RSS

Tag Archives: McCoy

Branding Time

McCoy bringing in a calf

 

 

It’s that time of year again. We have lots of baby calves who need vaccines, brands and earmarks before they head up to the Forest with their mothers. We have a great crew this year. Everyone knows how to work together to minimize stress on both cattle and people.

 

calves gathered in the Elephant Corral

Bubba, Tiarnan and McCoy bringing in the calves

Siobhan at the ready

Rhen on the water tank

Bubba and McCoy

branding crew

McCoy and Eamon

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

More Heifers to the High Country

Cowboy crew (Chandler, McCoy, Tiarnan and Rhen) waiting to unload

 

 

More heifers came in and we were there to unload. Since it was a Saturday, McCoy, Tiarnan and Rhen were mounted and ready to help.

off the truck and heading for groceries

Tiarnan, Meghan and Chandler counting the heifers off the truck

one heifer headed the wrong way, of course

Rhen and Jake on the job

 
 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Heifers to the high country

Chandler on Cora, waiting for the trucks to unload

 

We plan to run heifers this coming summer (I have faith that summer is coming). We have hay on hand so decided to bring the heifers in now. They are from South Dakota, and are used to cold and snow. I was happy to see their fuzzy coats.

backing the truck up to the chute

Mc Coy ready with his rope

Welcome home!

heading for the hay pile

 

Tags: , , , ,

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!

 
1 Comment

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

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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

 

 

 
Leave a comment

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

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Branding at the McCullem Place

bringing in the cows and calves

 

The McCullem Place is part of our Powder Wash ranch west of Baggs. It serves as spring pasture for some of the cows and calves. The homestead era headquarters is mostly gone, so we set up portable corrals, brought in the cows and calves, and processed the calves. These are some of the Akaushi-cross calves so we also had to take a snip of ear to check their bloodlines. We built an old-fashioned fire to heat the branding irons. We had another great crew of family, friends and employees.

 

 

 

Eamon and McCoy

cows and calves in corral

crew getting ready

Karen, Edgar and Eamon

Juan with branding fire

McCoy and Aspen

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Greater Sage Grouse dance

Early morning Sage Grouse dance east of Muddy Mountain

Third grade teacher Cindy Cobb is famous for her field trips. The most famous field trip is to see the mating dance of the Greater Sage Grouse, which is amazing. The kids have to show up to the school at 5 a.m. or so to board the bus for the dancing grounds on our lambing grounds. Last year when my grandsons McCoy and Tiarnan were in third grade, they missed the cool field trips because the coronavirus had closed the school, This year, the fourth graders joined the third graders on the trek to see the lek where the male grouse dance and hoot in their attempt to attract the hens. Wyoming Game and Fish Department Biologist Phil Damm accompanied the students on the bus and explained what they were seeing. These kids know the ways of the birds and the bees!

McCoy looking our the bus window

 
2 Comments

Posted by on April 19, 2021 in Events, Nature and Wildlife

 

Tags: , , ,

Saturday Afternoon at the Ladder Ranch

Megan and Eamon discussing her future run at the NFR

 

We know how to have a good time on a Saturday afternoon. Eamon borrowed Ed Buchanan’s roping dummy on wheels. He pulled it with the four-wheeler, giving McCoy, Tiarnan, Rhen and several adults the chance to practice their roping. A good time was had by all!

The dogs thought this was a grand idea

McCoy roping the dummy–Megan supervising

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Pregnant or Open?–That is the question

Tate and Tim, bringing more cows

After the cows come down from summering on the Forest, it’s time to learn if they are pregnant. It’s hard to get them to pee on a stick, so our neighbor, Dr. Ben Noland comes with his ultrasound and checks for pregnancy. One after another, he calls out “Pregnant,” “Open,” or “Late.” “Late” means pregnant but calving outside the window of time when we want to be calving. We also vaccinate, check and sometimes replace eartags, and look at the cow’s general health. Most of the cows go into the pregnant pen. Some of the lates will be sold to other producers who calve later. Pregnancy testing is a key management practice since we don’t want to feed cows all winter only to learn that they won’t be raising a calf next summer. Thanks to Dr. Ben and our entire hard-working crew!

I TOLD you that I’m pregnant!

Eamon and McCoy at the chute

Dr. Ben with his ultrasound

Kyla checking eartags

Tate and Tim at the ready

McCoy with pregnant cows

 
 

Tags: , , , , ,