November Cavvy
November cavvy,
trotting into headquarters—
sporting winter coats
Tag Archives: horses
Pal–the horse Houdini
Pal leading his pals on the great escape
You sly old pony–
you can open any gate. . .
will work 4 green grass.
Ace-in-the-Hole, Powder Wash
horses, ready to go
Today, we gathered, trailed and sorted cattle in the Powder Wash. It was a great home-schooling experience for Siobhan, Tiarnan, Rhen and Seamus (helping but camera-shy!). We were joined for a time by three young mustang stallions, evidently kicked out of their herd and looking for friends.
Siobhan, home-schooling
Tiarnan and Dot, one of his home-school teachers
Meghan and Siobhan
heifers, Megan and Rhen
Eamon sorting the heifers
sorting crew, Powder Wash
Cows and heifers trailing up the Powder Wash
Welcome to the world, Emma!
The horse herd welcomes Emma
This morning when we checked the horses, we found that Sarah has a brand new colt! Sarah is a great kids’ horse, so Tiarnan and Rhen were very excited to visit Sarah and her baby. She has a filly, born on my grandmother Emma Terrill Salisbury’s birthday, so of course she is named Emma.
Tiarnan and Rhen checking out Emma
mealtime for Emma
Tiarnan and Rhen opening the gate
Another tough winter (continued)
Ready for the trucks
Here’s more photos from sorting the sheep, Who will head north for the winter and who will stay at Powder Flat? The ewe lambs and the younger ewes go to sugar beets and crop aftermath near Burlington. The older ewes and peewee lambs will receive special care at our Powder Flat ranch.
bravely guarding the sheep
Here’s the truck!
heading up the alleyway
Eamon and Ned, the brand inspector
Seamus in the chute
Seamus and Oscar
horses, sheep and cows, oh my!
Fall Gather
Bringing the cows and calves home
In the fall, the cows and calves are gathered into private pastures near the Home Ranch. They have spent the summer months grazing on National Forest permits. It takes several “back rides” to make sure that all the critters have come down from the summering ground, and we collect them into pastures where they can graze and hang out until it is time to sort them. Here are some views of our family, friends and employees moving cows and calves closer to home. Soon it will be time to load the calves onto trucks to their new homes, and the cows onto trucks to go to winter pastures and cornfields where they will ruminate and gestate until spring.
The cows and the sheep have been sharing the Sheep Mountain pasture.
Trailing past the sheep camp.
Avencio and the sheep are staying behind.
Heading past the reservoir
trailing along the ditch
a ewe and lamb came along
crossing the Little Snake River bridge
Will and Micah heading for the gate
Eamon counting cows through the gate
the fishermen were not disturbed
Working Ranch Magazine
The family on horseback in November 2008
Working Ranch Magazine published a very nice article about our family in the April-May 2018 issue. Here’s the link.
http://vpubpro.com/wrmag/aprilmay2018/pubData/mobile/index.htm#/88/ [vpubpro.com]
North to the Red Desert
ewes heading for the Rodewald gate
The ewes have made their annual trek north to the Red Desert, where we have wintering ground on the Cyclone Rim and Chain Lakes grazing allotments. These allotments are part of the vast Great Basin, home to Greater Sage Grouse, desert elk, riparian plants and amphibians, feral horses, many many antelope and, part of the year, cattle and sheep. The Great Basin is named because it is a closed basin. To the north, the Continental Divide splits and runs in separate ranges until it meets again about 15 miles south of Wamsutter near the Haystack Mountains. The country south of there–Church Butte, Adobe Town, Powder Rim–is likewise amazing landscape, but it is not part of the Great Basin, the Red Desert. It is always a relief when we safely cross the overpass over the Union Pacific line and the underpass beneath I80 and head out across the open country for winter pasture. We are a week later than usual on the trail north. We had to wait for snow, since there’s not much water on the trail. Like Goldilocks, we want it to be not too hot and not too cold!
the sheep topping the UP overpass
between the tracks and I80
Almost to the underpass
under the interstate
passing the Department of Transportation shed
Pat and Oscar consulting
new drilling on Chain Lakes
on the Red Desert, at last
Pregnancy Testing with Doctorbennoland
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!
Ladder Ranch
