RANCH LIFE

WINTER WONDERLAND

1/9/2021

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A couple of weeks ago we went out on a frosty cold morning to corral the heifers.

It was cold. You can see the steam coming off of the heifers.

It was so pretty. I couldn't stop taking pictures.

That is steam coming off the cattle.

These heifers will start calving in a couple of weeks. As much as we need and want snow, we are glad that most of it has melted before the babies hit the ground.
Stay tuned for baby pictures soon.

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FINALLY SNOW!

12/28/2020

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Snow, it's been a long time coming and it's much appreciated. So much so that we didn't even mind getting a little cold and wet.

We had our youngest cowboy with us again today. Ranch kids are taught at a young age, that no matter the weather, the job has to get done. He was tough today and seemed happy to be there.

I should remind you that every time a take a picture I have to take my glove off, and it never fails, at least once in the day I drop it. I should explain how big of a deal dropping my glove is. For one thing, I am wearing about 42 layers of clothes and warm boots. I also ride a VERY tall horse and for those of you that don't know me, I am a whopping 5 foot 4. So getting off and back on does have it's challenges.

The snow was at our backs, at least until we went back for the truck that is.

Marlboro man

Good cow dog

My snowy horse.

My Gaucho,. He's really a good boy.

Well here I am, the look I have after dropping my glove.. haha.
Here's hoping for a much much better 2021.
Happy New Year!

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PRAY FOR RAIN

12/6/2020

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It's December and still dry as a bone. We had only one small snow storm in November, but it didn't amount to much.

We have had the cows in the fields as long as possible, but now it's time to take them out to their desert range.

The range is dry, but to my surprise, there is still feed on most of it. We have some amazing plants that grow on the desert, which provide great nutrition for our cows. Plants like white sage, (also known as winter fat), indian rice grass, curly grass (galleta), and sand drop seed, to name a few.
We will monitor the cows closely and move them about often so that we don't over graze.

My horse watching the cow dog anticipating a confrontation.

The next generation is in training. He will be a good hand soon.

2020 has been quite a year. Pray for rain and pray for for peace.

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HOT AND DRY 2020

8/16/2020

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It's been a tough year already. As if everything else going on in the world isn't enough, we have had terrible heat and drought in our neck of the woods.

Due to the lack of rain, there is a lack of feed, so we decided to wean the calves a little early this year.

We start early in the morning to beat some of the heat.

Some water in the irrigated meadow. This was a treat for the cows and the horses.

Despite the weather, it's still another day in paradise.

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BACK IN THE SADDLE

6/11/2020

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Well it's been a long journey, but I'm back, at least somewhat. I'm not quite up to full form, but am headed in the right direction. I am 8+ months post multi-level spinal fusion surgery. I was medically cleared to ride again. What great news. This is my first day back on a horse. After that major of a surgery, I found having strength and balance to be a bit of a challenge. But I actually had fewer muscle aches and spasms after riding a little.

Even though the first day back was a terribly windy and dusty day, I couldn't have been happier. Being out of it for a while gave me a new perspective and realization of just how much I love what I do.

The cowboys have spent the last month or more bringing the cows into the pastures on the ranch from the desert range. These days are long, slow and can be frustrating at times. Not to mention the weather in the spring can be anything from cold to hot, and almost ALWAYS windy. I just got in on the tail end of the job, helping bring in the last bunch.

Once the cows are in the pasture, we need to process the calves. This starts by us corralling the cows and calves, sorting out any dries, (dries are cows that did not come in with a calf ), then separating the cows from calves.

Normally we process our calves by roping them, which involves quite a large group of people. Because this year has been crazy with the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed to stick to a small crew to get the calves processed. So we used a calf table. Process, in our case, means to vaccinate, castrate, ear mark and tag the calves.

It works well to run calves this way, but is not the chosen way of the cowboys. They sure did a great job of it though.

My mom is here and she even got in on some of the action.

This little calf had a perfect heart on her forehead.
It takes only about 1 minute to process each calf once they are on the table. Then they jump out and go on their way without too much stress or trauma to them. When they are processed they return to their moms and go about grazing in the green pasture.

I hope to be sharing more of my story in the near future. I hope I haven't lost all of my followers. It's great to be back.

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HANGIN' UP MY SPURS

9/12/2019

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It saddens me greatly to say I have to hang up my spurs. I hope not permanently, but for quite some time at least. My body just can't seem to keep up with my mind.
This line of work is hard on the body. My back has given out again and requires surgery to fix it.

I will miss this view and riding my beautiful horses.

Maybe I won't miss the cold days all that much.

Thank you for following my blog over the years.
HAPPY TRAILS, UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN.

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PRE-CONDITIONING

8/6/2019

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About a month or so before we wean our calves, we pre-condition them. This simply means we vaccinate them. The reason we do this before we wean, is to cause less stress on the calves at weaning time.
We separate them from their moms, run them through a chute and give them two shots. Then they are turned back in with their mommas and go about their day.

The cowboys always start very early in the summer to beat some of the heat. It's a great way to watch the sun rise.

We gather each herd out of the pasture and put them into a corral where they can be sorted.

Then we run them through a chute to give them the shots.

This is just one of the many jobs the cowboys have been doing this summer. Stay tuned for more summer photos.

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SPRING 2019

6/19/2019

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I haven't fallen all the way off the face of the earth, but close. Here is a blog touching on our very busy spring work.

May 1st we AI, (artificially inseminate), our heifers. When they have been bred we move them onto "greener pastures". This is where they will spend most of their summer.

We are busy in the spring bringing all the cattle in off of the desert. This makes for a lot of long hard days in the saddle. Moving momma cows and their babies can be really hard work.

This spring we had some crazy weather. It snowed the end of May and cool rainy weather into June. The green grass on the desert was amazing, even if I complained about the cold, just a little.

When we bring our East herd home, we go across what we call a "hard pan". This always makes for cool pictures.

And of course we have multiple barndings to get all of the calves processed.

Another busy busy spring. Thanks to all of the good help, we got it done again. Happy summer!

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2019 BRANDING AT BAKER RANCH

5/4/2019

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We have been at it already. This is the third of six or seven brandings we'll do this spring. There are so many things going on at the brandings. The ropers seem to be the focus of the pictures, and often the ground crew gets over looked.

We have some that are steady ground crew. They keep things running smoothly and efficiently. But all the ropers take turns working on the ground as well. It is crucial to have that kind of team work.

It is a lot of hard physical work.

You certainly can't over look the ropers. There is no way we could get the job done without ropers dragging calves to the nord forks, or heading and heeling.
And the horses are so beautiful and talented.

It's impossible to get pictures of everyone helping. We sure couldn't do it without them.

Most important are the faces of the future generation. They are the reason for it all.

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START OF A NEW YEAR

2/10/2019

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This was New Year's Eve. We ended the year right by taking the last of the desert cows out to the range.

It was plenty cold that day.

By the end of January we started calving our heifers. The weather started out pretty nice for the first bunch of babies to be born.

We still had some orphan calves though.

Sometimes a mother has to be put in a corral to be reunited with her baby.

You can't tell by the pictures, but the weather turned pretty cold and very windy.

We take the calves and their mommas to another pasture when they are a couple of days old. This helps us keep track of things and the heifers from being more confused.