Light rain in the morning-.44 the last 3 days. All day at TNC’s Matador Ranch giving talk. Shipped and sold 24 cull cows at PAYs. Cows averaged 1200 pounds and brought $875.
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Cool with heavy dew on the grass. Moved cows to new water in SBW1. Yucca is having a record bloom. The white yucca moths are out pollinating (see photo).
Cooler with afternoon showers and 30 seconds of ¼ inch hail. Moved cows to SBW1 by crossing county road at NE corner of WG5. Cows raced to new feed and were slow to mother up with calves. I let cows goes go back to water in WL5. Most pairs returned b to the new paddock by early evening. I spent until dark moving the remainder back across the road.
It was mild today at the ranch. We cut the culls from the pairs-about 30 head. Our calving percentage is just over 90%. This is the lowest we have ever experienced, mostly resulting from the unexplained calves that were born dead. A walk this evening east of the Lackey cattle guard along the edge between pines and grass turned up surprises, like 13 upland sandpipers together; a lark sparrow nest (see photo actually earlier today); cassins and eastern kingbirds, chipping and vesper sparrows; and lovely bunch of Gaillardia aristata. The night ends clear with half-moon and nighthawks ‘booming’.
I will share a dramatic weather story from the ‘neighborhood’ north east of the ranch:
We didn't fair to well with the storm. Hail with reported winds of 70 MPH pretty much a total loss. May have hay barley that was young enough to come back but winter wheat is gone as well as any grass alfalfa hay. My sister and her husband north of me lost all their buildings except one. Have 2 by 4's and 2 by 6's thru the walls of their home from the outbuildings. They don't know where their camper trailer is, their grain trailer, cattle pot, and horse trailer were tipped over and are facing east and west and were parked north and south. Also lost all their augers and lots of vehicle damage but no hail. We just got our power back about 2:30 today since Friday. My damage was from Thursday evening and wasn't home. Sisters storm was Friday at dark. Our rangeland looked as good as it has for years but not as green anymore. In some areas it even stripped the sagebrush. Hopefully we get some regrowth. Have a Good Day, Dean I am grateful we missed it, but sad for those who see a great forage year laid low. Wayne Phillips came to visit and tune up the plant work for the field guide. Wayne is 75 yet has the enthusiasm and energy of a college student who loves what is yet to be learned. We may have found a new brome-Bromus vulgare.
Calm day turns hostile by early evening. The ranch dodged window-breaking hail both to the south (Roundup) and to the north (Winnett). The Mckennas, the ranch hay supplier east of Winnett was hammered with nickel-sized hail for over 30 minutes. First cutting hay was driven into the ground. Paul Mckenna called soon afterwards and shared that we best look for hay elsewhere. Six young birders, working on the sage grouse project in Musselshell, along with their supervising professor, Dr. Vickie Dietz, came for lunch. Bull snake strikes again (see photo).
Missed hail to the south. Gentle night rain brings .5 tenths of very welcome and timely moisture. We moved the cows into WG5. Noticed some milk scours, and one calf wobbly. Turned very hot and didn’t hydrate soon enough and lost one calf. The mother cow spends the day waiting for the calf to get up. Death is never easy.
Very warm day transitions to thundershowers. Golden Valley County to our west was hit with huge downpours and flooding-steady rain at the ranch as night falls. Early morning walk in NBW 10 and 11 shakes up curlews as they call and ‘dive-bomb’ repeatedly. Lovely expansion of winter fat (Ceratoides lanata), a low semi-shrub and one of the more preferred forage plants on the range for both summer and winter. A highlight, so to speak, of the day, was a curious pack rat, having figured out Dana’s ‘porous’ temporary screen doors, observed drinking from Sid’s (resident cat) water bowl in the kitchen. Live trapping to follow.
Not quite hot and breezy. I have been reluctant to check out the new seeding in SBW 1a (pasture cocktail project), because it looked so bad last fall. While working on a fence nearby, I ventured in, and was pleasantly surprised and hopeful (see photo).
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Bill Milton
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