We’ve been up and down the mountain to the Paregien Ranch most days for the past two weeks, packing a little alfalfa up and stove wood down as we get ready for winter and to center the cows and calves near the corrals for gathering and branding today. We have become part of this bovine family, welcome—always bringing something to the party. But after today, some of these calves will lose their curiosity, see us differently—they’ll grow up to feed somebody else.
All-day tryst in the middle
of milling cattle upon the green,
it could be spring in December—
good sign after two dry years of hay,
something normal like bucks in rut.
Mounting and breeding surround us,
black bulls weave through the bunch
with urgent optimism and aplomb.
No forecast fog, rain, or snow.
Monday gather. Tuesday picnic
upon the green with the neighbors
bringing horses to brand some calves.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014, Ranch Journal
Tagged branding, buck, bucks in rut, Calves, cows, deer, doe, Paregien Ranch, photographs, poetry, weather, wildlife
Once in awhile a fellow blogger will poke a poem out of me. Thanks Evelyne, I feel a little better now:
Herd camped at the gate,
waiting for it to open
to the corral,
to the lead-ups and chutes
for processing
before spitting them out
to rush into another
crowded pen
on the TV news as if
Wall Street’s making hay
with everybody shopping
for the holidays—
as if we’ve traded
mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing
and gravy with cranberries
and family for a bargain
with a credit card—
as if all the cattle
really want in.
Posted in Poems 2014
Tagged Black Friday, branding, Calves, cows, Dry Creek, poetry, shopping, Thanksgiving
It’s been a long, dry year, but we’ve begun to breathe easier now that our last bunch of calves is in the weaning pen and headed to town tomorrow morning. Born last fall, they are averaging about 100 lbs. lighter than normal due to the drought, but current prices more than make up the difference.
The country we graze is cross-fenced into pastures. We gather each twice a year to brand and wean while culling the cows that don’t fit our program either due to age or late calving dates. It takes about six weeks for us to wean all our calves, but longer to brand when it rains and while we’re helping our neighbors. We try to keep our cows in the same pasture their entire lives here, familiar ground where they can make homes and the gather becomes routine. Because of our terrain, rotational grazing is impracticable—so we understock to meet most feed conditions instead.
This second year of drought, however, has reduced our cowherd by 40% while feeding 500 tons of alfalfa since last fall. Because of the time and feed required for a heifer to have her first calf, we kept no replacement heifers this year. It’s disappointing for Robbin and I to see them go and the efforts of the past twenty years reduced so drastically, but we hope to take advantage of this heavy culling by improving the genetics of our cows into the future. We are encouraged with a good base to work with, as our cowherd now is fairly young, a third of which are first and second-calf cows.
Near term, we concentrate on improving stockwater until it might rain again this fall.
Posted in Photographs
Tagged branding, Calves, cows, Drought, Dry Creek, photographs, water, weaning
To cowgirl-up is just
one more day to ride
to build another loop.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Alie McKee, branding, haiku, photographs, poetry
Looking between their ears
watching the business
on the ground stretched
and rolled for needles, knife
and iron, the mesmerizing
dance of humans ‘round
a calf to be turned back
into a jungle of Poison
Oak and Manzanita,
the impassable wilds
of Woolly Canyon
it took four days to gather—
all done in an instant.
Little progress here,
but no less futile
than punching a clock
where time is money
and the earth is flat.
Sorting cows from calves
We branded a little bunch of calves yesterday with Brent and Chuck roping well enough to keep those of us on the ground from waiting long between calves. Good to know I can still throw some calves and feel pretty good the next morning. A fun day among friends.
Clarence in the gate
The topic for this week’s photo challenge is “threes” WPC. With the help of our neighbors, gathering calves to brand is fairly routine, few words are spoken—an order where everyone has a job to do. We usually brand one calf at a time, going ‘old people slow’, trying to make it as easy on the calf as we can.
drycrikjournal 