Diary from Sky Range Ranch - August 20 through September 5, 2017

AUGUST 26 – We’ve had a lot more hot, dry weather and the creek is dropping every day.  We’re now down to just part of our water right, in using only one ditch.

Jim has been working long hours in his shop and finished the lovely two-shelf entry table he was making, and Andrea took photos of it.

Jim's entry table

entry table

table -bottom shelf

table top

He is hoping to sell the antler lamps and furniture that he creates.  Anyone interested in his antler lamps and tables can contact him at 775-346-0054 (cell phone).


Now that they’ve finished the boundary fence on our lower place (much of it jack fence, so posts won’t loosen in the wet ground)….

jack fence boundary

 …our family fencing crew can tackle some of our internal fences that are old and deteriorating.

On Monday Michael and Nick rented the hydraulic post pounder from Sy Miller again, and set all the posts for the new fence between the lower back field and the little pasture by the creek.  The old fence they tore out was one we built in 1967 and most of the old posts were rotting off.

That was the day of the total solar eclipse.  Lynn washed off the face-screen of one of his welding helmets and he, Michael and Nick used it to safely watch the eclipse.

Lynn watching eclipse with welding helmet

Andrea, Robbie and kids were still camping at Lone Pine and stayed one more night so they could watch the eclipse; it was a total eclipse where they were camping, whereas it was only about a 97% eclipse here at the ranch.  It didn’t get completely dark, but the light was dim and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees for a short time.

Afterward, the traffic on the highway all afternoon was nearly bumper to bumper; thousands of people came to our remote area to watch the eclipse.

The next day Andrea, Dani and I rode out through Gooch’s Basin to go up the ridge to the 320 and out onto the high range, for Willow’s 11th ride (and first ride this year with 2 extra horses).

Andrea on Willow and Dani on Ed, starting up the ridge

We rode up through our 320-acre pasture and checked to make sure no range cattle had gotten in.  We hope to save that grass for our own cows after we sell their calves.  Here are photos of Andrea and Dani riding through the 320.

riding through the 320

Going up through the 320

We went on up into the high range and continued up Baker Creek a ways and there were too many cattle in there; the grass is all eaten.  The folks who use the range now (since we sold our range permit) don’t ride often enough to monitor the range and the cattle, and the range and the cattle have all suffered.

We gently moved the lowest cows a little farther up the creek, in hopes they might go out on the hills above—where there’s a little more grass.  This was Willow’s first experience following cows.  Here are photos of Andrea and Dani moving the low cows up, showing how little grass is left on that part of the range.

moving cattle up Baker Creek

Andrea & Dani moving cows

We then rode out through the timber to the ridge and came down into the south side of the 320 and down the road.

Phil Moulton brought the first loads of hay we are buying from him, and stacked it in the hold pen next to Shiloh and Sprout.  It will be handy there again, for feeding the heifers this winter.

the hay Phil hauled to us

round bales stacked

On Wednesday Nick and Robbie put poles along the bottom of the net wire on Willow’s pen, to keep the wire from curving up where Willow has tried to push through to eat grass on the other side of the fence.  They also moved the hot wire that was on Breezy’s side of the fence so that it sticks out on Willow’s side as well.  Now both horses can reach under it far enough to keep the grass trimmed clear away (not growing up tall on Breezy’s side and temping Willow to try to reach it through the netting) and yet they won’t rub on the fence.

hot wire on both sides & pole on bottom of the net wire

While I was taking a photo of the fence, Willow came to see what I was doing, so I took a photo of her, too.

Willow

That afternoon Andrea and I rode for 2 hours (Willow’s 12th ride)—a fast ride across the low range over Coyote Flat and up into the middle range and up the 2nd gully.  We stopped to let the horses drink at the water trough partway up that gully.  Here’s a photo of that trough, and Willow learning how to drink out of it.

trough in 2nd gully

Willow is learning how to drink out of troughs on the range

We went on up the 2nd gully, which is a steady climb…

Andrea riding Willow on up the 2nd gully

Then as we came on up toward the bear trough (named because our neighbor Galen Kossler years ago found a bear taking a cool-off bath in the trough) we discovered that a bear had very recently been eating chokecherries in the grove of chokecherry trees halfway between the two troughs.  Branches and trees were broken down, and many piles of fresh bear poop were evidence of the recent feast.  The evidence was so fresh (leaves still drifting down off the broken trees) that we decided not to go on up the draw—in case the bear was still around and just ahead of us.  Instead we went back out on the open hillsides and over to Crawley trough and back to the low range and home.  Willow is starting to get in shape; she made that trip fairly easily and we did a lot of trotting where it wasn’t too steep.

