Next on Vernon’s order of business is helping with the big tire water tank In Daniel’s corral. It had been leaking from the fittings underneath. When I arrived, Vernon was in his excavator. He reached out with the big mechanical arm and grabbed the huge tire and started to drag it to its new location….
Category: Animals
Yay or Nay?
Time to help the guys… Our heifers have been around my house, eating in the fields… but it’s time to sort them. Brandon has the paperwork and their lifetime stats. Birthweight. Wean weight. Average Daily Gain. Due dates. Genetics. Now it’s time to gather them up and sort them. Will they stay or will they…
Bryant Honey Tour
Our first tour at the Wyoming Women in Ag conference was to Bryant Honey. I’ve mentioned them before, back for those few years I tried my own hives. Don Bryant was a great help and I’m a fan of their honey! They also work with Vernon’s cousin out in California, sending bees back and forth…
Time to Pony Up Again
Initially, I had said I’d help trail the cows out, but that I may use the side by side. After that last long ride down the Mesa, my knee bothered me for quite a while. I’ve rolled my eyes plenty of times when the quiet is broken by loud motors… but better to have wheeled…
The Sort
So between cowboys and four wheeler riders, the cows and calves were penned. Time to separate them. Cows out the gate, calves into another pen. That meant two guys sorting them… with others running backup for when calves scooted by on accident. Three cowboys gathered up a dozen or so and urged them towards the…
Today’s Strategy
Sunrise at 7:45 or so. We’d left the house sooner than that. We had sold our steer calves in July and it was time to load them on trucks. It’s never so simple. They were grazing with their mommas in the fields, so gathering said fields was the first order of business. Vernon, me, Daniel,…
Miserable
After the big long day, the next day, I headed to work. I only work two days a week at the library, but often it seems, I miss out on ranch work. Megan took this one photo for me on Wednesday. Leaving the heifers behind at my place, they trailed the rest of the herd…
Long Day
The fog had hung low and so we waited for sunshine. An hour later than anticipated, we began. Daniel and I on the lower end, Vernon, Brandon, Megan, and Quinlan on the upper side. The cows were not very cooperative and we couldn’t blame them. Fall had been glorious. Moisture was abundant. Grass was plentiful….
Gate Guardian
This is our “Horse Pasture” where the cows we had gathered the afternoon before got to spend the night. We arrived early, with frost still on the ground, to saddle up. There was a slight delay as some cowboys were sent to bring in three that had given us the slip and more cowboys had…
Breathe
Thanks to those of you who commented on yesterday’s post. I believe they were probably the most thoughtful and heartfelt comments I’ve received. I’ve had to spend a great deal of time in Worland this week and lunch hour was a quiet time. I’d sit out in the sunshine and have to give my stomach…
I Needed This
I needed this. All eight grandkids, my “kids”, two sweet daughters-in-law, and Vernon zipping around somewhere in the side by side. Gorgeous fall day. Horseback. Riding the mountain pasture to prepare to bring them off the top of the mountain tomorrow. “This God forsaken Land” by Juanita Leach has been rolling through my mind lately….