty, the puppy

 

Here’s Alejandro at his winter camp near Powder Wash. Pancho is a bum lamb who is well on his way to becoming the new bellwether. He has big hooves to fill to replace Dunkin. We’ll just have to name the puppy Lefty.

The horses are wintering well

Alejandro with his Border collie puppies

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2021 in Animals, Dogs, Folks, Horses, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep, The Bellwether: Dunkin

 

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Winter

10 Jan

Tres amigas

guard dog puppies in waiting

peewee lambs with guard dog

elk wintering near Battle Mountain

Pat and Eamon in the Routt Forest

Hampshire ewes at Powder Flat

 
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Posted by on January 10, 2021 in Cattle, Dogs, Family, Nature and Wildlife, Sheep

 

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Merry Christmas to you and yours!

25 Dec

 

The holidays are here,
The year is almost gone.
Sunset’s coming sooner,
long nights–they linger on.

Christmas on the Ladder Ranch
brings us gifts galore.
Family gathers ‘round us
while Yuletide fires roar.

Deep within the meadows—
summer’s rush to green has passed–
round bales stacked like coins,
winter’s wealth, its shadows cast.

Fair weather birds have fled,
but winter sounds abound,
brave trills of chirping chorus
echo bird-song all around.

Coyotes add their yips and howls
and wail their eerie cries
which echo through the hills
making hackles rise

On man and beast alike.
On Battle Creek, an icy sheen
glows while cracks and groans—
add to winter’s subtle keen.

But here beside the fire,
with its crackle and its roar,
we’re warm and well and happy,
with all we need and more.

There’s children’s cheery laughter—
they cry and yell and shout,
like to scare the coyotes
as they run and tear about.

There’s cows and sheep and horses,
there’s canines large and small—
dreaming Border collie dreams
and guard dogs watching all.

The cows must fill their bellies
with grass hay long since cut,
and raked and baled and scattered
‘long the tractor’s snowy rut.

They’ve calves to grow within them—
throughout the winter’s cold
and await the season’s turning—
winter solstice comes and goes.

And ewes upon the desert
munching daily corn,
awaiting warmth in springtime
when their babies will be born.

In Battle Mountain’s folds,
deer and elk have bedded down.
In hollows under oak brush,
there’s shelter that they’ve found.

We thank the Lord for blessings
for His creatures great and small—
for all of those we care for,
Please Lord, bless us all!

We are grateful for our friends
and kin, found both far and near,
from Ladder Ranch to you and yours,
Merry Christmas! Yuletide Cheer!

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 25, 2020 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Poetry, Sheep

 

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Saturday Afternoon at the Ladder Ranch

21 Nov

Megan and Eamon discussing her future run at the NFR

 

We know how to have a good time on a Saturday afternoon. Eamon borrowed Ed Buchanan’s roping dummy on wheels. He pulled it with the four-wheeler, giving McCoy, Tiarnan, Rhen and several adults the chance to practice their roping. A good time was had by all!

The dogs thought this was a grand idea

McCoy roping the dummy–Megan supervising

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2020 in Animals, Dogs, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Friends, Horses

 

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November Cavvy

19 Nov

November Cavvy

 

 

November cavvy,
trotting into headquarters—
sporting winter coats

 
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Posted by on November 19, 2020 in Animals, Dogs, Folks, Folks who help us out, Horses, Poetry

 

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Shipping the Littles

04 Nov

Cows and calves headed for the corrals

 

It’s shipping time for the calves. Some of our calves, born last spring, will leave the mountains and their mamas and head to buyers who will feed them for market. Some heifer calves are sold to a buyer who will raise them to be replacement cows. Some heifers calves will stay with us to become our future cow herd. In every scenario, we bring the cows and calves into the corrals at the Home Ranch, sort them, wean them from their mothers who are already pregnant with next years calves, and send the calves to their various homes, and the cows to winter country.

Tate, and multiple Border collies, bringing up the cows

Bubba watching the gate

Pat and Bubba watching the cows

through the rails

Eamon sorting, Ned the brand inspector watching from the fence

Meghan weighing the calves

onto the truck

Meghan trying to keep Clyde awake

 

 

 
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Posted by on November 4, 2020 in Animals, Cattle, Dogs, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Friends, Horses

 

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