Continued westerly wind flow and little warmer. Nat and I moved to 5th split on EL8 trying to maintain daily moves. Starting to get Beef Pro consumption in line-need more feeder space. Toyota’s axle come apart at ball joint on front driver’s side while fencing in EL. Elite was able to get out and haul truck into town. Calf feeders re-filled with pellets.
0 Comments
Clear and cooler with some let up with wind early, yet wind returns later in the day. 4th split in EL8. Rick Adolph shoots one of the big elk just west of Lackey headquarters.
SW winds and cloudy skies, with rising warm pink/orange sunrise. 3rd split for cows. Next split for calves. Feeders empty for calves. More pellets coming on Monday. We allowed some car hunting for some older folks west of house-all successful. Two six and seven point bull elk spotted west of house in ‘Little Switzerland’.
Clear with the westerly winds picking it up a notch. “Courage to live the life we are living”. P Haller- zen monk. Cows moved to 2nd split in EL8. I moved 2’s to last split in the first pasture cocktail section. Found bulls and their condition has markedly improved. Calves are also responding well to the self-fed pellets.
Clear skies and cooler this morning with persistent unrelenting wind. No moves. Quiet and warm thanksgiving with Dana. Irish Coffees and scrabble. Bald eagles, coyotes, and ravens recycling dead cow.
Low pressure system moves in bringing overcast skies and just the lightest of rain drops. We appreciate the mild conditions, yet the steady SW wind pattern, absence moisture, is causing dusty conditions to return. Natalie and Ryan take 2 cull cows to town. No moves today.
SW winds persist along with clear skies. Finally moved out of EL 7 into EL8. Probably not such a good idea to stay as long, hoping to clean up the coarser feed. Natalie and I counted cows into new paddock and the count was corrected to 370. Later in the day we (I) reluctantly cut 20 bred cows out of the white tag cull group in corral to get our winter herd number over 500 (490 bred cows and 122 2’s). One cow died quickly near water center from some likely neurological issue-very strange and unexplainable. Close look at White-winged Red- Crossbill at ‘headquarters pond’-unusual sighting as the ranch is on south edge of range, at the bird’s habitat is high elevation forest habitats.
Continued cool morning and windy moderate days. Everything stays put. Ryan still working on next water center at TA trying to get timer working on the propane generator.
Continued cool and breezy. Cows still cleaning up EL7-maybe last day if they eat a few more patches of crested wheat. I moved bulls over the hill to water tank in NNG1. Ryan worked on generator for pumping water at TA. Natalie and I sketched out a 1 and 1/2 temporary fence line needed when we move south to next pasture cocktail plot. Pile of birds on Lake Mason. Nat and I worked on 4-year grazing rotation. Red polls, Townsend Solitaires, chickadees, red crossbills, and ravens hanging in the pines near the bulls.
Still cool with persistent SW winds but nice for this time of year. Cows remain in EL7. Natalie moves 2’s at TA to new split. Rick C (NRCS) visits to review grazing and production issues arising this year. Interesting discussion on required rest (15 to 18 months?).
|
Bill Milton
|
Milton Ranch LLC | Daily Ranch Journal |