That evening we had an early birthday party for Charlie and had a pot-luck dinner at Andrea’s house.  His birthday wasn’t until the next day, but the kids had to go back to their dad that day, so we celebrated a day early.  He got some school clothes and a couple “gift certificates” from us—for a future tank of gas for his pickup, and a future “mystery” surprise gift that I ordered, which hasn’t arrived yet.

Yesterday Nick and Robbie rebuilt the old broken jack fence in the bull pen.  Over the last few years the bulls have rubbed on it and fought and pushed each other into it, and since the poles were getting old (built in 1993) some of them had broken.

new fence in bull pen

We didn’t ride yesterday (too many other things to catch up on) so today Andrea and I took Willow and Dottie for a short loop up the ridge and around to the salt ground across Baker Creek (for Willow’s 13th ride) where we met Alfonso with a pack horse, packing more salt to the high range.   Then we hurried home so Andrea could drive to Rexburg to watch Dani’s cross-country meet.  Lynn went to town to do the town errands and meet up with Edna and Ed (his older sister and her husband) who were driving through Salmon.  They also met up with sister Jenelle and all had lunch together in town, and had a good visit.


AUGUST 31 – Last Saturday Jim finished the fancy bluebird house he was building, and I took photos of it when Jim brought it in to show us.

bluebird house

Jim's bluebird house

It has a handy door for cleaning it out, with door latch made of antler, and Jim did some meticulous decoration above the bird hole, using turquoise.

Jim unlatching the door that opens for cleaning the inside

turquoise above the door hole

Andrea and I made a short ride on the low range that afternoon—Willow’s 14th ride—and when we went down off the ridge to the Baker grove we spooked a cow elk.  She apparently thought we would ride right on by (because she could obviously hear us talking as we approached); she didn’t move out of the brush where she was hiding.  But when we started across the bottom end of the grove, to cross the trickle of Baker Creek in the gully, we were coming right toward her—which she didn’t expect.  She burst out of the bushes, crashing through the trees, which startled our horses—especially Willow, who has never seen an elk up close.  Willow jumped and looked around, bug-eyed, then stood there trembling and watching the elk—who paused to look at us and then trotted over the hill.  Once she realized the elk was leaving, Willow settled down and just watched with intense curiosity as we followed the same trail and then went down the jeep road to finish our short loop.

On Sunday Andrea and her dogs changed the irrigation water early, then she and Robbie put several of the old small bales in the bulls’ feeder.  That afternoon Andrea and I rode Dottie and Willow and went up Baker Creek on the high range.  This was Willow’s 15th ride and her longest ride so far (4 ½ hours).  On our way through the 320 we found a calf of Alfonso’s in our pasture, and a bull hanging down on the gate.  We got the calf out our place and took it and the bull farther up the creek to join up with other range cattle, and pushed that group a little higher.

Willow following a few cows and calves up Baker Creek

As we went on up Baker Creek we discovered a dead calf (belonging to John Miller) that looked like it had been run into a big tree.  The hindquarters and brand were already eaten.  The ear tag was still intact and that’s how we know it was Miller’s calf.

dead calf by tree

We don’t know if it was killed by wolves or a cougar, or if it simply staggered into the tree and died from respiratory disease.  Several calves out there are coughing and having respiratory problems—probably from all the dust and smoke, and the stress of hot days and cold nights (perfect weather for pneumonia).

We rode a little farther up the creek, and found another dead calf, right in the creek, only about 30 feet from where a calf was killed last year by wolves.  This calf was freshly dead, still limp and not stiffened up yet, and we couldn’t see any signs of trauma.  It may have died of pneumonia rather than killed by predators.   I held Willow while Andrea checked it more closely, and picked up the head to read the ear tag.  It belonged to John Miller, too.

second dead calf

We rode on up the creek and out to the ridge to check the Cat Hole trough at the top of the ridge.  There were thirsty cattle around it, and no water; the pipe into the trough was only dripping.  It looks like that spring isn’t running enough now to keep ahead of the cows or else the flow has cut down because the float at the trough got broken off and the valve sticks shut.  These new troughs that got put in last year by the BLM and the range users have a very poor design for our type of springs.  There’s less to go wrong if you don’t have to depend on a float.  Our water developments always worked nicely without a float.

We rode over the top and Andrea led Willow down the steep hill to Peach Pit trough, which isn’t working at all because the cattle have broken the plastic pipe that goes into the trough.  Again, there were a bunch of thirsty cows hanging around the trough.  I wish those guys would ride often enough to check troughs, find the problems and fix them before the cattle have to suffer from lack of water!

