Category Archives: Ranch Journal

Tulare County Cattle Drive Beef Boosters

 

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We ended a busy week at the Tulare County Cattle Drive Beef Boosters dinner last night to support the local 4H an FFA programs for kids. We bid on and brought home this one-of-a-kind hand woven wool saddle blanket designed and created by Linda Hayden, our Three Rivers cattle neighbor. She spins her wool, then collects and harvests plants from nature and boils these materials over an open fire to obtain the endless array of colors she uses to create her blankets. The water is then strained and the wool is submerged and soaked for several hours. At this time the wool is “cooked” over a slow simmering fire then left to soak for another 24-hour period. After the wool absorbs all the color it is washed several times and left to dry.

Supporting only a few non-profits, Robbin I believe that the Tulare County Cattle Drive Beef Boosters is an investment in our future, not only for the cattle business, but for all of us by offering youngsters hands-on experience with livestock, work and responsibility, early in life. If you’re willing to wait two years for a blanket of your own, it’s $750–visit the link above, or if you want to bring one home, attend next year’s Beef Boosters dinner and bid against the crowd.

 

WPC — “On the way,” (4 pix)

 

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the second day of weaning, the steer and heifer calves will be going opposite directions next week. Steers weighing 700 pounds will go to town and then onto a feedlot before your plate. The heifers will be sorted to their own pasture until our weaning is complete, and from them we’ll select our replacement heifers to hopefully enjoy a long and productive life on the ranch.

 

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This morning, the fourth day of weaning, we, and the Kubota with alfalfa hay, have replaced their mothers completely. Perhaps the gentlest bunch of calves we’ve ever raised, they’ve known us since they were born and have no reason to distrust us.

 

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WPC — “On the way”

 

Flower Friday — Lilies Revisited

 

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WEANING

 

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Surprised, they were glad to see us,
remembered green alfalfa leaf
and came with half-grown children

out of the brush, the canyons,
off ridges to follow
without a thought of escaping.

We are family, know the routine:
dear cowboys and cattle,
me and my machine.

 

Saddle at Six

 

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Early morning gathers to wean our calves interrupt the blogging routine, along with age and rising temperatures as we acclimate towards summer. My son is down from the City, welcome and valuable help, good company and humor, we’ve kept him busy since Saturday. My head is full of unfinished poems, taking a backseat to the work at hand.

 

Echinopsis subdenuda

 

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Our white Echinopsis has begun to bloom under gray skies and the light was fading when I thought of the camera. Because of their placement on the deck, perspective complicated the process, but with interesting results, I think, through the railing.

 

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Native of South America, there are 129 known species of Echinopsis.

 

EASTER LILIES テッポウユリ

 

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The wild of Japan
bloom with ranch vegetables
under a gray sky.

 

 

Flower Friday

 

APRIL IN MAY

 

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The creatures love it:
light April showers in May
postponing summer.

 

Bulls

 

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The boys are on vacation across the creek as we gather to wean our calves from their mothers. With each new bull added to their pasture, primal bellows ring up and down the canyon as they establish a new pecking order since they were last together.

The Mrnak Herefords have been the basis of our crossbreeding program, adding heterosis, or bybrid vigor, to our Angus cow herd. ‘119’, pictured above, has completed his third year of service with every cow in his pasture recently palpated bred, a remarkable accomplishment considering the steep terrain.

Two years ago he broke one his horns in a battle with an Angus bull, two years his senior, that ended tragically for the Angus. Fortunately, we were able to doctor and repair his broken horn. King of our bulls, he still has to prove himself as the recent raw spots between his horns attest.

 

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ENVELOPED

 

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Before succumbing
to outrageous misfortune:
puff up like a toad.

 

 

WPC(3) — “enveloped”