Those tired babies that couldn’t follow their mothers yesterday? They were all paired up and happy this morning. They marched together pretty as you please. I barely had time to take photos. Except for number 150. She can’t just walk and have her baby follow. She must turn constantly. She stops. The dogs look from…
So Far
We moved the youngest of the baby calves today… While they do well heading downhill, many times the walk uphill is tough and they often will run back. It’s just a challenge… Thankfully, most traffic came from behind us, which encourages them onward. Oncoming traffic can make them turn around. We didn’t get them as…
Portraits
I didn’t get a chance to zoom in on everyone… unfortunately!
Branding #2
We were planning to brand on Friday, but the weather service talked of rain and cold weather starting Friday and going for a week. We can brand when it’s cold, but we can’t brand when the calves are wet! Plans were suddenly changed and we branded Wednesday. Unlike the first branding, I didn’t take any…
Reminiscing XXII
This story is from James Greet, written in 1991 about his life as a cowboy in the 1940’s. When looking for a good sheepherder’s horse, pick a range horse that is a “loner”, which is nearly always an unattached male. He is used to being alone and has no desire to join any group of loose…
Throwback Thursday: Had To Be There, v.2.0
This was first published April 28, 2014. Waking up to this is just thrilling. Don’t Lucas and Dally look thrilled? Now that the cows are out in the badlands… the bulls get to move out of their spot as well. We’ve kept them miles away from each other, but now they can move to the…
Wordless Wednesday: Preparation
For a jigsaw puzzle of this photo, go HERE.
Next Day
So the mountain of work is done… everything that it takes to put on a branding… the firewood cutting, the vaccine ordering, the setting up of the portable panels, the moving of cattle, the gathering of supplies, the food and drink for 30 people. It should be sweet sailing from here on out, right? Well,…
More Branding – Kids
Kids. They’re *so close* to not needing backup, but it was still there… They took on every job, marking calves, wrestling calves, keeping the fire and irons hot, even vaccinating and branding! Not much is more appealing than to see these young ranchers take their children and neighbor’s children and help them hold calves successfully…
First Branding
First branding is in the books… 231 photos later… prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures! Thanks to our neighbors who show up and work hard for just a meal!
Reminiscing XXI
This story is from James Greet, written in 1991 about his life as a cowboy in the 1940’s. (continued) The Big Dipper rotates counter clockwise around the North Star. In the early days, the “night hawk” men used it as a timepiece to know when to change the guard. The wise men of the East…