McCoy waiting to fly
Eamon is working on his pilot’s license, so he decided to combine business with education. Eamon, Pat, McCoy and Eamon’s flight instructor, Ryan, flew to Texas to shop for bulls and to Nebraska to check on our heifers that are wintering there.
Our new bull–unfortunately, they couldn’t hook a stock trailer onto the airplane.
McCoy checking out the bulls
Heifers on cornstalks
Heifers on feed in Nebraska
McCoy, Eamon and Pat with the heifers
Home Ranch from the air
Winter sheep on the trail
The bitter cold and deep snowfall during the past week has seen critters, wild and domestic, on the move. We decided to trail our yearling ewes and old ewes from the Chivington Place to Powder Flat , where they are closer to the haystack. Likewise, the deer, elk and antelope are all on the move. Here’s some of the migrations we saw today.
Yemy heading up the county road
Yearling ewes and old ewes en route to Powder Flat
The guard dogs have their back
Yemy is keeping his adopted wild horse warm!
McCoy, Sadie and Cora moving the sheep
almost there
Feral (unadopted) wild horses on the feed line with our cows
Wild horses with the cows
Elk near Sandman Mountain
Buck deer west of Baggs
Does IN Baggs
Some of several thousand antelope on the move
from our Christmas tree
New Year’s Eve morning dawned bright and clear. We had a huge pile of wood to burn from an old building we had taken down. We had livestock to tend, bucks to work, and resolutions to make.
Ewes on winter pasture
Adopted wild horses eating hay at sheep camp
Hampshire buck saying “Put me in, Coach!”
Bringing the bucks up the chute
The All-Girl sheep moving crew–Taylor, Siobhan and Meghan
Meghan and Pat sorting
Rambouillet ram out the cutting gate
Meghan, Siobhan and Taylor with the bucks
McCoy checking things out
Pat, with his fire-tending assistants–Seamus, McCoy, Tiarnan, Rhen and Maeve
Sharon with the fire-tending crew (McCoy un-photo bombed)
Maeve, Seamus and Meghan
Out with the old, in with the new
Horses grazing with the last sunset of 2016
Bringing the heifers to water
We should be under snow by now, but we’ve only had a few skiffs, so in our book, it’s still fall. As much as we need winter, we are taking advantage of the relatively warm dry weather to keep catching up on fall work, and even getting ahead on some spring work, such as plowing. We are happy to have our good child labor, like McCoy, helping us out.
McCoy and Eamon at the end of the day.
McCoy helping Meghan water the horses
Prince and the feral horses checking each other out
November plowing in the Big Meadow
Cows and calves in the Lower Meadow
It’s that time of year when we bring in the livestock–the cows and calves, the ewes and lambs–the time when we finish our summer’s work and prepare for the winter season. We sell most of the calves, and send many of the cows to less snowy pastures for the winter. Some of the cows will go to our friends’ ranch near Laramie (where the snow is horizontal rather than vertical), Some will go to Nebraska. This means we bring them all in to the Home Ranch, work them, and load some of them on trucks.
First, we need horses
Ready to bring them in
And we need a crew–Eamon
Meghan and Peruanito
Siobhan and Taylor
McCoy checking things out
Rhen on the job
Megan and Jeff
Our neighbor John may be a belts and suspenders kind-of-guy
calf on the lookout
ready to load
Rhen supervising the truck
Eamon watching the calves
Leaving the Routt National Forest
It’s that time of year again. It seems like we were just trailing the cows and calves onto the Forest for summer grazing. Our “off-date” has rolled around already. We mustered 19 horses and riders, including the six grandkids, to gather the cattle and bring them down to a lower pasture on private land. The calves are looking nice and chubby, and the cows are looking forward to weaning.
Pat with kid crew
Siobhan on Coco with Cinnamon
Cinnamon taking a break
Maeve–the stylish cowgirl
Seamus and Dot
Tiarnan and Daisy
Rhen and McCoy on the job
McCoy, Rhen and Eamon
Peanut contemplating the speed limit
Jim, looking for cows
Eamon has dogs at the ready!
waiting for the shearers on Cottonwood Creek
Shearing the sheep is one of the most essential tasks that is accomplished all year. It is also one of the most uncertain. It is critical for the health of the sheep, the success of the lambing, and the impact on our bottom line, as we sell the wool to be made into natural, non-oil-based fabric. Shearing, next to the weather, is the part of the business that we have the least control over. The shearing contractors are dependent on the Department of Labor processing their visa applications in a timely manner, since most shearers are from New Zealand and other foreign lands. Shearing is a highly paid skill, but not enough American workers are available to fulfill the need. Each year, the arrival of the shearing crew is more uncertain. We were glad this year when our crew arrived after only a few predictable and unpredictable delays. The early lambers have been sheared and are lambing away. Now, after a few more days’ weather delay (rain, snow, high winds), we plan to shear the “main line”.
Shearing first ewe
Unshorn ewes following the guard dog into the pen
Maura helping out
McCoy, Meghan, and Pepe bringing up the ewes
Pepe–volleyball fan
careful shearers
shorn ewes heading out the door
Rhen contemplating the snow
We decided to build the first snowman of the season. The snow was soft and powdery–great for skiing, but not ideal for snowman building. Still, after a lot of rolling and patting, our snowman is somewhat respectable.
Megan, Maeve, Rhen and McCoy with snowman and Marley
Which one of these is not like the others? (Hint: not dressed for winter!)
Cows following the hay feeder
We now swing toward the winter solstice. Days grow shorter and nights grow longer. The time for caring for livestock is well and truly upon us. The cows need sustenance to nurture the calves growing within them. For the ewes and rams, it’s the breeding season, and good nutrition is essential. All of us–man and beast, domestic and wild–are hunkered down and hoping for a “just right” winter. We need snow, but not too much. We need wind, but not too much. We need sun and grass and corn. We will rejoice when the world turns and the days grow longer.
The cows grazing at the Powder Flat headquarters
McCoy chopping ice for the cows
McCoy striking a blow while Marley and Belle watch
winter cows
ewes near Ace in the Hole
Romance is in the air
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