Diary from Sky Range Ranch – October 13 through November 17, 2021

OCTOBER 21 – We had a little more snow this past week but the weather was warm enough that most of it melted except for some on the north slopes of the high pastures. Andrea and I checked on the young cows in the back field a week ago and they were still doing ok, with plenty of grass. I helped her shut off the ditch in the post pile pasture so it won’t make an ice flow across that little pasture when the weather gets colder.

Andrea and I both haven’t been feeling very well, like a bad cold that won’t go away. She’s had some chest pain with hers, especially when she exerts very much, so we’ve tried not to do anything more than the necessary chores.

Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent us photos of the two little boys with their grandpa John, and young Joseph giving a posed grin for the camera.

James & Joseph with their grandpa John

Joseph hamming it for the camera

That day, Dani saw a moose in one of the fields along the highway on her way home from town; the moose was right amongst the cattle.

One of our old acquaintances from Laurel, Montana (the son of the old rancher my dad used to enjoy riding with when my folks lived at Laurel) called us a few evenings ago and wanted to order some of my books (Horse Tales, Cow Tales, and Ranch Tales). He’d seen them mentioned in one of the magazines he reads.

On Friday Andrea and I redid Dottie’s bandage. When Andrea snipped off the old one and started washing the foot, she noticed a bulge in that open spot where we took out the piece of wood 2 weeks ago.

taking off the old bandage

Andrea was able to grab the protrusion with her fingers and pulled out two more pieces of wood that were about an inch long and each of them the same size as the first one! Hopefully that’s the last of the foreign material that was embedded in the wound at the coronary band. We washed it thoroughly but didn’t soak it; the hole was fairly open and it looked like anything else in there could drain out. We applied more medication (nitrofurazone, mixed with DMSO to help it fully penetrate the wound and also decrease any inflammation), put gauze over that again, and rewrapped the foot with several layers of bandage material and duct take on the outside to keep it secure and waterproof.

That afternoon Andrea and I got in the two open cows from the ditch pasture below Andrea’s house and put them in the lower swamp pasture. They were goofy and we were lucky to get them down through the gate. Their obnoxious nature is one reason we didn’t breed them this year because we don’t want to keep them. We were going to butcher them (one for us and one for a friend who wants some beef) but Andrea isn’t feeling up for that task so we decided to sell them, even though the price for cull cows has fallen dramatically since we sold the earlier ones. The price always drops in the fall as more cows come to market. Many cows coming off the ranges this year are horribly thin and aren’t selling very well, but at least these two cows are fat, which might help.

The two cows were suspicious and naughty and didn’t want to come on down to the corral so we left them in the lower swamp pasture, with the gate open to the hold pen and the corral. I put some hay in the feeder in the corral, and a little bit just outside the corral. Andrea watched the cows from her house, and after a couple hours they came down on their own, into the hold pen, where there’s some really good grass. Andrea sneaked through the field and came down behind them, then sprinted the last little ways—to shut the hold pen gate before they ran back out. Then we were able to get them into the corral, where they could stay overnight and eat from the feeder.

The next day Andrea and I went to the 320 on her 4-wheeler to check on the cows up there—after the brand inspector came to look at our two cows in the corral. They have to be brand inspected before we can haul them to the sale at Butte, Montana. Anything going out of state needs to be inspected, for proof of ownership. 

When Andrea and I got to the 320, Michael and Carolyn’s horses were lounging by the gate between the 160 and 320, and I took a photo of some of them.

some of Michael & Carolyn's horses

Then we drove up the ridge to see how well the protein tubs are lasting, but there were no cows there. We could see that our cows were all down in Baker Creek, so we drove home that way. There was still a few inches of snow in the timber on that side, and as we started down the jeep track we saw a blood trail coming down through the timber and off the steep bank onto the road. Just below the road, in the snow, was a dead fox that had recently been shot, and bleeding profusely through a chest wound. He hadn’t been dead very long so someone must have been trespassing hiking/hunting in our 320 and plinked that fox. I took photos of Andrea checking the fox’s fatal wounds.

