RANCH LIFE

THE HEARTBREAK SUMMER OF 2025

9/11/2025

This is one of the few pictures I took this summer. It was the summer from hell.
It started dry as a bone, feed was and is scarce, and water more so.
On one of these early mornings, my cowboy husband got bucked off his horse and broke his pelvis, quite badly. It was quite the ordeal and very scary. He got to the hospital, via two ambulances, and then a helicopter ride.
After almost dying in the helicopter from internal bleeding, he made it to the hospital and they stabilized him and surgery was a success. So to say it was the summer from Hell, may be a little over exaggeration. He is ALIVE and will recover to be nearly as good as new. For that I am extremely grateful.

But wait, that's not all! I lost my very best horse. My partner and my friend. I am heartbroken and I can't seem to get over the sadness. But what is worse, he was the second horse I lost in a 5 day period. I had a sweet horse, Sorely, who I bought this past spring. He was a good old guy and I was just getting to know him.
When Sorely went down. I was convinced he was old and probably had gotten hurt. But then 5 days later my best boy was down in the same way. We called a vet. The nearest being an hour away. He tried to help, but Goucho couldn't get up without help. We did manage to finally get him in a trailer and haul him 3 hours to a veterinary equine hospital. He unfortunately didn't make it through the night and had to be euthanized. Of course we are extremely worried about what this could be? How many other horses will be affected?. They sent his body off for a necropsy and we are still waiting for test results. The symptoms are very similar to that of botulism and the vet is pretty convinced that is what they both had. They may have gotten it from something dead in the hay. It is rare, but can occur with the right conditions. Botulism can also live in that dead animal indefinitely.

I don't think I will completely recover from this loss. I have lost several horses, great partners and friends, but this one is the hardest of them all.
So where does this leave me in my, cowgirl, "blogger" world? I'm not sure. I am only left with my pony, Izzy, and my navicular mare, Bug. So my riding is limited.
I am contemplating giving it all up. But that thought breaks my heart even more.

I have always loved the days on the range, trailing behind cows, taking pictures and telling our story.
I just don't know if my heart is in it anymore.

I don't know for sure if this is the last you'll hear from me. I guess time will tell.

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SPRING WORK 2025

6/2/2025

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Wow, spring has been busy. We brought in all of the desert herds. This consisted of 5 different herds. We had them scattered North, East, and South of Baker. We covered many miles each day.

Moving cows with calves is a whole lot harder than cows without calves. The cowboys and horses work hard for every mile. Sometimes just for every step.

Occasionally a calf just won't cooperate. This little guy refused to cross the water. The cowboy had to rope it and carry it to it's mother.

It's just hard work.

When we bring the cattle home, we also process the calves. We ear mark, (this is a distinct mark in the right and left year, which identifies the calf as belonging to us), castrate, vaccinate and give them a fly tag.

Each person has a job that they are responsible for. We start recruiting the help at a young age.

We hold 5-7 "brandings" a year. We call them brandings, although we don't actually brand the calves. Most of them are sold after spending some time in the feedlot after weaning. Then later we will brand the heifers that we will be keeping.

The cowboys do a great job and they seem to really enjoy it.

It has been really dry here. Finally, we got a little rain in April. We were so excited.

As we bring each herd in, we process them, and continue until, all herds are in and calves are done.

In some of the pictures, you'll see the cowboys in Hawaiian shirts. This celebrated the end of our branding season.
Now summer is here, and we have a lot to do. Stay tuned.

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DRY AND DUSTY WINTER 2025

3/17/2025

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As February and March set in, so has more dry weather. But don't worry, we have had wind. Ugh, not my idea of fun. Yes, it's been unusually warm, but I would take cold over this dry windy weather any day.

Calving season has been challenging to say the least. The wind and the dust seemed to never let up.

Dealing with problems was not much fun in these conditions.

We took care of the heifers, the best we could and saved many.

I always find a little humor to entertain myself. This heifer had a pretty special hairdo.

We're always teaching the next generation.

Here's a little slide show of our days on the range. We have spent quite a few days out moving onto spring pastures.

