RANCH LIFE

FOUND!!!

9/20/2024

I started this blog about 10 years ago. Recently I lost it all. It just disappeared into thin air. Today I spent 5 hours with the blog site trying to figure out the issue. Finally, I succeeded in bringing it back. The blog is not just for entertainment and knowledge, it also is a record of our ranching, including; range, cattle, farming, employees, family and children, all changing throughout the years.
Hopefully I can hang on to it for a while longer.

Here we are, summer 2024. I will share some of the things we have been doing this summer.
These are the cows that we took to the mountain for the summer.

The feed on the mountain is pretty good this year. Still, some of the cows insist on trying to come home early and the cowboys need to push them back up, higher onto the mountain.

Pre-conditioning also has been part of the summer work. In July we gathered all of the cows and calves, separated the calves and gave them vaccinations. The vaccinations will help keep them from getting sick when we wean them a few weeks later.

We work in a lot of dust.

The summer days are hot, so we get started at sun up.

The cattle are gathered, calves separated and at this time we also pull the bulls out of the herd. They have been in with the cows for a couple of months to do their "job".

I'm not a fan of the big boys.

After a few weeks have passed, and the calves have been back in the meadows with their moms, and doing well, we begin to gather them again. This time for weaning.

The sorting pen is a place where the horses have a chance to show off their skills.

This cow horse has a lot of passion. Not much gets by her.

The calves are trucked back to the main ranch in Baker. Here they are unloaded, sorted, weighed and put in pens with fresh hay and water. As they adjust to being without mom, they will also be started on a silage ration. (silage is grass or other green fodder compacted and stored in airtight conditions, typically in a silo, or bagged in our case, without first being dried, and used as animal feed in the winter.)

Summer is winding down. Soon it will be time to bring the cows home from the mountain and start to preg-check. We have a vet come out and check all of our cows and first year heifers to make sure they are pregnant. Anything not pregnant will be sold.
Good times ahead. haha
Now that I'm back, stay tuned for more of LIFE ON THE RANCH.
Thank you.

P.S. We don't want to forget about all of our farmers out there putting in long hours to get all the hay up. They have had a very busy summer.

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BUSY DAYS

7/3/2024

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The spring work continued through May and into June. Bringing in all of the herds, processing the calves, putting bulls into the herds, and of course all the in between fence fixing, water hauling and everything else. Lets just say it is a very busy time for the cowboys.

It takes several weeks to completely get all of the cattle in. When we would get one herd in, we would hold a "branding", in order to process, the calves. Then the next week start all over bringing in another herd, processing them, so and and so on, until finally we had them all in and processed, then moved onto their summer pastures.

One of the brandings.

Trailing the cows and their calves home is a slow and sometimes frustrating job.

The cows don't always keep track of their calves, which causes confusion and chaos.

Sometimes the little buggers will try to run back to the last place they were with their mom. Then the cowboy has to chase them back into the herd. And trust me, those little farts can really run fast.

We travel several miles a day. Some times it's only a day to get all the way in to the meadows, other times it takes 3 days.

It's slow, cows, horses and people get thirsty. We set up water stations when needed.

Sometimes my horse gets annoyed. You can tell by his ears.

Sometimes we cross some pretty bare land.

Every trail home is a journey.

Then the cowboys, friends and family get together to process the calves. This means we earmark them, castrate the males, give them a fly tag and their vaccinations.

When I use the term, "cowboys", I am including our cowgirls as well. We are a significant part of the crew. Some of our top hands are cowgirls.

Our Spring work is wrapped up. But that doesn't mean the work ends. Cows need to be moved to new pastures, endless fences to be fixed, water hauling. The list is endless, The cowboys will also lend a hand to the farmers when they need to. Because now the farmers are really busy haying. I hope to do a blog about that soon.

https://www.facebook.com/bakerranchesinc
Photo Credit, Janille Baker

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SPRING TIME

4/20/2024

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Yep, I said spring. But spring around here brings quite a variety of weather.