Andrea examining dead fox

We checked on the cows lounging around in Baker Creek at the top of the little meadow halfway down the creek. They were more content (and not as empty) as the day we checked them earlier, right after the new snow. Enough of the snow has melted that they can easily graze. I took a photo of one cow drinking out of a wallow (a pool created by elk and the bears, next to Baker Creek, where they rolled around in the mud earlier this fall and made a big puddle) and a photo of some of the cows lounging around on the sunny slope just out of the shady area.

cow drinking out of elk wallow

cows lounging on sunny side of Baker Creek

I took another photo as Andrea shut the gate on the ridge (between the 2 portions of the 320) after we came through on the 4-wheeler.

Andrea shutting the gate

On our way down the main road (after we got down out of the 320 and 160) we met Nick coming up the creek in his little blue pickup and he stopped and talked with us for a while. It was nice to visit with him; he is so busy with his jobs that we rarely get a chance to see him.

That afternoon Andrea gathered up more of her irrigation dams and shut off another ditch for winter, and Dani helped her stack more of the split wood. They took some of the split wood over by Jim’s work trailer so he’ll have some firewood there this winter after he comes back from his Colorado job. Christopher drove down from Andrea’s house with his little tractor and trailer when Andrea and Dani came down to stack wood, and I took photos of him while he “helped” and came along with me to do chores on his little tractor. He got frustrated a couple times when he ran his tractor into the fence and into the woodpile because he’d forgotten how to back it up.

Christopher's tractor and trailer

driving around on his tractor

he ran his tractor into the woodpile

I got him “unstuck” a few times, and helped keep him out of the way of the wood stacking. He rode in my cart when I took more hay around to the two cows in the corral.

Andrea backed our trailer up to the loading spot by the sick barn, to be ready to load the two cows the next morning, and I put a little hay in the front of it.

Sunday was nice weather. Even though it froze hard that morning, it got up to 62 degrees that afternoon. I did chores really early, and after breakfast Andrea and Dani came down to help load the two cows. We were able to get them in the trailer without them running over us. Andrea and Dani took them to Butte, to be sold in the regular sale on Tuesday. Emily brought Christopher down here on her way to work that afternoon and we took care of him until Andrea and Dani got home that evening and picked him up.

Monday was another nice day. Andrea went to her pain doctor appointment and then to her regular doctor for an EKG to check her heart and do some bloodwork. Her heart is ok, and her test results weren’t bad, but she does have COVID, which explains the symptoms (like a severely bad cold and sinus infection) that she’s had for about a month. My symptoms have been similar so I suspect I had a mild case of COVID in spite of the vaccinations Lynn and I got in late March and early April. And Lynn hasn’t gotten sick so perhaps he had a little more immunity from the shots.

The next day Lynn went to town for fasting blood work and an EKG and he is doing ok. Andrea and I redid Dottie’s foot bandage and the wound is finally filling in with healthy tissue and closing up. We’ll just keep it bandaged awhile longer to keep dirt and mud out of it until it’s more fully healed. I took photos this time of all the steps we’ve been going through, keeping that foot protected and bandaged—taking the old bandage off, and checking the wound. It looks really good this time.

taking the old bandage off

checking the healing wound

Then Andrea washed the foot thoroughly, especially the wound.

washing the whole foot and making sure the healing wound is very clean

I took photos as we wrapped it up again, with clean gauze over the wound area, and stretchy soft VetRap around the whole foot to hold the gauze in place.

gauze over the wound

stretchy VetRap to hold the gauze in place

stretchy VetRap around the whole foot

Then we put adhesive tape around the VetRap to hold it on.

adhesive tape over the Vet Rap

Adhesive tape around the whole foot

The last step was to cover everything with waterproof duct tape; this makes sure the bandage can stay intact and not wear through or come off, and protect the wound from mud, dirt or moisture for several days as it continues to heal. The duct tape gives enough durability that the bandage can last about a week before it needs to be redone.

final wrap with duct tape

duct tape made a waterproof outer covering

That afternoon I took down the fake fence around the haystack and obstacles in our stackyard where I’ve been letting Sprout graze for a few hours each day. She’s eaten all the grass and weeds around the stacks. Andrea helped me put up a fake fence in the little swamp pen below the bull corral; I will graze Sprout in there next, to clean up the rest of that grass that regrew after the heifers grazed it this summer. The fake fence will keep Sprout out of the thick brush and bogs at the lower end of that little pen. 

