Squals all day with snow, rain, and cornball snow-wild and fun to experience plus some added moisture-close, close to .7 for the week. I moved cows into last 160 acres of SG4 in preparation for being away from ranch for a few days.
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Sunny fresh damp morning. First white crowns show up. I moved cows back into SG4 with a new split. Ferruginous hawk is sitting on cottonwood nest in NW corner of SG6. I saw first killdeers, but I suspect they had returned earlier.
Weather returned and blessed us with an all day light drizzle amounting to .5 inches of moisture. Except for geese, the reservoir and Big Wall are holding few ducks. Today I saw a few mallards, some common goldeneyes, and a lesser scaup. I heard my first flicker in the shelterbelt.
Storm blows in about as quickly as it left. I moved animals around (opened more paddocks) anticipating need for protection. I let the 2’s into NG6a and let the cows drift into SG6 for protection that they ended up not needing. Calves moved to third split NNG1. The moisture did make some puddles. More red-wings re-returned.
Chilly morning. Morning frosts all week. Six Sharp tail Grouse dancing on lek in NG7. Two cranes along creek in SBW5. Travis visits from Nebraska to look at the bulls-some problems. Second red-tail nest lost to great horned owls in NE NNG2, less than one mile from the first red-tail nest also lost to a great horned owl pair-very odd.
PC with warming. Moved cows to next split in SG4. Short-eared owl floating over sagebrush.
Cooler with light snow falling off and on all day. I moved cows to SG4 first split. Opened all of NG4 to 2’s.
Seven sage grouse flush The most for some time Smile then place the salt Cloudy and cool. No moves. Blaine delivered 6 bulls (2’s) that we used on heifers last year.
The meadowlark is spring Spring is the meadowlark So, what am I? Storm was pretty lightweight-maybe a tenth of moisture. I moved cows back into SG6 and opened last split. I also moved calves into next split on NNG1. I hope to make 4 permanent paddocks in NNG1.
Returned to ranch bringing snow with me. All the cow groups still in the same paddocks. I will make the next moves after the storm passes. Every year I am just a bit more grateful for the magic of moisture and the resulting response of photosynthesizing plants-the real ranch factory kicks into gear.
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Bill Milton
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