Wow, I can not believe I have not posted since March. It has been a hard, hectic, rushed and really tough spring and summer. Our continuous drought has made things very stressful here on the ranch. We have pushed ahead most of our work as much as possible. We started our branding in April, and brought cows off the range as early as we could. We had to wait until a little grass grew in the meadows. And now we have already weaned. Unfortunately, due to the drought we are forced to sell some cows this year. That is hard on ranchers, who have spent years and years building a herd of cows they are proud of and also attached to. We all have our favorites in the herd and we may see some of them head down the road this year.
We came off the desert in April and May. It was a dusty and dry spring, which has continued on throughout the summer.
We spent several weeks with several hard days gathering cows off of the desert range. Some cows found a little feed high on the hills and hiding in canyons and gullies.
We had our first branding in April. After last year not being able to have gatherings, this was great fun for everyone.
Branding season went well. It was great to see our friends again.
We have such a great bunch of friends, and they are such terrific help.
We moved cows and heifers often trying to make the feed last and not over graze any one meadow.
It's always exciting to see a stream of water.
It has been brutally hot, so the cowboys start every morning before sun up.
We just finished weaning our calves. This is usually started in a few weeks, but due to lack of feed and water, we needed to get calves off the cows sooner. Then we will sort through our cows and sell anything that is old, broken mouthed, (no teeth), poor udders or injured in anyway.
Weaning is over. It is always bitter sweet. The cows and calves adjust quickly.
And now the tough decisions are ahead.
Pray for rain.
And now the tough decisions are ahead.
Pray for rain.
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