We moved our cows onto spring range..

Some days we had some extra help.

Moving little calves is never easy. It takes a lot of time and a lot pf patience.

Spring time means getting all of our calves processed. This means, ear marked (a distinct cut to the ears that is unique to only our ranch. It is a way to identify our calves). They are also given an orange fly tag, which helps with fly control. They are vaccinated , just like you would vaccinate any pet , and castrated if a bull calf.

The cowboys ran the first bunch of claves on the calf table. This is not their favorite way of doing it, but we have so many calves and so few weekends between now and June, they had to get a jump on the job.

This is the preferred way of processing calves. The calves are roped by a cowboy on a horse, then held down with ropes by their feet, and the usual processing is done. The calves are not harmed, it only takes a minute or two to preform the tasks needed. Several people help do each task so it is very quick. Then the calf is let up and runs off. Of course the calf may be a little shaken, but it is not traumatized. They are quickly let back in with their moms to recover.

We held our first "branding" this weekend. We only had a small bunch of calves, but it was a good opportunity for the cowboys to get ready for the rest of the season.

It's a family event. This little guy could be the future cow boss.

There is nothing better than watching the next generation help and learn.

I took so many branding pictures. You can see more on my high desert ranch wife FB page.

Before we can process any more calves, we have to bring them all in off of the range. It is long and slow and hard work. Hopefully I will post some pictures if I can get to my phone while I'm trying to help.

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February, the longest shortest month

2/18/2024

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February always seems to be the longest month of the year. I know this is partly because it is usually pretty cold. It is also because it is a busy month of calving heifers and moving herds on the range.

This year we have actually had a very mild winter. Even though these pictures make it look a little chilly. We actually have had some really nice days.

Heifer calving consumes a lot of our time.

Often a heifer will have trouble having her calf on her own, and will need assistance. Usually that means taking her to a corral and putting her in a head catch, allowing the cowboys to safely help her. But there are times things don't go quite that well. This heifer was problematical and had to be roped and helped out in the open field.

Thanks to skill, and experience, it was a successful venture.

We love seeing these healthy babies running around. Unfortunately we have lost a few to coyotes this year. We are working on decreasing the coyote population.

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IT'S WINTER!!

1/13/2024

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It's winter and we've been taking cows out to the winter range.
December was pretty dry.

We have water tubs we place on the range and haul water into. We move these tubs frequently to properly utilize our range. The cows are always happy to reach the tubs of water at the end of the trail.

It seems like the cows are pretty happy to leave the frozen fields and head out to the desert.

Some of our best employees have four legs.

Sometimes I make the cowboys pose. Our four legged cowboy posed also.

It's important to get a good count on the number of cows we take out to the range.

We went from pretty chilly, yet nice days in December, to kind of frosty and a little colder days in January.

It's important to dress properly for the weather.

When we move the water tubs to a new location, we have to gather the cows and move them as well. So we spread out across the range and each of us gather cows until we eventually come together in a herd.

My horse spotted the others. He had been pretty lonely with just the cows and myself for company.

I love the gather. Being alone and enjoying the peace and beauty all around me.

End of the trail This will be a two day move, however. The cows have pretty sore feet and are pretty slow. We set up tubs about halfway.

The cowboys will move them on tomorrow. They claim they don't need my superb help, so I guess I will stay home and enjoy my warm fire. Hope they don't miss me too much.. haha

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FALL 2023

12/1/2023

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The days are short as the year winds down. We still have some cattle work to do before winter sets in.

We just finished up preg-checking all of our cows and heifers.

We've been making up the herds to go onto our desert winter range. We'll take 5 herds to the desert for the winter.

It's hard to get the work done before the sun goes down these days.

But it makes for kind of neat pictures.

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SUMMER WORK 2023

9/12/2023

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Summer is starting to wind down. We have finished pre-conditioning the calves and have been continuing to move cows on the mountain.

