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Lambing days are here

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!

 
 

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January Day at Powder Flat

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

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 15, 2023 in Animals, Dogs, Family, Folks, Llamas, Sheep

 

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Solano and the lambs

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

 

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Lambs losing their tails, gaining vaccine

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

 

 

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March lambs, and homecoming cows

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!

 

 

 
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Posted by on March 14, 2022 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Sheep

 

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In Like a Lamb

Hampshire ewe with her triplets

 

 

Baby lambs arrive,
new mamas lick and snuffle.
The season begins.

Hampshire with new twins

Rambouillet mama with baby

 
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Posted by on March 1, 2022 in Animals, Poetry, Sheep

 

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the fall sort

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

 

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Summer’s Almost Gone

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!

 
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Posted by on September 1, 2021 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Horses

 

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On to the Forest!

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

 

 

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2021 in Animals, Dogs, Horses, Sheep

 

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Docking Days

 

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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Posted by on June 10, 2021 in Animals, Events, Sheep

 

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