We rode down Withington Creek and found no cows in that canyon, but lots of tracks and horse tracks.  Millers and Alfonso had pushed them out the day before, and over the top into Baker Creek, which overloaded Baker Creek (where there’s not enough feed or water).  This is a shame, because there is a lot of grass on the Withington Creek side of the mountain.

We got home late and fed the horses late.  I called John Miller to tell him about the dead calves, and mentioned to him it might be wise to put some protein supplement up Withington Creek.  The grass is so dry this year that the protein level is much too low, and the early-season grass the Forest Service planted after the 2003 fire is worthless after it dries out.  It’s like straw, with very little food value, and the cows don’t even want to eat it.  They just want to come home.  On a dry year like this one, a protein supplement would make a big difference and those cows and calves wouldn’t be losing weight.

That evening I took photos (through the window) of a young mule deer fawn in our front yard.  The fawns are still pretty small for this time of year and still have spots.

fawn in yard

mule deer fawn

Monday was hot again, up to 86 degrees.  Robbie and Nick have been working on my brother Rocky’s fence along the road by his new house.  Andrea went to Idaho Falls to her first appointment with the new pain doctor (her old one retired).  This new doctor has never had a burn survivor patient before, and was intrigued by some of her problems with contracted scar tissue and hopes to try to help her.

Tuesday the temperature was up to 90 degrees.  We checked on the cows, and since they were running out of grass on the back field, we let them into post pile pasture.  I had just started typing another article (to meet one of my deadlines for a horse magazine) and the power went off for 2 hours (big disadvantage of a computer compared to my good old typewriter in years past!)  I called it in, since it seemed to be only our creek, and the power company guys came out to find the problem.  This time of year it’s usually due to huge flocks of blackbirds as they eat the chokecherries, group up in preparation for migrating south, and land on the power lines.  When several hundred birds take off, the wires flap and hit each other and short out, blowing the breaker fuse down at the mouth of the creek.

Andrea and I rode 4 hours that afternoon, Willow’s 16th ride.  We went to Baker Creek again and killed a big rattlesnake in the 320.  The dead calves are nearly all gone, eaten by predators, and the cows were a little spooky (maybe leery of the cougar or wolves that have been eating on the calves). We rode up through the timber and I took a photo of Andrea and Willow.

Willow heading up through the timber

We rode over into Basco basin and discovered that trough wasn’t working either.  The pipe was broken off and the water running out on the ground instead of into the trough.  This probably happened right after the cattle were all jammed in there when the Amish and Alfonso moved them all into the high range from the middle range in one day.  With only one water source it couldn’t handle that many cattle and the thirsty cows ganged around the trough and probably broke the pipe.

I held Willow and Andrea fixed it.  She used my leatherman knife to cut the plastic pipe and use a different elbow from an old piece that was there, put it together and got it running into the trough again.  Then she put a lot of poles, boards, and rocks on the eroded area where the cows have been stepping on the horizontal pipe on the ground, so they won’t break it.  I took photos of her piling rocks, etc. over the pipe to protect it, after fixing the trough.

Andrea fixing Basco trough

piling stuff on pipe to protect it

We spent about an hour there, fixing the trough, then came home through middle range and were late with chores.

Earlier that day Michael hauled Miller’s mini excavator up the creek and let them go through our 320—and showed them how to go across the top to get around the steep draws and timber.  Yesterday they drove it on up there to work on Witteborg spring, which is only a few drips, but they were hoping to dig it out enough to capture all the water in a springbox and pipe it down to a tank for their range cattle.  They wanted to do it last year, but we advised them not to, because there’s not enough water there to service a trough, but the BLM manager wanted them to do it.  We felt it was foolish to try to develop a poor spring that would only be an enticement to thirsty cows to hang there in that corner by our 320 instead of going on around to Baker Creek—where there is a really GOOD spring that we developed a long time ago, but which they’ve allowed the old trough to rust out and it doesn’t hold water anymore.  It needs to be replaced, and that spring would water more than 100 cows, like it always used to do.

On our way home we saw another dead calf—that very recently died—on the hillside below that spring.  This one belonged to Alfonso, and it looked like it may have died of pneumonia.

Early this morning my brother Rocky called to say he saw another dead animal just above the cattle-guard on the road by his house.  Michael and Carolyn drove up there to check on it and saw that it also belonged to Alfonso, and probably died of pneumonia.  This has been a really bad year for those cattle out on the range, especially this fall with hot days, cold nights, lots of smoke, and all the dust from dry conditions.  The dust and smoke irritate the respiratory passages, and the stress from temperature extremes hinders the immune system.  This makes those calves more vulnerable to respiratory infections.

