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Tag Archives: German

Leaving the Medicine Bow

 

September 30 is the off-date for most of our Forest permits. Bridger Peak above Battle Pass is one of our highest grazing areas for the sheep in the summer. Alejandro takes the yearling ewes to the top of the Continental Divide. He had a flat tire on his wagon, so German changed the tire before we pulled the camp down the really rocky road to the highway. Alejandro shepherds the yearlings with the help of his border collies, his livestock guardian dogs, and his pet lamb, Solano. We saw snow on the Divide, and glorious fall colors on the trail down.

through the mist on the Continental Divide Trail

Alejandro and Sharon on WY 70

Alejandro with his sidekick, Solano

yearling ewes on the Savery Stock Driveway

 

 
 

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Sheep Mountain branding

Rhen mounting

 

It’s branding time! We have lots of baby calves who need brands, eartags and vaccine so that they can be ready to head to the National Forest next month with their mamas. We have a great crew this year, which includes a lot of home-grown child labor. Sheep Mountain is a pasture which we graze spring and fall. Sheep Mountain itself is an extinct volcano which has provided us with rich soil and great pasture.

hard-working crew

Eamon, Rhen, Mike and Karen

Meghan and Mike Buchanan

Rhen bringing in calf on Jake

German and Mccoy

Tiarnan on Sarah

Siobhan multi-tasking

Siobhan and Kathryn

Rhen, Megan and Eamon

 

 

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Shearing 2019

ready for the shearers

 

 

heading up the chute


Alejandro helping ewes up the chute

bucks ready for a fleecing

shearing with skill

 

down the ramp

Ten pounds lighter!

shorn sheep

 

Cora with wool packer

wool ready to pack

Oscar and Meghan

Pepe processing ewes

all hands and the cook

 

 

 

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Docking 2017

Belle helping the humans

Go that-a-way!

When most of the lambs are on the ground, we are faced with the next big task–docking. This is a major job which involves handling each and every lamb which has recently been born–giving it an earmark, castrating it if it is a male, judging if it is replacement quality if it is a female, vaccinating for enterotoxemia and tetanus, cutting the tail, and last, but not least, stamping on a paint brand. This operation involves a lot of moving parts with a lot of coordination of critters and people. It calls for all hands and the cook!

Heading into the corral

Bringing up the ewes

Docking crew ready to go

McCoy, with the docking crew and the Dinkum Docker

Siobhan taking a break

Rhen and Tiarnan–the happy dockers!

 

Tyler, German, Juan and Rafael at the docking board

German holds lamb while Kimmy castrates

Jaime putting a lamb into the Dinkum Docker

Tyler and Jaime

the multi-talented Kimmy vaccinating

Rhen branding for Pepe

Brittany counting tails

After the docking

Luka supervising lunch

Time for rest and contemplation of tails

 

 

 

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