When we pre-condition, we give the calves vaccinations to keep them healthy. At this point they are then tuned back out with their moms and in a few weeks we will pull them off the moms and wean them.

We have a small herd of cows on the mountain on summer range. We have to move them about. Mostly due to the fact that they don't stay where they are supposed to.

We had some help from my South Dakota relatives.

They sure were good help. I wish they were around more often.

One day we had this happen. Yes, this heifer has her head stuck in the trunk of an apple tree. She was after that one last apple I guess.

They had to cut the poor girl out using a chain saw. It was tricky. They had to be careful not to cut her.

Instead of being gracious for her life being saved, she was on the fight when she was freed.

This horse is named Sky. She posed nicely for us while we ate lunch up on the mountain.

It's been a beautiful summer. The mountain and meadows are still green.

This calf was sick. The cowboys made sure to doctor it.

It's been a pretty good summer. Fall gets pretty busy with weaning, bringing cows off of the mountain and preg-checking. Stay tuned for more to come.

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SPRING INTO SUMMER

7/8/2023

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We had a great spring that ran clear through June. Cool temps and rainy days.

The green vegetation is a sight for sore eyes.

We've been doing some riding. We move cows from pasture to pasture and we have a small herd on the mountain that we need to tend to occasionally.

Yes, it looks a little dusty, but this is nothing for us.

The mountain is full of wildflowers and bright colored brush.

Even in June there was still snow and high flowing creeks.

May and June were cloudy and cool.

I had my sidekick along on some of the rides.

Lookin' good.

July is proving to be hot. It's time for early morning starts.

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THE NEVER ENDING WINTER OF 2023

4/4/2023

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This winter seems never ending. It's now April and the high temperature for today is 32 degrees, with a cold, cold North wind. Tonight is supposed to have a low of 12 degrees.
The moisture has been amazing and although we are incredibly tired of the weather, we are excited to see the plants that will grow when it finally warms up.

It's been cold riding, and trying to get the cows onto their spring ranges. We are behind in doing this, due to the snow and/or mud. Getting the water trucks out to the range has been very difficult. We have to haul water to most of our cow herds, as we don't have live water in most places.

We get a lot of wind, and when you combine that with the snow and frigid temperatures, it can be pretty miserable. We stay warm though. We all know how to properly dress for the occasion.

Here I am in my fancy cowgirl attire.

There have been days where the snow has melted causing the water to run on the desert. This is actually water running out on the range. It was muddy.

Don't let the lack of snow in the pictures fool you, it still was quite cold out.

The wind never seems to stop blowing.

We are really hoping this is our last week of super cold weather and things will start to look different soon.

These little ones need a chance to warm up.

No matter the weather, we'll be out there doing what is needed and what we all love.

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WHATEVER IT TAKES

1/30/2023

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Heifer calving has begun, right along with the cold wintery weather. So it's time to do whatever it takes to keep these babies alive.

The big equipment was brought out to clear paths, break up snow, create wind breaks and bring in warm bedding.

Last night the wind blew and temperatures dropped to almost zero. Tonight it is predicted to drop well below zero. So it's all hands on deck to prepare as much as possible.

It's a pretty rough start on these babies when they are dropped in the snow and cold. We do all we can to help them out.

There is the truck transport. Of course a load of dogs to assist.

If the calves get too cold, they are transported to this calf heater, or a tub with a heat lamp and when that fills up, they are brought to my house and lined up in front of the wood stove. I haven't had them in the house yet this year, but I'm sure it will happen.

The snow we had drifted, not like the snow that is seen in other parts of the country, but still plenty to freeze a calf.

We not only are taking care of the heifers, but we have other cattle to tend to as well. This herd should be out on the desert range by now, but there is too much snow. They are still in the fields and are being supplemented with protein block.

I'm sure there will be plenty more calving pictures in the weeks ahead. Wish us luck.

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