We also backed the stock trailer into the place we’ll leave it for winter, but we left it hooked to Andrea’s pickup temporarily so we could load Shiloh into the trailer once as a refresher lesson on trailer loading, since she hasn’t been in a trailer since granddaughter Heather brought her here from Helena quite a few years ago (when Shiloh “retired” from being a school horse and Professor Ann Perkins gave her to me, thinking she’d do better as a ranch horse with a real job to do). 

Shiloh got into the trailer just fine but was very nervous in there. We did get her settled down long enough to eat a little grain. We could probably trailer her somewhere at some point in the future if necessary, but realized she’d do better with a buddy. She’s a bit high strung and nervous by herself.

Then we took some more tin around to the bull pen and created a better windbreak shelter in one corner, for the bull for winter. 

Late afternoon Andrea brought Christopher down and I entertained him (and he helped me do chores again) while she finished stacking our wood. We needed to get all the split wood piled and out of the way before the next load of wood arrives. I took photos of him “helping” stack wood and then helping me with chores, climbing around in the hay by my hay shed.

Christopher supervising the wood stacking

Christopher helping me do chores

I took some hay in my wheelbarrow to one of the horse pens, and Christopher climbed onto the load to have a ride, then went with me to feed Shiloh and Sprout, and water the heifers. The heifers were curious about this little guy and came up to the gate to see him.

Christopher ready to ride on the load of hay

Christopher checking out the heifers

That evening Andrea and Christopher ate supper with us.

Yesterday morning Lynn went to his appointment/checkup with the heart doctor that comes here periodically from Montana. Andrea and I were going to check on the cows again on the 320 but she discovered that the refrigerator in her trailer house (where she stores things, and has a spare refrigerator) quit working, and all the frozen stuff in its freezer had thawed. So she spent the day trying to salvage what she could salvage, and throw the rest away and clean out the refrigerator—and hope that it can be workable again. It may have quit when we had a power glitch a few days ago.

She brought a few things down to put in our spare refrigerator, and then we went up to the 320, rather late in the day. I took photos as she looked with binoculars to see where our cows were.

looking for our cows

looking for cows

Our cows were nowhere in sight, but when we drove down into Baker creek we found them lounging there in the trees by the top gate by Baker Creek.

cows lounging in upper end of 320 near Baker Creek

Michael and Carolyn had put 14 cows in the lower part of the 320, with a couple big protein blocks. They are hoping there’s enough grass in that lower section to last the cows a week or two, since they are really short on fall pasture. Their horses grazed that part most of the summer, but there is still some feed left, so maybe their cows will be able to graze there for a while. They sold a bunch of cull cows and even some bred heifers this fall, cutting their herd to bare minimum of good, dependable producers, since they will be short on hay as well as pasture. Their remaining cows look good, however, and I took a photo of them as we drove back down through that part of the 320 to come home.

Michael & Carolyn's cows in lower part of 320

Today Dani went deer hunting with her friend Jack and shot a small buck. They helped Andrea clean the stored stuff out of the meat room we built a couple years ago (when we had to butcher Lida Rose) and hung the deer in there. The weather has been quite warm in the afternoons, so they put the air conditioner unit in there (that Andrea took out of her house a while ago for winter) and it will probably help keep it cool enough in there for the meat. Here are photos of her deer hanging in the meat room.