We had a similar situation one really dry year during the 1980’s when we had daytime temps up to 90 degrees, dropping into the low 40’s or high 30’s at night.  Three of our biggest steer calves got pneumonia out on the range that year, but Andrea and I were riding every day and we discovered them when they first got sick.  We were able to gently bring them down off the mountain to our upper corrals and treat them—and we saved them all.

This afternoon we moved our cows into the field by Andrea’s house.  We have only a couple more green pastures and are hoping they last long enough for the cows and calves; we don’t want to run out of good green forage before we sell the calves.  After that, the cows can do fine on drier pastures, when they aren’t producing milk.

Andrea and Robbie drove to Mud Lake to watch Dani’s cross-country meet.  She did well, coming in with the first group of runners (in the first 20, out of more than 120 runners).


SEPTEMBER 5 – On Friday Michael, Nick and Robbie tore out all the old falling-down fence between heifer hill and the field below it, so they can start rebuilding that fence.  It was built in 1967 and had been patched in a few places, but was basically worn out and some of the posts were broken off.  Cows are hard on a fence, rubbing on it, and we’ve also had herds of elk crashing over it and knocking posts over.

After she finished irrigating, Andrea and I made a short, fast ride over the low range—Willow’s 18th ride.  We just made a loop down through the bentonite dunes, across Baker Creek (totally dry now) and up the old jeep road and home.

Andrea on Willow going through dunes

Willow is starting to get in better shape and doesn’t wear out as readily, and her respiration rate doesn’t stay so high so long after exerting (climbing hills or doing a long fast trot).  She’s starting to become a real horse!

We had to get home quickly so Andrea wouldn’t be late to get to town for an MRI on her shoulder.  The new pain doctor she went to last month wants to figure out all the problems with that shoulder (damage from the burn injury and the contractures from skin grafts that have pulled everything out of place) to see if there’s anything that could be done to relieve some of those problems and pain.  She won’t know the results of the MRI for a few days.

On Saturday it was hot again (90 degrees).  Michael used the backhoe to repair the creek bank next to the field below heifer hill, where high water keeps eating away the bank, undermining our fence and threatening to remove the base of support for the power pole that carries the power line over to Andrea’s house.   He created a more gradual bank so create a watering area for cows when they are in the field below heifer hill and used the extra dirt and rocks to bulk up the area of the bank that has been washing away.

repaired bank

That morning, before it got too hot, Jim helped Lynn take out all the steel posts that we used for the temporary electric fence to divide the field below Andrea’s house.  That fence enabled the cows to graze the portion below the ditch and not get into the hayfield.  Now that the hay is harvested and the grass has grown back a little, we let the cows have the whole field to graze, and took the fence out.

Andrea and I had planned to do another ride (since Willow needs a lot more training rides this fall before we have to quit for winter and bad weather), but Andrea sliced her finger while irrigating, pulling debris out of the ditch.  A stiff, sharp blade of dry grass caught her grafted finger and sliced deeply through the skin at the joint.  It was bleeding profusely so she used her shirt to wrap tightly like a tourniquet to slow the blood flow until she could get home, clean it up, and have Sam help her super-glue the separated skin back together at the finger joint.  Not wanting to risk tearing it open again, we didn’t ride (since she still needs both hands and four reins on Willow).  That young mare will have several days off while the finger heals and while Andrea is gone for a few days.  She and Robbie and the kids left later that afternoon to drive down to his folks’ place near Idaho Falls, where they stayed overnight and then took the kids to the State Fair at Blackfoot the next day.

On their way to Robbie’s folks place they were delayed a bit, stopping to help a guy along the highway who had run out of gas.  They took him a can of gas and then had to help him start his truck again; he’d run the battery down with his flashing lights.

That afternoon a couple of Miller’s cows came through the bad fence along the county road by Rocky’s house.  Miller’s and Alfonso’s range cattle are coming down into Alfonso’s leased hill pasture next to Rocky’s place, and are trying to come on home.  The two cows that came through the fence traveled down the road to Michael’s place, and went into his yard.  Michael and Carolyn took them back up, and Alfonso put a pole through the worst of the hole to make a temporary patch in the fence.

