Tag Archives: water

FERAL SOW

Posted on July 10, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

Startled to rise
from primordial ooze,
my presence wears no guilt.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged Feral Hog, Greasy Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, water, wildlife

BLUE OAK WOODLAND

Posted on July 8, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

Not many leaves, but
hanging on to the tops
of mountains no one sees.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged Blue Oak, Drought, haiku, Paregien Ranch, photographs, poetry, water, weather

Greasy Creek Ranch Water

Posted on July 7, 2014 by John | 7 comments

Robbin and I went up to Greasy yesterday to check cattle and to see how our water was holding up. A fairly cool morning under light clouds. Lake Kaweah is dropping quickly in Greasy Cove with agricultural irrigation demands in the Valley, leaving a little green ring for the cows in Belle Point to graze.

The old concrete trough that Lee Maloy and Earl McKee Sr. poured in the 30s still holds water at Sulphur Spring, the overflow of which is keeping the troughs in Sec. 17 and the Gathering Field full.

We found a good pocket of water in Greasy Creek at the head of the Lower Field,

and like the pond at Spanish Flat, it may or may not last until fall. We opened the gate between our Lower Field and the Gathering Field to allow access to more water for the cows in the Lower Field, taking the pressure off Greasy Creek and Spanish Flat.

My father told me that in 1939, the water at Grapevine Spring was the only water available on Top after the Gill cowboys rode up and dug the spring out with shovels. We have since developed it a little more.

Railroad still has a fair amount of water, but down substantially from normal years.

The top pond at Railroad has gone dry. We put out protein supplement tubs as we went to go with the dry feed that looks pretty good everywhere considering the drought. Water will be the big issue until it rains. It’s a relief to see it holding up as well as it is, but we’ll have to monitor our water situation weekly and start bringing a little hay when we come.

7 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged Drought, Greasy Creek, photographs, Sulphur Peak, water, weather

Paregien Ranch Water

Posted on July 5, 2014 by John | 8 comments

Meanwhile, back at the Windmill Spring, the cows have gotten ahead of the water. While trenching and plumbing the abandoned well before we install a solar pump on the Paregien Ranch, I’ve been checking the Windmill Spring every day, counting cows and noting how fast the troughs were recovering. As other water sources are drying up, the number of cows has increased from 30 to 46 this past week with temperatures well above 100°.

Both overflow troughs were all but dry this morning, and only three cows had watered. Fortunately, we have the two wells near the corrals, one with a submersible pump and 11hp generator I ran for about five hours yesterday towards filling the 2,000 gallon trough and 5,000 gallon tank that normally we utilize only at branding and weaning. I topped off the tank this morning, but only the tracks of a couple of cows had been around the trough. So I went off in search of cows to lighten the load on the Windmill Spring.

About a half mile away, I found some in the shade near the middle spring that is almost dry

and convinced them to follow the Kubota and a bale of hay to new water.

Obviously they hadn’t watered yet today. With a little luck, they will center on this trough instead of the Windmill Spring. Until the solar pump is installed, I’ll have to run the submersible twice a week to keep the top half of the tank full.

Scenarios such as this are happening on ranches all over the arid West.

8 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged Drought, Paregien Ranch, photographs, water, weather, Windmill Spring

FOR WATER

Posted on July 3, 2014 by John | 4 comments

The sun is not yet high
and the loose dirt burns
my feet through leather boots

as we work for water:
trenching, gluing pipe
from well to tank to trough

among the oak trees
half-mile above the blacktop
where silhouettes of cattle

claim the shade, chew cuds
and watch. They cannot feel—
cannot see the urgency,

ever-trusting, unafraid
of our intrusion in their world—
we’ve kept them well.

The sun is not yet high
and I recognize the edge
of fuzzy delirium that turns

the order of this world
upside down, that obfuscates
governments and fear,

economies and philosophies—
that boils and distills
each moment down

to reliable water—
up here above it all
where nothing else matters.

4 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged Drought, Paregien Ranch, photographs, poetry, water, weather

Mothers to Be

Posted on July 1, 2014 by John | 2 comments

These girls, bred to Wagyu bulls from Snake River Farms in Idaho, will be two years old this fall and are, on average, 60-90 days away from having their first calf. Feeling full, they have retired to the shade by early morning. No longer big calves, they are becoming cows, aware of something inside them, and will continue to be slightly restless and uncomfortable until the calf is born. Each first-calf heifer handles this new state of being a little differently as instinct overcomes confusion to varying degrees.

Because of the drought, they have access to the irrigated pasture where we normally run our weaned heifer calves, but we kept no replacement heifer calves this year due our shortage of feed and the time required—nine month gestation and another nine before a calf is weaned—to generate any income. We are looking forward to these girls becoming exceptional mothers.

WPC (3) — “Contrasts”

2 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged Drought, photographs, Replacement Heifers, Snake River Farms, Wagyu, Wagyu X, water, weather, weekly-photo-challenge

Summer Tomatoes

Posted on June 30, 2014 by John | 3 comments

WPC (2) — “Contrasts”

3 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged garden, photographs, water, weekly-photo-challenge

CAMOUFLAGE IN GREEN

Posted on June 30, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

Other worlds underfoot
within our own
become delightful details

in a forest for greenhorns
to explore new territory,
to learn fresh songs,

dance steps and innovative
ways of reckoning
that becomes instinct

beneath the surface
of these grasses grazed.
I am the intruder opening

an alfalfa valve, turning
water loose to run
across a thirsty pasture,

as one of its wet souls
leaps and startles me—
then freezes and stays.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged grasshopper, irrigated pasture, photographs, poetry, water

Windmill Spring

Posted on June 29, 2014 by John | 2 comments

I was doing some preliminary work for the installation of a solar pump in an abandoned well yesterday, after which I checked the water at Windmill Spring. No windmill anymore, it still carries the name and the only reliable water we have at the Paregien Ranch this year. It’s fed from a spring box and fills a series of troughs.