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Tag Archives: Sharon

How do you keep them down in Paree, after they’ve seen the farm?

30 Oct
Pat and Sharon in a bicycle taxi near the Eiffel Tower

Pat and Sharon in a bicycle taxi near the Eiffel Tower

Faithful blog readers may have noticed a lack of posts for the past few weeks. We have a good excuse–right in the middle of gathering, sorting, shipping, etc., Pat and I told Meghan and Eamon “Good luck!” and left for Iceland and France.

We met several of our old (meaning long-time, of course) friends for a reunion. Luckily, several speak French and know a lot about Paris. We also visited Julia and Benoit, who spent a few days on the ranch last spring. They live in the farming area near Laval, and gave us tours of both farms and a nearby medieval castle, and an abbey, which happened to be the fantastical Mont Saint Michel.

 

Our friend Bob hanging out with the locals in Reykjavik.

Our friend Bob hanging out with the locals in Reykjavik.

This is a sheep truck at a processing plant in Selfoss.

This is a sheep truck at a processing plant in Selfoss.

sheep near lava field

sheep by lava field, near Grindivik, Iceland

Julia's sheep near Laval

Benoit and Julia’s sheep near Laval, France

Pat with Julia in front of their 400-year-old farmhouse

Pat with Julia in front of their 400-year-old farmhouse

cows near Benoit and Julia's farm

cows near Benoit and Julia’s farm

Sharon with the "taxi" at Mont St. Michel

Sharon with the “taxi” at Mont St. Michel

working feet

working feet

Locks of love on a bridge over the Seine

Locks of love on a bridge over the Seine

Cows

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on October 30, 2015 in Animals, Cattle, Events, Folks, Friends, Sheep

 

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Dunkin redux

21 Apr
d Dunkin is enjoying his retirement


Dunkin is enjoying his retirement, but he was disappointed that Sharon didn’t bring him a treat.             photo by  Sam      “Thirsty Land”

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on April 21, 2015 in Animals, Family, Folks, Sheep, The Bellwether: Dunkin

 

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The Ladies of Ladder Ranch

14 Feb
well, most of them, anyway! Meghan, Siobhan and Sharon

well, most of them, anyway!
Meghan, Siobhan and Sharon

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2015 in Animals, Family, Folks, Sheep

 

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Image

Pat and Sharon wish you happiness, health, peace and prosperity in 2015

01 Jan

Pat & Sharon, Battle Mountain

 
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Posted by on January 1, 2015 in Events, Family, Folks

 

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Steers in the morning, heifers in the afternoon

25 Oct
Cows at Elephant corrals

Cows at Elephant corrals

When the cows and their calves come off of the summer National Forest grazing permits, it is time to sort them. We pregnancy test the cows, and sort out the opens, and the cows who won’t make it another year at our high altitude. Some will go on to slaughter, and some will go on to homes where the wintering conditions are easier. We sort the heifers from the steers.  The steers are all sold, and go on to feed and eventually become steaks. The heifers are sorted into replacement heifers for us, replacement heifers for other ranchers, and fed heifers.

Cows with Squaw Mountain

Cows with Squaw Mountain

Eamon sorting

Eamon sorting

Seamus and Maeve, helping

Seamus and Maeve, helping

Sharon and Siobhan, with extra horsepower

Sharon and Siobhan, with extra horsepower

Herefords, Angus at corrals

Jim, Tiarnan, Clyde and his mom Peanut

Jim, Tiarnan, Clyde and his mom Peanut

Cows coming into the Home Ranch corral

Cows coming into the Home Ranch corral

Eamon, McCoy, Dirte's ears

Eamon and McCoy looking through Dirte’s ears

 
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Posted by on October 25, 2013 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Horses

 

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Tubing on the Little Snake

16 Aug
Siobhan and her cousins Emily, Matthew and Jack tubing in the Little Snake

Siobhan and her cousins Emily, Matthew and Jack tubing in the Little Snake
photo by Jim Roberts

Meghan and I took Siobhan, Seamus, Maeve and Tiarnan tubing today.  The photo above is from three weeks ago, when the water was higher.  We had the opportunity to teach the kids such terms as “run aground”, “bottomed out”, and “becalmed”–but luckily not “holed”. Seamus kind of sailed along, as he is a skinny guy on his own tube.  Some of us, with more weight on board, tended to hang up on the rock, which were prominent and mossy. Some adult women even had to climb out of the big tubes and drag them past the rocks.  This was one instance where we were stymied by our rock structures in the river. We normally have a lot of pride in them.  On the other hand, we did get plenty of exercise.  Sadly, we didn’t have a waterproof camera, so did not capture these moments. We also discovered that at the confluence of the Little Snake and Battle Creek, the incoming water tends to make one float upstream.

 
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Posted by on August 16, 2013 in Events, Family, Folks

 

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Dads count too–or counting on the dads–or

05 Nov
Dads count too–or counting on the dads–or

Most of the year, we think about the ewes–are they eating enough?  are they pregnant?  did they lamb? did they have twins?  did they elude the coyotes and bears?

Of course, in order to have those little lambs hit the ground in May and June, we need to have dads.  In the livestock world, dads (be they bucks, bulls, or stallions) count too, and we want them to be the best most productive sires we can find.  And, since it costs money and opportunity to support them for most of the year (well, actually, for all of the year, but they only work for a couple of months), we want to make sure they are the optimal sort of dad.

Who you gonna call?  Optimal Livestock Services of course!  Each fall, retired Colorado State University vet Dr. Cleon Kimberling, and his partner and sidekick Vet Tech Geri Parsons travel throughout the Rockies to test rams.  They check rams for fertility, disease, and other factors, such as age and condition, that can influence their ability to breed ewes.

Dr. Kimberling mans a traveling lab, where he examines sperm samples from rams.  Geri, with help from our crew, collects the samples in test tubes, records information about each individual, and gives all the info to Cleon, who studies and collates it.  At the end of the process, we growers are given a computer printout that rates each ram according to fertility, health, age, and other variables.

We then mark the rams who fail to make the grade.  They get a truck ride which ends in a vacation in Mexico.  I’ve never asked Dr. Kimberling what happened to his vet students who failed to make the grade.

Geri testing buck

Geri marking a test tube

Dr. Kimberling at the microscope

Maeve helping Dr. K.

Pepe and Timoteo securing a ram

Crew hard at work: Pepe, Sharon, Geri and Christian

Edgar and Sadie

Pepe, George and Pat, photo by Maeve

Pepe and friend by Maeve

Free at last!

 
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Posted by on November 5, 2012 in Animals, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

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