May 2-8, 2004: Spring Ranch Week

Monday, May 3, 2004

The first day of the new season and it was a fine one. We have a big crew this week to start us off.

Ben from Alaska is here for his second trip, we sure are glad he made the long trek to visit us again. Brian from NH is here for his fourth visit. Joe from KS is here for a second time. Mick from FL is here also for his second visit.

First timers are a mother and adult son team from NC Kim and Rhett. Russ is here from MD. Rich and Bev from CO. Donna from CA and Grace from GA round out the group.

It was a usual slow Monday morning start but by late morning we were all headed out in a couple groups riding Negrito pasture.

Lindsey’s group was hunting up six bulls to move into the traps so we can start putting cows in Negrito pasture it’s not yet time for the bulls to be with the cows so we had to get them out of the way.

I headed to Burnt Cabin with the rest of the crew to try and find four cows and a calf that we had been seeing over there. There is a wolf denning up in that area so we wanted to get them out of harms way.

We rode all the heck over that country and never found any sign of them. Lindsey’s crew only found one bull, old Motley. It was kinda like trying to find ten cattle in 10,000 acres.

The day was perfect with a high in the 60’s, no wind; blue sunny skies just couldn’t have been sweeter out there.

All the horses were great, even after six months off they walked off to work like the champs they are. We have two new horses working the string, Chappolitto who we bought last fall and W.C. who we just started. They both worked well, Brian was on W.C. and really enjoyed the ride. It’s great having our homebred horses go of to work and give folks a good day.

All in all for the first day of a new season it couldn’t have been better.

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

We headed out into 7HL pasture today starting to gather off the winter range. We rode in several groups bringing in small bunches at a time to the T gates and putting them into the North Trap.

I started out riding Annie; I soon found she is not as well trained in the open country as she is in the pens. A lot of horses are like that when they first get going. With no fences in sight they get nervous and somewhat excitable by the lack of constraints in their world. She would lunge and threaten to buck and resist cues. I decided to trade horses with John who was on Dakota. I am not riding any more young horses this time of year. I can’t afford to spend any time layed up. I had too much to do today to be riding a horse that needed schooling. John rode her a long day and did a fine job with her. She never bucked and he reported she got better off and on as the day went along.

The day went well, we gathered up over 70 head of cattle. The day went well till the very end. We were less than a quarter mile from the gates when Cooleye with Donna aboard started bucking; he had been stung by something. Donna rode it well, I think she made the eight-second buzzer and I really felt she had him rode when his last jump set her off his back end. She fell with her arms behind her and broke her wrist. Lyndsey had her super duper first aid kit and along with fireman Joe they splinted her wrist. Donna is also a nurse so she advised. Once all was settled Lyndsey trotted the two miles home and got her truck. Grace rode along with her partner Donna to Silver City where Lyndsey got them right into the ER. They stayed over night and the prognosis is very good.

Once the excitement was over we moved the cattle into the H.Q. corrals and left them overnight. It was too late to start the branding we had intended doing.

A great day, sunny, p.m. clouds hi of about 70 over night 38.

Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Before branding I saddled up Annie and used her to get the cattle out of the trap and into the branding pens. She was really good. We had about 70 head to gather and move up the long alley. It took some time to get them in the alley with several trying to cut back. Annie would lay her ears back and run them down the fence and quick turn them back along the fence to the rest of the bunch. In the alley we had several that came back from the front the wrong way and stop the herd. She would turn side ways to them and side pass tight against them while I yelled and hollered. She never lost her cool or got excited; there wasn’t a cow there that could scare her.

We started branding after breakfast and by noon had 27 of the little devils done. Ben was the roper of the day and earned the name Fred Whitfield, after the other famous roper.

The whole crew got the hang of it pretty fast and things clicked along really well. After a lunch break we loaded up our horses and trailered out to the Cowcamp Gate where we rode in several groups looping through the east side of 7HL pasture. It was a good gather and we got to the gates about 6pm with another 70 head of cattle. It getting late and the calves were tired so we left then in the trap rather than bringing them to the corrals.

The day was perfect to be out, hi about 70, a bit of gusty wind but not all day.

Thursday, May 6, 2004

Everyone trailered out to Cowcamp and started riding from there; they went into Pitchfork pasture hunting cattle in that country. Being short on trailer space I rode Dakota out and met them at Fence tank. I had Dakota out on Tuesday but this was the first real ride out he’d had since last May when he developed white line disease. My oh my it sure was great to have him under me. He was just as good as when I last rode him a year ago.

