May 1-7, 2005 : Spring Gather

Monday, May 2, 2005

First crew of the year! And a pretty good size one to start us off, with a couple veterans to help get things going

Brian of course is still here then we have Don from Florida and Mark from Long Island , both have been her so many times I’ve lost count. Ben from Alaska is here for his third time.

Our first timers are Steve and Deborah from California , Ron and Mack from Florida , Brian and Jim from Ohio round out the crew.

For the first Monday of the season and a big crew we got on the trail in pretty good time. We headed right to work gathering 7HL pasture starting on the west side. We split into three groups and rode the Feathery Valley and Ewe Canyon areas. It was easy pickings as there were cattle all over that side of the pasture. Cows may be stupid but they know that when the weather warms we move them to the new green grass in the pines of Negrito pasture so they were over on that side waiting for the parade to better feed. In six hours we had over ninety head, about half with calves. We pushed them all into the south trap where they will stay till we work them in the corrals later in the week.

All the horses worked great, you’d think they had never had a six month break.

Weather wasn’t too bad, thin high clouds, a bit breezy with a high of about 50. There was a big snow storm in the northern half of the state but we were fortunate and saw nothing like that here. Low here was 26.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

We all rode out into 7HL going a bit farther east into the pasture than we did yesterday. Nate and Brian took a crew through Snake Gate and over Feathery Hill and then on up to Telegraph Mesa.

Lyndsey and I took our crew down Ewe canyon then up to the south end of the mesa.

Not too long into the morning Nate radioed that he had a black calf with no momma around. There were a lot of cattle scattered across the mesa so we bunched everything up and hoped that some cow would pair up with the calf, none did.

While everyone held the herd Brian and I rode all around the north half of the mesa and down into 7HL valley looking for a cow. We rode every draw and coulee and never found a thing. Well anything good. I did find the carcass of a two year old heifer and the legs of a calf down in a draw. It was about a month old. Must have been a bad calving, the heifer died and the calf was eventually killed and eaten.

It is a hard decision in a case like this as to what to do with a lone calf. Take it with us or leave it and hope mom shows up.

A $500.00 gamble either way. I opted to leave it with a couple little pairs and hope that the mom comes to claim it. If the calf stays with those cattle it should be safe over night. We will send some riders out in the morning to check on it.

Once we got going west things went really well. We had a lot of really small calves but the weather worked with us, it was cloudy and cool with rain all around. Good weather to keep young calves cool and moving. The drive to the T gates took a couple hours but we were still home by 6pm .

I’m really pleased with the number of calves we already have on the ground. We calve late here due to the weather but already we have about 65% of the calves on the ground.

High was 52 over night low was 26.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

This morning we gathered the south trap getting in the cattle we had put there the last couple days. It wasn’t the best executed gather of that pasture we have ever had but we got it done. We got the cattle in the pens about 1:30pm then took an hour lunch while they all settled down.

Then it was time to head to the branding pen.

We had a lot of cattle in the pens, probably about a hundred and fifty, so sorting took a long time. I was on Dakota, the first time in months. He had worked great out gathering and did just as well in the pens. You’d never guess he’d been laying around getting fat.

Once sorting was done the ropes began to fly, it didn’t take long before this crew got it down and had a good system going.

Ben was the fire keeper and he did a great job of keeping the irons hot and don’t let him see you standing around holding an iron that should be in the fire, he’d holler and tell ya to get HIS iron back to him and don’t put it in the wrong place in the fire.

We rolled through about 30 calves in just a couple hours.

Nate and Brian didn’t ride with us today on the gather. They instead loaded horses and trailered out to 7HL hunting up the motherless calf we had left out there yesterday. They rode around several hours before they found it down in the valley with some other cattle. After being sure no momma had shown up they roped it and carried it back to the truck then loaded it in the trailer to come back here to H.Q. for bottle feeding. They got back here just in time to help us brand.

We were branding till just about 6pm not getting everything done so we had to leave the cattle penned in the water lot. Most of the guys pitched in and helped load and flake out hay to keep the cattle happy overnight. We plan on getting back to the pen work first thing in the morning.

The weather was the best of the week, hi was about 60, scattered clouds and just a bit breezy. Low as only 29

Thursday, May 5, 2005

Most of us were back working cattle in the pens this morning. Steve and Deborah didn’t want any more of the branding work so they rode with Nate and Brian hunting up a couple bulls in Negrito and 7HL pastures. It’s too early in the year for the bulls to be with the cows. They will mess up our calving time by breeding cows this time of year. Their day was a success after riding a lot of miles on a really windy day they found both bulls and put them in the north trap.

The corral work went well.

We had to first sort the cattle all over again which took along time. It was a pain in the butt getting the cattle back up into the corral from the water lot. They had been in there yesterday and knew nothing good was going on up there. We had to push them up in small bunches fighting them all the way.

Then we sorted in the alley, cutting yearlings out, then cattle that needed work in the chute, then cut off calves we had branded yesterday so they didn’t get mixed up in the circus. The Florida boys worked the gates. They got off to a little shakey start. Later they told me they thought it would be a cake walk, open a gate when a cow came and close it behind it. They didn’t know the cattle were going to be coming at a run and mad while they did. Those guys quickly learned that you had to stay on your toes and pay attention. They redeemed themselves by making some great saves and moves with the gates. Ronnie allowed his nerves were shot after that experience.

Once we got everything sorted we started branding. We sure missed Ben who had to leave early to get back to Alaska . There were only six of us in the corrals so we didn’t have a designated fire tender and soon ended up waiting for hot irons. But we managed to get 26 calves branded in a couple hours. Everyone poured in a lot of work and effort.

After the calves were branded we moved to the chute where we wormed about 20 adult cows. That took no time at all as we were working like a well oiled machine.

We finished the corral work right at 5pm just as Nates crew was coming in. It was a great day in the corrals, more laughing than there was cussing.

Hi was about 50, a sharp wind cranked all day. Overnight was 30.

Friday, May 6, 2005

After a couple days in the corrals everyone was ready for a long day in the saddle. The plan of the day was to sweep Negrito pasture making sure that no more were bulls in there and checking that all the gates were closed before we put the cows in next week.

Lyndsey and the Florida boys rode the north side of Negrito Mtn, then down to Little Fence Spring and on around back through the south trap checking the cattle we have in there making sure all the calves took the branding well.

Nate, Mark, Steve and Deborah rode out Snow Ridge and down to the lake checking that area. They found all the gates closed and no bulls. Making a big loop through that country they got home about 4pm .

Brian, Maggie, Jim and big Brian all trailered out with me to Gilita Ridge where we started riding looking for some cattle Maggie and I had seen a few weeks ago and checking the south fence along the wilderness area.

We had gone only a mile before we came up missing Big Brian. We rode around and hollered and yelled for over an hour. I then went back and got the truck and picked up the other riders and drove to the end of Gilita Ridge forsakeing the cattle hunt we were now on a human hunt.

Maggie, Jim and I unloaded at the end of the ridge while Brian drove to the lake. Soon after we hit the fence we found horse tracks so we knew he was still on plan A. Eventually we found him at the lake, he got there just as Brian pulled in and we were about 20 minutes behind him.

We called it a day and headed home from there.

It was the best crew to start the season with. Mack and Ronnie were like a comedy team and Ben had a show of his own. My sides are still aching from all the laughter.

Every one were good hands and we sure hope to see them all come back some day.