May 16-22, 2004 : Spring Ranch Week

Monday, May 17, 2004

Right after the van pulled out on Saturday we had another foal born in the bright of day. Tom’s Mom had a Buckskin patterned Appy. colt.

A small crew compared to the last couple, just six folks. Lisa from N.J. is back for a second time, she brought along her husband Duffy this time. Nick from CA. is here for a third visit, bringing along his buddy Sam. First timers are Michelle from TN. and Kimberley from N.D.

For the first day of the week, we got a lot of work done. We gathered everything in the south trap and moved them through the Silver gate into Negrito pasture. Three different bunches of cattle went through totaling about 110 head of adult cows.

Over the weekend I had put two loads of salt out, all of it along the north and east areas of the pasture trying to keep the cattle away from the center of the pasture where the wolves are denned. The wolves being in there limit my use of the pasture to less than a third of the area.

It was about 4pm by the time we got done, too late to go out and start a new job so we called it a day.

Hi 68 lo 33

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

We headed into the east side of 7HL pasture working that area again. We rode in several small groups covering a lot of country.

John had Annie out with an old short barred saddle of mine. She worked great. We had also made a bit change from a snaffle to a light aluminum curb. The changes made a new horse and John allowed as how she was a pleasure to ride.

Lyndsey went up in the north end of Feathery Valley with Nick and Sam. They found a couple head, which they pushed down to John and Nina who were working the Ewe canyon area. John had also found some cattle around Nedra tank and along with Lisa, Duffy and Kim moved them to and through the Silver gate into Negrito pasture.

I was working the center of the pasture with Michelle when I spied a group of vultures circling to my west a mile or so. We rode over that way and found a fresh dead ’03 heifer. There were no wounds or obvious signs of foul play. Her ear tag was marked with a number one, so she was the first calf we had branded last year. Most likely she had gotten bred and was calving before she was old enough. We left her to the vultures and continued on. As we came into the lower end of Feathery Valley we hit the mother lode of cattle spread out across that soft green area. It took about an hour to get everything gathered up and moving along toward Elladeane tank. We came across a four year old cow getting ready to calve, I debated on moving her along not wanting to leave her alone out there but she seemed well along in predelivery so I decided to let her be, she’s had two calves before and would hopefully have no complications.

When we got to Elladeane we had about thirty head in front of us and Lyndsey showed up with eleven more. After letting them all rest and pair up we headed west towards the silver gate. About half way we met up with John and his crew who helped us push them along. There were lots of slow babies.

John told me he had left behind five pairs with tiny calves about a mile from the gate on his first trip through. I rode over to check them and found they had drifted into a canyon that was full of coyote dens. I knew this because over the weekend when I was out I had come across a newborn calf and mom there surrounded by four coyotes I had to chase of her. I had to carry the calf with the momma following till we got to Negrito pasture.

So I gathered the little pairs and eased them along till we caught up with the main herd at the gate and put them all through.

Had another foal born last night, a great mare Chancy had a sorrel filly, she’s got four white socks and a wide blaze topped off with two blue eyes.

Hi was 70, low was 32 light breeze.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

The whole crew rode out to Fence tank from the H.Q. early while Lyndsey and I trailered our horses out along with Maro and all the branding stuff as well as some camping gear. Our plans are to work in Pitchfork pasture the next couple days and hopefully get it all cleaned out.

The riders got there not too long after we did and after a short break we headed right out to work. Lyndsey with Michelle and Duffy went high on T Bar Ridge, John with Nick, Sam and Kim went to the Steve tank area to the north and Lisa and I went right out the valley to Pit Tank.

John came up empty handed; Lisa and I found thirty head, which we drifted west towards Fence tank. Lyndsey and her crew found about thirty head way up high taking most of the day getting them down. It was about 6pm by the time we got everything penned at the tank. Way too late to start branding so we left them in the small trap there for the night.

Duffy, Lisa and Michelle stayed out with Maro and I and let me tell ya it was a loud camp. The cattle didn’t like being cooped up all night. The camp was as basic a cow camp as you could have, a cooler of drinks, some tarps and left over chicken for dinner. Dust and the lowing of the cattle took us back a hundred years. Had some great jokes by the fire and everyone was in bed by 9pm . It had been a long day especially everyone who rode from the H.Q. They had a ten-mile ride just to get to the working grounds. A heck of a long commute on horseback. By the time the day was done they had close to thirty miles in the saddle.

Hi 69 lo 31

Thursday, May 20, 2004

A bit of ice on the sleeping bags this morning, kinda hard to get up but we were out and groaning by 6am. A breakfast of bacon, pancakes and coffee got us ready for the day.