"can you hear me now?" Haha. Sometimes trying to communicate with each other on the range can be tricky, and often not even possible.

Not all of our cows are beautiful. But she's a good cow.

Some are better lookers than others. Believe it or not, even though the feed looks scarce, the cows still look good. They are kept in fresh water and mineral supplement to give them a boost.

The desert cows are starting to calve. The "easy" days of moving the herds are about over.

We'll keep praying for rain.

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MOVING INTO 2025

1/17/2025

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Our winter skies have been amazing. November was pretty warm, but way too dry.

The cows have been in the fields longer than usual this winter. They have been enjoying the sun and the left over feed.

In December we took out our first desert herd. We took this herd about 20 miles to their winter range. It was a terribly windy day.

We went from the fields in Burbank, which is South of Garrison Utah, and took them up and over the mountain to the valley North East of there. It was a long trek.

The cows really lined out and traveled. We had to stop them occasionally to catch up the back end and give them all a rest.

These days are great for training young horses. This is Clay on his 3 year old.

The wind was terrible. There were a few gusts that I thought might blow me right off my horse.

The sun was close to setting by the time we hit the hardpan in the valley.

That isn't snow. It's the dirt on the hardpan.
Hardpan soil is a dense layer of soil that's difficult for water to pass through and that limits plant roots. It can be caused by natural processes or by human activity. (google definition of hardpan)

Did I mention it was windy? Cold too. This is our cow boss and his son. That is one tough kid. He didn't quit all day and I never heard a word of complaint. He is a tough kid.

During Christmas break and Saturdays, we get extra help. These are the toughest kids I know.

It's great to have the whole family help.

We brought the heifers home for calving.

Look closely, there is an interesting marked heifer.

The other day we took another herd out to the desert. This one went from the fields in Baker, over the hills above Garrison, and onto the range South.

I don't know how far it was, it felt pretty far.

Clay on his young horse again.

We had a tag-a-long. This sheep adopted our herd and it made it all the way.

We still have a two herds to take out. The winter work continues.

We have started shipping our calves.

The feed yard was busy this morning.

The calves are counted, weighed and loaded onto trucks.

There was a lot of business going on.

Everyone was working hard.

Up next, calving season. Stay tuned.

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FALL, OR IS IT??

10/11/2024

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It's October, but you'd never know it. It's dry and still hot. Afternoons are still in the 80's with an occasional 90. It's crazy!

Sometimes our cow boss brings his family. They always make me smile.

We have most of the calves weaned and have been moving cows around a bit.
We also have been trying to get the remainder of the cows off of the mountain and brought back home. They have been hiding up there and it has taken several attempts to find them.

We ride in some pretty high country and pretty steep mountains. It sure is beautiful up there though.

This year I didn't make my horse, Gaucho, climb the mountain. Which I'm sure he was very grateful for. I got a new horse and he climbed it well, but I think he was a bit in shock when he saw the places I took him.

Finding the cows is tricky enough, but when they run into the trees and hide or go the wrong way, it can be really difficult.
We managed to get all but about 15 or so pair and 3 bulls off the mountain and into the meadow.
We will continue searching for the other renegades.

We were able to wean the calves from the cows that we got into the meadow.

This is a little slide show I'm playing with. I hope it works.

Fall is when we preg-check all of our cows. The vet comes out and checks each cow to make sure she is pregnant. Yes, he does it the old fashioned way. No fancy ultrasounds for us.

The cowboys give shots and de-worm the cows once the cow has been declared pregnant, or in this case, the vet shouts, "good".
If the vet shouts, "open", well, I imagine you can guess what that means.
Then the cow is put in a separate pen, with a big fat circle drawn on her. This will be the end of the road for the poor old girl.

This isn't anyone's favorite job. But it has to be done.

We have several more herds to bring in and check. We'll gather them out of the pastures, and check each one. This will ensure we are putting healthy, bred cows onto the range for the winter and hopefully they will come home with healthy calves in the spring.

The fall work continues. I assume it will be cold soon enough.

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FOUND!!!

9/20/2024

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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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