Dani's deer hanging in meat room

OCTOBER 30 – We’ve had another week of relatively moderate weather. Even though the temperature dropped below freezing several nights, the afternoons have been fairly warm. Last Friday I cleaned out the hay and manure in the stock trailer, after hauling the cows to the sale. We’d locked them in the front half of the trailer (so they would ride better and not bounce around so much) and the hay I put in there absorbed most of the loose manure and made everything very easy to clean out. I just pitched it out the little side door. Then Andrea and I checked on the 8 young cows in the lower back field and were pleased to see that they still have some grass left and are doing well. 

The next day I gathered up a few more things we needed to put away before it snows—water hoses, and big loops of rolled-up electric fence wire and stacks of temporary step-in posts we’ve gathered from various fields and pastures. I labeled each coil of fence wire with the field it came from, so we can use it in the same field again next year and it is already the proper length (no splicing or cutting necessary).

Lynn bucketed the water out of the tank in the orchard (what was left after we had the calves in there after weaning them) and we rinsed and tipped the tank over for winter. We don’t want it full of ice!

Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent a photo of the two little boys playing outdoors (Joseph pulling little brother in the wagon), and a photo of some new heifers they bought this fall.

Joseph & James

new heifers

Emily’s friend A.J. got a deer and an elk during hunting season and those have been hanging in his garage for a while, hopefully staying cool enough during the warm weather we’ve had. On Saturday and Sunday Andrea, Dani and Emily helped him cut up and package the meat. Dani entertained Christopher while the others worked on meat and got some of it ground into burger.

Monday it rained a little off and on, but Andrea and I braved the wet windy weather and went to the 320 on her 4-wheeler to check on the cows. We wore our riding chinks/chaps to keep our legs dry and warm. The cows are doing ok, but Michael’s cows have eaten most of the protein on their part of the pasture, and ours have about a week’s worth left on their side. There’s still a lot of grass up there, so we’ll probably try to take more protein up there if we don’t get a bunch of snow. As we drove down out of there, our cows and Michael’s cows were getting acquainted through the fence.

cows on each side of the fence

It rained harder after we got home, and rained most of the night, turning to snow by the next morning. There was a fair amount of snow on the upper place but by the next afternoon it warmed up enough that most of it melted or settled. The weather was fairly decent by late morning so we redid Dottie’s foot bandage, and were pleased with how well the wound is healing; it’s almost completely closed in now. The bandage now is simply keeping it clean a bit longer.

Andrea and I put a roof over the windbreak corner shelter in the bull pen, using several old irrigation dams, supported by boards and poles across the corner area. This will provide protection during winter storms.

roof over Babe's windbreak corner

Then Lynn took his 4-wheeler up to the field by Andrea’s house and helped her take down the electric fence that separated the field from the ditch pasture. He drove along and gathered the posts she took out, and she rolled up the wire. That’s the last temporary fence to take down and put away for winter.

Wednesday was windy and cold all day. My brother stopped by on his way home from work at the Radio Station to pick up his belated birthday card and gift from us. Lynn went to town for mail and groceries and bought a couple more tubs of protein supplement for our cows on the 320.

Yesterday Tom Miller (from Spring Creek—down river) and some of his family brought us 4 cords of wood in their big truck and unloaded it here, next to our stacked split wood. The gals had their youngest kids with them—a little boy age 3 that “helped” on top of the truck, and a set of twin girls 6 months old. They make most of their living getting firewood for people around the valley.

Andrea and Emily took Christopher to town that evening to go trick-or-treating, in his superman costume. He didn’t want to wear his hat/mask but was pretty cute anyway. Here he is in his costume.

Christopher headed to town for Hallowen

Christopher - little superman

Today Andrea brought her little jeep down to our place and loaded the two protein tubs into it (125 pounds each), from the back of our pickup. Lynn went to town for mail and groceries and Andrea and I took the protein to the cows on the 320. When we went through the lower part, we rescued one of the protein blocks that Michael and Carolyn’s cows had rooted and rolled under the fence into the 160 by the gate, and their horses were eating it. We put it back over into the 320 for their cows.