Jim caught the pack rat that was creating havoc and bad smell in the old trailer house he uses for a shop.  He had tried poison, and several kinds of traps, with no luck, so he bought a small cage trap and put an apple core inside it—and the rat was tempted to go inside.  Jim brought the cage over by our house to show us the rat.  Here’s a photo of the rat, and of one of our cats intently watching it in the cage.

cat watching rat in cage

pack rat in cage

We reset that trap in Lynn’s old shop, across the driveway from our house.  There’s been a pack rat in there for a long time and Lynn gave up on trying to catch or kill it, but that night it took the bait and got caught in the cage trap.

Sunday was very smoky and it stayed smoky all night.  Michael put new hind shoes on Dottie and Sprout.  I’ll put their new front shoes on later.  The old shoes were worn out and their feet were getting long; it was definitely time for new shoes.

On Monday Michael and Nick rented the post pounder from Millers again and set all the posts for the new fence between heifer hill and the fence below it, and yesterday Nick and Robbie put on the wire—until they ran out of staples.  They hope to finish that fence today.  Here’s part of the new fence.

new fence

Monday morning we had visitors from Minnesota—Bob Cheney and his daughter Carey.  Bob is the grandson of Laura Cheney who was originally a Bartlett.  Her parents homesteaded part of our upper place in the early 1900’s, and there is still evidence of the old root cellar, some old lilac bushes, and the cabin foundation (the cabin itself was later moved to the lower part of the ranch my dad bought).  Laura married a Cheney (they homesteaded the little ranch adjacent and below the Bartlett homestead) and planted the maple trees that still stand along the ditch at upper end of that place.  Cheney Creek, the little stream that comes through the south side of our upper place was named for the Cheneys who homesteaded part of the ranch my dad bought in 1955 from Ida Witteborg.  One of the Cheneys also homesteaded what is now our 320 acre mountain pasture.

We first met Laura Cheney and her son in the late 1960’s when they came out to see the old homestead, and then later her grandson and great granddaughter came to see the place and we showed them around.  They wanted to come back again, so it was nice to see them again and have a visit.  We showed them the old abstract of title that includes the original homestead papers that stated Arthur Cheney was granted title to the land (from the Forest Service) in February of 1916.

Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids and Charlie drove them to school in the old Velma truck he restored.  It’s nice that he now has a driver’s license and can drive to the bus or to school!  Andrea and I rode Willow and Dottie 3 ½ hours for Willow’s 19th ride and went up through the 320 and into the high range.  We encountered 2 rattlesnakes but didn’t stop to kill them because they were in thick sagebrush.

The range cattle are losing weight because they’ve eaten all the grass in Baker Creek and are not grazing much on the mountain between Baker Creek and Withington Creek; the grass is completely dry, with no protein—like eating straw.  They are also short of water. The new trough Millers and Alfonso put in next to our 320 isn’t working; they dug out the old spring with Miller’s excavator, but it didn’t have enough water to service a trough.  Some cows were there trying to get a drink but there was no water.

cow trying to drink

empty trough

While we were there Andrea tightened her cinch on her saddle, and fixed a broken wire in our fence, tying the broken pieces together with baling twine.

Andrea tightening Willow's cinch

Andrea fixing broken wire in fence

Then we drove the group of very thirsty cows back up around to go to Baker Creek so they could get a drink.

moving the cows up around the 320 so they can go to Baker Creek

Diary from Sky Range Ranch - February 14 through March 26, 2017

FEBRUARY 20 – We’ve had warmer weather, barely freezing at night. Michael, Nick and Robbie have been working on the new fence for Breezy’s pen and I’ve been cooking lunch for them the past few days. 

On Thursday Andrea got a call from the school to tell her that Sam had slipped in the mud during the noon hour, and had fallen down and hit her head on the concrete sidewalk—breaking her glasses and briefly knocking her unconscious. She was being taken to the ER in the ambulance. Andrea rushed off to town and got to the hospital about the same time the ambulance did. The ER doctor thought at first that she might have broken some of her facial bones (along with a mild concussion), but her face was just badly bruised. We are glad she wasn’t hurt any worse than that.

On Friday Andrea held Willow for me while I trimmed her feet. They’d grown very long over the winter and I wanted to get them trimmed before we put her in her new pen. She has very hard, durable hooves and even though they were a bit softened by being in the muddy pen, they were still difficult to trim and had not broken like most horse’s feet would do when growing that long.

On Saturday we put Dottie, Ed and Breezy in the 2nd day pens by the calving barn to get them farther away from the noise of pounding posts. Michael hauled Sy Miller’s tractor and hydraulic (jack-hammer) pounder over here on our flatbed trailer, and Sy set all the new posts for Breezy’s pen. Some of them were a little hard to pound through the frost, but they used a metal pilot post to start those holes, and managed to get them all into the ground far enough.

