
Winter sheep with southerly sun
Pat’s birthday present was a new set of lenses for his iPhone. Here’s some photos he took at Powder Wash trying out the new lenses. Watch this space for future pics.
If the blackface and some of the whiteface ewes look roundish in these photos, that’s because they will start lambing in a month or so. You can also see how little snow there is. The winter continues to be warm and dry, and we continuously check the weather report for promises of snow. My Dad always said that a wet spring beats a hard winter, so we can hope!

Powder Mountain

ewes on the feed line

Powder Rim

Which one of these is not like the others? (Hint–look at the color of the ears.)

Cattle and sheep co-existing symbiotically
H
Tags: cattle, Hampshire sheep, livestock guardian dog, Lower Powder Spring, Powder Flat, Powder Mountain, sheep, winter

bringing in the heifers
Are they or aren’t they. The heifers are headed in to be pregnancy tested. We are lucky to have to two veterinarians in our community–Drs. Ben and Hallie Noland. Four-year-old Rhen calls Ben “Doctorbennoland” and the good doctor came to check out the heifers. McCoy, six, was mad because Rhen got to help while McCoy had to go to first grade and miss out out on the excitement.

Ben checking out a heifer

Rhen supervising

Megan and Eamon working the chute

Brittany and Kimmy

Meghan on the job too

That’s a good look for you, Doctorbennoland!
Tags: Britanny, cattle, Dr. Ben Noland, Eamon, heifers, horses, Kimmy, Megan, Meghan, pregnancy checking, Rhen

Lemmons Meadow.
It’s been a weird winter so far. We’ve had lots of snow, lots of thawing, and a lot of bare ground for February. The critters are glad for the warmer temperatures.

cows with puddles

Bucks in the Mouse Pasture

horses in the Wyoming Field

Casey training horses
Tags: bucks, Casey, cattle, horses, Lemmons Meadow, Mouse Pasture, sheep, spring thaw, Wyoming Field

McCoy waiting to fly
Eamon is working on his pilot’s license, so he decided to combine business with education. Eamon, Pat, McCoy and Eamon’s flight instructor, Ryan, flew to Texas to shop for bulls and to Nebraska to check on our heifers that are wintering there.

Our new bull–unfortunately, they couldn’t hook a stock trailer onto the airplane.

McCoy checking out the bulls

Heifers on cornstalks

Heifers on feed in Nebraska

McCoy, Eamon and Pat with the heifers

Home Ranch from the air
Tags: airplane, bulls, cattle, Eamon, heifers, McCoy, Pat

Today, Pat spotted deer, antelope, elk and cows all hanging out together near the River Bridge
Tags: antelope, cattle, cows, deer, elk, grazing, Little Snake River, River Bridge

Bringing in the cows and calves
It’s that time of year when the long days of summer have come to an end. Since early summer, the cows and calves, and the ewes and lambs, have grazed the Forest. Their only responsibilities have been to gain weight and avoid predators. The cows have had the added task of consorting with bulls and getting pregnant.
Those days are gone, and it is now time for the calves and lambs to leave their mothers and move on to the next stage of life. The nights are noisy as the cows and ewes call for their departed offspring. The older moms probably give a sigh of relief as their mothering duties have been fulfilled for another turn of the seasons.

Cows and calves in the Lower Meadow

Chad bringing up the cattle

Eamon sorting the calves

“Heifer!” “Steer!”

Ewes in the corral

Meghan and Oscar putting the lambs in the corral

Eduardo and Adolfo bringing up the lambs

Oscar at the cutting gate

This is how we roll
Tags: Adolfo, calves, cattle, Chad, Eamon, Eduardo, lambs, Meghan, Oscar, sheep, truck

ghost cows…or maybe it’s out of focus– one or the other
The last truckloads of cows came in from Laramie last night. Due to mechanical problems, we ended up unloading after dark. I tried to take pictures without a tripod. The results were spooky, or maybe artistic.

night lights
Tags: cattle, dark, truck