ewes on Cottonwood Creek
After months of being in landscapes out of sync with where the ewes are used to being, they are at last on the lambing grounds during lambing season. They are happy and we are happy.
four camps on site for lambing
Leo near Muddy Mountain
ewes with twins, green grass at last!
Powder Flat house in the winter
After a series of winter storms brought on by the “atmospheric rivers” hitting California, then flowing on towards us, we have more than enough snow. The Snotel near our mountain headquarters is measuring 160 per cent of average.
Our crew at the Powder Flat headquarters, Edgar and Alejandro, have been doing a great job of keeping all the animals safe and fed.
sheep in the corral
solar panels
2022 lambs on feed
winter lambs
Pat with lambs
winter gold
livestock guardian dog on the job
Do Not Enter
“Do Not Enter” the road to Powder Flat from the folks building the power line
Maria the llama with her sheepy friends
antelope gathering in a herd–a sign of a hard winter
Solano with the lambs
Faithful readers may recall Solano, the pet lead sheep. Last spring he was featured on this blog as he traveled with his herder, Alejandro, and the yearling ewes on the Savery Stock Driveway. He was sporting a backpack that Alejandro had fashioned for him, though I’m not sure what it held.
He has been hard at work as a lead sheep, helping to convince his more suspicious cohorts to enter the corrals. Here is is with a group of lambs, getting ready to load and head for the feedlot.
Solano will soon rejoin Alejandro and this year’s yearling ewes. Alejandro is anxious to reunite with his pet and co-worker.
Alejandro and Seamus
ewes and lambs on Cherry Grove
We’re almost done lambing and it’s time for docking the lambs and getting everyone ready for trailing and summer’s grazing on the Routt and Medicine Bow National Forests. Sheep are naturally long-tailed, and if those tails are not cut short early in life, they can have problems later with manure and flies. The assembly line process also includes earmarking, castrating the males, vaccinating for diseases and a stamp with a paint brand. The ewes also receive a fresh brand and everyone is counted. We usually run two docking lines with all hands on deck, and bring up a hot lunch and plenty of cold drinks.
ewes and lambs ready to go
docking crew working two lines
Seamus vaccinating
hats and lunch
after docking
Hampshire ewe and lamb
It’s March, so it must be lambing season at Powder Flat. We raise our own rams, and have a farm flock of Hampshire and Rambouillets–known as the “early lambers.”
Here’s a look at this busy time. We are glad that our intrepid Peruvian crew is on the job. Several of them just came back from a few months at home.
It’s also time for the cows who have spent the winter in balmy Laramie to come home.
Ladies in waiting
Hampshire and Rambouillet ewes
twins!
Tiarnan practicing child labor
whiteface ewe with crossbred lambs
bring in the cows
cows at Powder Flat
lambs, lambs, lambs!
Hampshire ewe with her triplets
Baby lambs arrive,
new mamas lick and snuffle.
The season begins.
Hampshire with new twins
Rambouillet mama with baby
crossing the Battle Creek bridge
Fall days are the time of year when the cattle and the sheep come down from their summer grazing on the the national forests. We bring them all to the Home Ranch, and sort them through the corrals. The ewes bring with them their whole entourage–herders, horses, Border collies, livestock guardian dogs. For a couple of weeks, we manage a rotating menagerie of sheep, dogs and–pigs? We keep a few feeder pigs over the summer to provide winter pork, but in the meantime the pigs consider themselves free-range critters who are likely to show up about anyplace. The guard dogs are suspicious of the pigs, but the pigs don’t care. I am reminded of “Babe” and wonder if we couldn’t train them to herd livestock. They are utterly indifferent to the dogs, who are puzzled by the pigs.
Meghan bringing up the ewes and lambs
multiple guard dogs relaxing as the sheep come in
Mike watching the gate
That’ll do, pig
Meghan bringing the sheep into the pens
another bunch across the bridge
boys, bales and Squaw Mountain
Pepe and Eamon working the chute
pigs on the job
fall sheep with Squaw Mountain
horses crossing the road
It’s not quite time for winter to be coming on, but we’re starting to see yellow leaves and cool mornings. Here’s some photos from the last of our summer days.
bringing up the heifers
buck lambs
Eamon opening the gate
McCoy ready to ride
lambs and ewes near Little Red Park
Siobhan’s elk. She had a “depredation” tag for elk eating our alfalfa. That’s alfalfa all around!
Leo trailing the sheep up the road
July 1st is the on-date for most of our sheep grazing permits on the National Forest. We have to stage them on since we have several bunches which graze on federal permits in the summer, and it is the on-date for our neighbors as well. They usually trail one day apart so we go up the line and move each camp to the next spot until everyone is settled
There is always a grateful sigh when we know we are through lambing, through docking and through trailing. The next challenge is withstanding the predators which view our ewes and lambs as tasty snacks, especially in a year when the deer population is low. My Dad’s cousin once said, “Well, you’re up there in the nice cool flies.”
Now we are up in the “nice cool bears.”
We have grass and we have water. The grazing greatly reduces the fuel load and the fire danger. We are worried about fire in this year’s drought conditions. So it begins.
Pulling the wagon and flagging the sheep up the road
crossing the South Fork bridge
Leo
closer than they appear
lambs hitching a ride
It was an early morning for Meghan!
Tiarnan helping Leo
ewes and lambs near Cherry Grovech
It’s that time of year. We’re nearly through lambing, and now we need to dock all those baby lambs. This is to ensure their health and well-being in the future. We dock their tails, vaccinate, castrate and earmark. The whole process takes a few minutes, then the lambs run off to join their moms. We count, number and brand the ewes and check for health before trailing.
Pepe and Meghan with the Dinkum Docker
Bubba. McCoy and John eating lunch
Eamon at the docking lunch
ewes with newly docked lambs
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| Ladder Ranch on The Last Lament (hopefully) |
| Martha Kennedy on The Last Lament (hopefully) |
Ladder Ranch