Yesterday it rained, so the guys were glad they’d set posts the day before. Today the weather was nicer so the guys worked on the fence again.

FEBRUARY 28 – We had a lot of windy weather last week, and a blizzard on Tuesday afternoon. The guys had to quit early that day, after they got soaked and cold. That was the afternoon we were going to have a vet come look at Shiloh’s eye (it has been running and irritated and we thought there might be something embedded under the eyelid). We postponed until the next day and even then it was so windy we took Shiloh to the top of her pen where we could stand behind a big sagebrush that blocked some of the wind. The vet couldn’t find anything in the mare’s eye, but the third eyelid tissues were swollen and the eye was discharging mucus so she inserted cortisone/antibiotic ointment into the corner of the eye. We continued that treatment daily for several days and that seemed to resolve the problem. While the vet was here we also had her look at Breezy’s remaining eye, to make sure it is staying healthy. There are rough red areas on the white part, but they are not cancerous. Keeping a face mask on her all the time helps protect her eye from sunlight, insects and dust.

The strong winds blew more shingles off Andrea’s roof and we had to replace them. We had a few cold days, down to 17 degrees at night.

Lynn’s appointment with orthopedic surgeon went well, with good news. He doesn’t need surgery. The shoulder attachments are partly torn, but not all the way through, and will probably heal. The surgeon injected cortisone into the inflamed areas and prescribed several weeks of physical therapy to help restore strength and range of motion.

Charlie took his drivers’ test and passed the driving and written tests so now he has his drivers’ license. He can drive to the school bus, leave the car there at Baker and drive home again.

On Friday the guys finished Breezy’s new fences and we moved that old mare into her new pen and put Willow in her rebuilt pen. Here are some photos of those two new pens.

new horse pens

Willow's new pen

Now the side pen where Willow spent the winter can be used for calving again. We also put more poles on the calving pen fence so cows can’t stick their heads through. We sawed up some of the old fence poles for firewood, since we are running low on wood after the long, cold winter.

The guys made a little gate in the side of Willow’s pen (in addition to the main gate at the end of the pen) so I can carry hay through to feed her, and use the slow feeder for that greedy mare. 

little side gate into Willow's pen

Willow was frustrated the first few days because it takes more time to eat, pulling the hay out through the grate a little bit at a time, so she pawed it and tipped it over, but eventually learned how to use it. She still tips it over and over and plays with it like a toy but doesn’t get her foot caught in it anymore. She mostly flips it over with her nose.

Willow eating out of the slow feader

On Sunday we got the cows in and vaccinated them with their pre-calving vaccine and deloused them all again. It’s been a bad winter for lice, with it so cold. Michael, Carolyn and Nick helped. Michael brought his tractor down for diesel and after we worked the cows he moved some of our hay bales around for the heifers and loaded the feed truck.

Yesterday morning cold again, down to 18 degrees. Sugar Baby (a 3-year old second calver) had a premature calf. Andrea and Robbie discovered the tiny baby when they came down to help me feed cows. All the young cows and first-calf heifers were grouped around it, sniffing and helping lick it. The calf was very tiny, with short, velvety hair, and probably 6 or 7 weeks premature. Robbie carried it to pickup and held it while Andrea drove. Even though the calf hadn’t been born very long, it was chilled, with sub-normal temperature of 92 degrees. Normal for cattle is 101.5 degrees. We warmed the little guy by the wood stove and dried him with towels. Here is a photo of him resting on his bed of towels.

calf sleeping on towels by the stove

I warmed up some colostrum but the calf wouldn’t suck a bottle, so we tubed him, inserting a tube into the nostril, to the back of the throat where he swallowed it, and on down into the stomach. Then we could attach a funnel and pour the colostrum into the tube and feed him that way.

feeding premature calf with nasogastric tube

We fed him by tube every 4 hours. Lynn went to town and bought milk replacer and we started feeding it today after we ran out of colostrum.

After school the kids stopped by to see the calf. Dani curled up with him for a while on his bed of towels.

Dani taking nap with premature calf

The calf was stronger by evening and trying to get up. Lynn helped me tube him in the middle of the night.

This morning Andrea helped me tube-feed the calf after the kids went to the bus. She also checked on the young cow that calved prematurely. She was little dull and off by herself. We brought her down to the corral and gave her antibiotics and Michael checked her (on his way to work on another fencing job) to see if there was a twin still inside her. No twin, but the cow was slow to clean, which is common with a premature birth. We put her in orchard with Buffalo Girl so we can watch her, and kept feeding the calf every 4 hours.