We got several bunches of cattle from different parts of the pasture and penned in the tank trap, after lunch we began sorting them. The last couple years this had always been Docs job and I sure missed that little horse. I was using Dakota to sort and bless him he tried his heart out. He really wants to do well and got better by the minute. He is quiet and patient, which is always needed, he is very smart and soon figured out what the plan was… cows go out, calves stay in. We’d cut a cow and run her out the gate then he’d turn and bite any calves that had followed chasing them back into the group in the pen. He just doesn’t have the explosive speed and light front end that Doc had. A few years ago I’d a thought him a great sorter, I guess Doc kinda spoiled me. He’ll be a good one though. The thing about Dakota is he is good at everything he tries, he’s not a specialist at any one thing but he’s a great drag horse, good trail rider, fine roper and now a passable cutter. He’s just a good all round can do ranch horse.

I think horses know when it’s time to step up to the plate and do the job. Seven or eight years ago I lost a great cow horse named Mangus to colic. Gambler had been my second string horse, young, goofy and not serious about work. Right after Mangus died Gambler realized he was now number one and really came into his own. I think it’s the same thing is going on with Dakota, now that Doc is gone the job has fallen on his withers and he’s showing he’s up to the task.

The afternoon was spent branding getting close to thirty done. The crew has it down! They worked well together and everyone knew what to do and when to do it. We finished up about 5:30pm and everyone headed back to the trailers and Dakota and I headed home. It’s a ten-mile ride each way and let me tell ya I had one tired fella there. But he walked with pride and was feeling mighty good about the day he’d had.

Hi about 70, a few sprinkles at one point but mostly sunny with some gusty wind.

Friday, May 7, 2004

At morning chores I quickly saw two mares were not in for breakfast, hoping for the best Maggie and I walked down the long pasture to see if the stork had come. It sure had!

A mare we call G’s Mom had a foal curled up under her and my oh my what a winner. A little colt that’s charcoal gray with four white socks, a perfect blaze face and a white rump with tiny gray spots. He looks like a 1950’s Hollywood horse. I sure am proud of that little guy. Old Belle who we fear slipped her foal a few months ago was there being the matron aunt. She is such the mom. If the foal gets too far from her mom Belle is right there to push her back. If any other mares get to close Belle runs them away standing guard over the new mom and baby.

After breakfast we headed out to the north trap to get in the cattle we had left there at the beginning of the week.

Donna was back in the saddle with us today, that gal is tough.

Not far into the gather Lyndsey radioed that she had found a dead calf with several coyotes around. I rode up and checked out the situation. I read the sign as a coyote kill, though I wished I could blame it on the wolves. A bit later she found a cow and newborn with coyotes circling it. We chased them off and I left Brian to guard the pair till we could come back out and get it with the four-wheeler. We drove in the bunch of cattle we had gathered to the corrals and let them sit and settle while I headed back out to where Brian was with the pair. He reported that the calf had been up nursing and the coyotes had moved off. I decided that we would wait and move them after branding, giving the calf a few hours to get some strength.

We got 17 more calves branded in the afternoon; these guys were just about pros by this time. Slick as you please they were sorted, caught, worked and back out with mom. We then gathered in the bulls and loaded them in the trailer for a ride to Snow Lake so we could keep the fresh branded calves close to the house.

John, Joe and Mick went out and started moving the little pair in, then called Maro to come get the calf in the four-wheeler. As he gave the calf a ride home, the three horsemen eased the cow along behind it. It was slow going but they got them safely into a pen. If we hadn’t of gotten that calf home it would have been death loss number two for the day.

It was a great crew to start off the year with. Everyone willing and helpful, great humor and lots of laughs.

The new crew worked well. Nina’s cooking was superb; the wranglers figured things out quickly though they were exhausted. Lyndsey told me John had asked her how she did it, up at 5am work till 8pm and then do it even harder the next day. She told him if ya love it, it gets easier.

Hi 70, lo 37 great sunrise and sunset, just enough clouds for a good show.

Saturday, May 8, 2004

After the guests headed home we quickly cleaned the cabins then Brian helped Maro and I set a new squeeze chute in the shipping pens. That took a bit of the day. The afternoon was spent fixing a few things and doing some odd jobs.

John and Nina rode the south trap just making them selves be seen and heard out there hopefully getting the coyotes away for a few hours, we sure have a lot of bitty calves out there that have me worried.

A bit cloudy but warm about 70 after an overnight of 39.