Maggie and Nina rode out to give us a hand for the day. It was sure great to have Maggie out of her studio and on the range.

She arrived with the news of another foal. Scooter, a young black quarter horse mare having her first foal produced us a dandy. A black colt with a white blanket extending up his back. Another show winner

First order of business was to take care of the cattle in the trap. We moved them into the branding pen and started sorting. Dakota is getting better and better working in there, I once again was really proud of him. Over the next several hours we branded 28 calves as well as two ‘03 sale heifers. Everyone got in on it and we soon had a good team going. Duffy was the take down artist really getting a hand on the mugging of the calves.

Then we had a few odds and ends to take care of, a bull to separate and load in the trailer, one poor pair to load and a couple big calves that needed weaning. All these cattle were hauled home with Maro to the H.Q.

It was well after three by the time we got all this work done. Nick and Sam rode back to the H.Q. with Maggie and Nina while the rest of us went back out into Pitchfork to look for more. John went north towards Hay tank with Michelle and Kim. Lyndsey went back up onto T Bar Ridge with Lisa and Duffy while I went back out to Pit tank. John again came up empty, Lyndsey found one pair and I found about a dozen or so. We all got back to Fence tank about 6pm and penned the cattle for the night with plans to work them in the morning again. John had gotten a long range radio call from Nina from Elladeane tank. She, Maggie, Nick and Sam had found a dead cow there while headed home. My gut feeling tells me it’s the close to calving cow I had left behind on Tuesday.

It was a long day most of it doing branding and sorting and such. We only rode about two hours or so late in the day. I was worried everyone would be disappointed but I found out everyone enjoyed the pen work as much as I do. We sure got a lot done and though it was pretty dang cold sleeping I did it with the satisfaction of a good day behind us.

Hi 67 lo 30 windy in the afternoon.

Friday, May 21, 2004

There was a steady breeze all night making it chilly on top of the old head. My bedroll has a long canvas flap I can throw over but I sure felt sorry for those folks with plain sleeping bags.

Pancakes, sausage, coffee and dust for breakfast. Nothing stays clean around that camp this time of year. The cattle and horses walking in the corral puffing up dust with every step, the wind blows across the branding pen lifting it’s fine dust to settle over everything. It’s as cowboy as it gets out there. The same crew stayed out with me, they are pretty tough. Duffy fixed the finest cakes I had ever eaten. He has cooking over a branding fire down pat.

Our plans of a morning of branding were put off by the wind that started gusting up early. It blew hard all day. So we saddled up and drifted our penned cattle out. I devised a plan to gather as much of 7HL today as we could.

I had Lisa and Duffy ride the lower slopes of T Bar Ridge drifting cattle to the valley. Michelle and I were above working the very top and the upper slopes pushing cattle down to them. Lyndsey, John, Nina and Kim trailered out from H.Q. and started at the Cowcamp gate working south across Telegraph mesa towards us. It all came together just as planned. I watched from up on top of the ridge as it all unfolded. I could see the trailer crew gathering bunches across the valley three miles away. Looking like trails of ants they wound their way down the draws. Below me Lisa and Duffy had a big bunch working down the valley. Michelle and I found about twenty way up high and we headed down to the valley with them. It was a beautiful sight. About noon we had a hundred momma cows with calves gathered and held above T Bar tank. We headed west from there. It was a long afternoon. We took a twenty-minute rest at Elladeane to let the calves recover a bit.

I saw the dead cow; it was the one I had left behind on Tuesday. Just let me bend over while someone kicks me in the ass.

After our rest stop we continued on to Ewe canyon where we held the cattle an hour before we headed out I cut out eleven pairs to go into the south trap for doctoring. It was a great place to cut. A flat-bottomed bowl about a hundred yards around rimmed with rock. With only seven people it was easy to hold and cut a hundred head herd. We let the “to doctor cows” drift off up the canyon towards the T gates and got the rest of the herd going to the Silver gate. Less than an hour later we had them through onto the new grass and headed back to get the ones we had cut out. Most are older cows that raised calves through the winter. They need a good worming and a few days on the good feed in the south trap. Some of the calves we will wean off and sell in a few weeks and a few were the ones we didn’t get to brand today because of the wind. They are pretty dang big now and it would be six weeks before we see them again to get them branded. We found them just about where we left them. It was an easy push the mile to the gates where we let them drift and headed home.

We got in about 6pm , it had been another long day but with wonderful results. A great week with good and able crew.

Thanks to all of you who were here during the last three weeks and helped with the spring gather and branding. Couldn’t have done it without you.