MARCH 9 – The premature calf only lived 2 ½ days. He was getting stronger for awhile and then went into decline, with a slight fever. Even though we had him on antibiotics, to head off pneumonia (since the lungs are not well developed yet at that stage) something went wrong; his body systems were too immature to sustain life on his own. 

Wednesday afternoon Andrea went to town to attend the awards assembly at the middle school, where Sam was receiving her student of the month certificate. Then she helped Lynn on a water-witching job, locating a site of a well on Carmen Creek. The property owner wanted Lynn to put in a steel post to mark the site, and Lynn’s impaired shoulder made that impossible, so Andrea went with him to pound the post.

Lynn is now doing physical therapy once a week and some exercises at home to help strengthen his shoulder, and he’s getting more range of motion.

This past week we’ve had warmer weather—a couple days up to 50 degrees in the afternoon in spite of freezing at night. The snow is almost gone from our lower fields.

Charlie looked at old 1967 Chevrolet pickup that we bought years ago from Velma Ravndal (the elderly lady that boarded her horses here for a few years). Charlie wants to get it running again and drive it, so this will be a good project for him.
On Sunday Andrea helped me feed the cows early, then she and Robbie went up to Michael’s place to help Michael, Carolyn and Nick vaccinate and delouse their cows, and put nose flaps in the 6 big calves (late summer calves that wintered with their mothers) to wean them.

A couple days ago it snowed again, but was warm enough to melt off by evening. Yesterday and today were warm, feeling like spring. We are short of hay, however, after feeding so much during all those weeks of extremely cold weather, so we are buying 50 more big bales (alfalfa/grass) from a rancher across the valley from us. He delivered 10 of the bales yesterday afternoon. We only had one bale left for our heifers, so before Phil arrived with the load of hay Andrea moved that bale out of the way, and we took the 2 oat bales out to my horse pasture (where we will soon be moving the young cows, before they start calving). That left just one more oat bale we will probably feed to the bulls.


MARCH 20 – A week ago Saturday we moved the young cows (first calf heifers) from the lower swamp pasture to the horse pasture and orchard where we can watch them when they start calving. They are enjoying the oat bales in the feeders.

cows enjoying oat bales

We cleaned the old bedding out of the barn the next day and left all the doors open for a couple days to help the dirt floor dry out before we put new bedding in. We started training the heifers to go into the barn, using Buffalo Girl to lead them in. 

Even though the weather is fairly mild in late March through April, we sometimes get storms and snow, so we want to be able to put a calving cow or heifer into the barn if necessary. We lured the heifers in with a little alfalfa hay, to teach them that being in the barn is not scary.

We brought a big straw bale around for barn bedding and put a tarp over it to keep it dry until we use it, and took a big bale out to the calf houses in the field above the house—to put bedding in those little houses for the young calves when we have cows and calves up there.

Now that the days are getting warmer and the mud is starting to dry up—and afternoons are longer with Daylight Savings Time—Dani has been spending time here after school, working with Willow. That young mare is 5 years old this year, and still very green, since we didn’t have time to do anything with her last year. Dani has been catching her and brushing her, and we hope to start riding her again in a few weeks, to resume her training.

Dani brushing Willow

Tuesday it got up to 64 degrees. After school Charlie brought in some wood (we still need a fire in the early mornings when it’s cold) and then helped Andrea saw up a few old poles (from the fencing projects) for future firewood, while Dani worked with Willow. She led Willow around, and brushed her while she was eating out of the slow feeder.

Willow eating at slow feeder

Willow pulling out hay

The heifers are enjoying their training sessions, going into the barn to eat a little alfalfa hay. They come eagerly into the calving pen when we open the gate, and troop across the driveway to the barn. 

Lynn went to Agency Creek on Wednesday to locate water for a lady who needs to put in a well. That day Michael and Robbie finished up the horse pen project and re-hung a gate, so I could move Sprout back into her creek pen the next morning. Michael brought down the backhoe and started taking out the ancient fence along the field below the lane. That fence was old when Lynn and I moved onto this ranch in 1967 and the posts were rotting off and falling down, the net wire was saggy (we’d propped the fence up a few times with steel posts) and rose briers had overgrown it. We are rebuilding that section of fence, along with the old fence between the field and the 2 horse pens where Rubbie and Veggie lived for nearly 30 years, and where Sprout and Shiloh now live. Sprout can stay in the creek pen until we get that side rebuilt. In one afternoon the guys got nearly all the old fence and brush torn out and hauled off. The heifers in that field now have access to the ditch bank pasture and can graze the tall grass (that got snowed under last fall before they could use it). They are enjoying the extra space and grass, as well as the hay in their feeder.

heifers have access to ditchbank with fence gone

heifers eating hay at feader

Also that afternoon Phil Moulton brought us the last loads of hay we are buying from him—50 big bales, total, to make sure we have enough hay to make it through until there’s adequate grass for the cows. He hauled a couple loads to us, which we stacked by Shiloh’s pen, and 3 loads up to Michael’s stackyard.

more hay for heifers

The next morning was cold, down to 22 degrees, but warmed up by afternoon. Robbie and Nick worked on the fence and got all the rest of it taken down and hauled off. Andrea went to town for Sam’s doctor appointment/checkup physical so she can start track and cross-country this spring. 

