Cool and a little more rain. No moves despite being on earlier grazed paddocks. Need to keep cattle dispersed for a while as many new calves are being born. Facilitated Sage Grouse meeting in Lewistown. More snow and rain fell to the north-3.5 inches on the lower Musselshell. Water problems return. Lost power and water for about 6 hours. Pit is plugging and Ryan is working on a plan to clean pit.
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Storm breaks. .35" of new moisture. Wind still strong but softens by evening. Temporary fenced the cows into SG6 and 7. Found two dead calves. Could have been much worse if we hadn’t let cows and calves drift. Long day ends with the song of the brown thrasher.
The cows drift and the snow stings. Snow, rain, and bitter winds arrived in tandem all day during the heart of calving. Brought in a few chilled calves and opened fences to the east to allow cows to drift to shelter from the NW wind in SG6 and NG1.
Continued hazy moist air with SE breeze. Storm predicted for tomorrow and Tuesday. Lark and grasshopper sparrows arrive.
Fresh humid SE breeze this morning with some smoke from the Canada fire. One more calf was born dead (12 total). Judy did a post mortem and will get results soon. Another singing Sprague pipit located on S end of SNG7 (5 so far). Moria and Dana returned from Bozeman.
Cloudy, breezy and much cooler. A wave of new birds are showing up-Pine Siskin, one goldfinch, flock of brewer sparrows moving through the sage brush, one loggerhead shrike, barn swallow, chipping sparrows in the yard, yellow-rumped warbler. I didn’t mention the flocks of brewer blackbirds in last week. Brewer blackbirds usually breed and nest as a group and rarely see them as pairs.
Less warm with some breeze, yet still very soft. I found 8 steers, after we shipped to Blaine, we didn’t know were missing. I spent most of day facilitating succession planning with a family near Winnett. This evening I moved the cows into improved pasture in the east portion of WL4. Sadly, the long run of spectacular apple blossoms from the old trees in front of the house is now passing fast. And, the bee and guys have returned the hives to their old spots.
Warm into the 80’s. No moves. Dana and I worked over the phone with Alec Oliver from CNB to prepare our ranch Cost of Production report. Flowering annual alyssum quite visible and a little troubling, yet there are good grasses abundant in the same places. Forbs have been moving into the next phase of spring flowering, yet total number of flowering plants seem less: Leucrocrinum montanum; Lithospermum incisum; Penstemon nitidus; Euphorbia robusta; Oxytropis sericea; and Thermopsis rhombifolia.
Clear skies and very warm. No moves. Attended easement workshop in Roundup.
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Bill Milton
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