Carolyn met all afternoon with Cindy Yenter, our local IDWR person (Idaho Department of Water Resources) and together they got the errors straightened out in the water district bookkeeping for what the water users’ assessments will be. Cindy is now more aware of the major problems we’ve had the past several years—especially last year—with one neighbor (who was the Secretary-Treasurer of our water district) trying to manipulate things, falsify water use records, and cause us as much trouble as possible. We’re hoping for a better irrigation season this year, with more oversight from IDWR and more enforcement of the locked headgate rule, so certain people can’t steal our water.

Saturday was very warm, up to 70 degrees in the afternoon. Our tractor started without being plugged in, for taking a new big bale to the heifers and loading the feed truck for the older cows. Strong winds in the afternoon made it necessary to tie the barn doors open, however, so the props wouldn’t keep falling down and the doors banging open and shut. We are still trying to get the dirt floor dried out a bit more after all the snow slid off the roof and made a slow-melting ice pile behind the barn—seeping into the backs of each stall. With the doors open and some air flow through there, it’s drying out.

Yesterday we gave the heifers another training session (going into a couple barn stalls to eat a little alfalfa hay) and sorted off a few of the earliest-to-calve cows in the field above the house. It’s easy to sort the ones we want by feeding some hay on both sides of the gate and then quietly bringing the ones we want and putting them through the gate, with one person guarding the gate to make sure we don’t get any extra volunteers.

Today Robbie and Nick sawed up the old posts and poles from our fence rebuild project, for firewood. Maybe with this addition to our dwindling woodpile we won’t run out of wood before we run out of cold weather!


MARCH 26 – We had a few warm days, up to 55 degrees in the afternoons, then it got cold again, down to 22 degrees at night. We brought a few more cows down from the field to put in the “maternity ward” in preparation for calving.

We had our first “real” calf (since the premature baby that didn’t live) on Wednesday. Zorra Rose (a first-calf heifer) calved quickly and easily—a black brockle heifer calf. It was a nice afternoon so she didn’t have to go in the barn. The calf was up and nursing very soon, and Zorra Rose was a good mom. She wasn’t due to calve until April 9th; the calf was 17 days early, but strong and healthy. Here are a couple photos of the new calf after we put her in a windbreak pen with her mom. She is checking everything out, and curious about the hay that mom is eating.

Zorra Rose - new calf

baby trying mom's hay

We probably won’t have any more calves for a day or two, but we started putting the most likely candidates in the orchard pen at night, where there’s a good yard light, and we can see them easily from the house with a spotlight and binoculars.

Our fields are drying out enough to harrow and spread the manure piles around, so on Friday Andrea started harrowing and then let Charlie do several of the fields. He enjoys driving the tractor. Yesterday Andrea harrowed the last field (below the lane, where the heifers are). The heifers thought it was great fun chasing the harrow around the field until they got tired and bored with this novelty.

A couple days ago Emily found an arrowhead while hiking, and took photos of it. This is the first arrowhead she’s ever found. There are many arrowheads and other ancient artifacts scattered around this area, from long ago when the Indians were living in this area and traveling back and forth from winter to summer hunting areas.

Emily's arrowhead

Today Andrea and Robbie burned some of the tall grass out of the ditch that serves the field by her house and started a little water through the ditch. Even though we had a lot of snow and the fields were moist for a while as it melted, we’ve had a lot of wind lately, drying things out. The grass is trying to grow, on warm days, so it’s probably time to start thinking about cleaning ditches and irrigating.



***For interesting stories about calving, baby calves and other adventures with cattle, you might like my book Cow Tales: More True Stories from an Idaho Ranch.  This book is part of a 3-book series that includes Horse Tales: True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, and Ranch Tales: Stories of Dogs, Cats and Other Crazy Critters.  These are $24.95 each and autographed copies can be ordered from me at 208-756-2841 or hsmiththomas@centurytel.net  or P.O. Box 215, Salmon, ID 83467, with a discount when all three books are purchased.