Our cows still had several days’ worth of protein left, and the new tubs should last them 2 or 3 more weeks. We unloaded those, then drove down into Baker Creek to check their water trough, and brought the salt block out to the ridge to put near the protein, in case the snow gets too deep later to drive down in there and retrieve it.

Andrea unloading protein tubs

NOVEMBER 9 – Last week Andrea cut and wrapped Dani’s little deer. The meat had kept nice and cool and was in good shape. Lynn gave our heifers more loose salt and mineral; they’d cleaned up everything in their mineral feeder. We took care of Christopher that evening.

On Monday Andrea and I repositioned one part of the big “tarp” (black plastic) that the strong wind had rearranged on our big haystack. We’ve had a lot of wind lately and it tore some of the “ears” off the tarp that were holding the strings we tied it down with. We got it tied down a lot better and maybe that will keep the hay protected through the rest of the winter. We also took the plastic off the little stack of round bales, and Lynn brought the tractor around and took a couple new bales to put by the bull pen—where I feed him in the fenceline manger.

The next day we had a little rain. We’re still very dry from the long dry summer, so every little bit of moisture helps. Andrea covered our woodpiles with some of the irrigation dams she’s gathered up out of the fields.

She and I took her 4-wheeler up to the 320 on Wednesday to check on the cows. They’d eaten most of the protein in the two tubs and had one tub down off the steep hill toward the timber and we had to retrieve it. When the tubs start to get empty they are not as heavy and the cows move them around quite a bit and can tip them over. Even though they start out on a flat spot, after a few days they can get them down the hill. The other tub had been pushed against the fence and tipped over, and Michael and Carolyn’s cows had apparently found it and reached through the fence and got the piece of protein out of it and had been eating it on their side. We put it in a smaller tub, farther away from the fence and left it on their side to encourage their cows to use that higher corner of their part of the 320. Then we drove on up to check our cows. Some were down in Baker Creek drinking at the upper trough.

cows drinking at trough in upper Baker Creek

That evening Andrea took Dani, Emily, Christopher and Charlie to dinner and invited Dani’s dad and his new girlfriend to celebrate Dani’s 17th birthday. They had a nice dinner and a good visit. It’s great that Dani can now have a relationship with her father again, now that the old girlfriend (who lived with Mark for many years and was so mean to Dani) is no longer in the picture. We are all hoping for progress in family relationships again. 

Here are photos of Dani (and Andrea) on Dani’s birthday.

Dani on her birthday

Dani & Andrea - Dani's 17th birthday

Friday evening Lynn called his oldest cousin, Emerson, who is 97 years old, and had a good visit with him.

The next day Andrea, Em, Dani, Charlie and Christopher went to Idaho Falls for a couple of appointments and to get a few more things for Dani’s birthday, and Charlie picked up some auto parts his dad needed. Emily got a fish tank and some fish for Christopher. It was stormy on their way home but they got home before it snowed.

Emily sent me photos she took of Christopher enjoying his new pet fish.

Christopher enjoying his new fish and fish tank

Sadly, yesterday two of them died. Em realized she probably made a mistake showing him how to feed them. Even though she put the fish food in a high cupboard, that precocious child found an old packet of fish food and knew it was for fish because it had a picture of fish on it—and he fed a big bunch of it them. Andrea and Emily had to take out the remaining fish and clean the tank and flush it out a few times and get rid of all that fish food! The surviving fish seem to be doing ok.

On Sunday I took Dottie’s bandage off and didn’t rebandage her foot. It has healed enough that it no longer needs to be protected from dirt and mud.

Dottie's foot - wound closed in and mostly healed

Then Andrea and I drove up to the 320 in spite of the snow, and it’s not very deep. The cows are doing ok but they’d rolled one of their protein tubs down off the hill and we couldn’t find it. I took a photo of one of our cows licking protein from one of the tubs.

cow eating protein

Later that day we gave Dani her belated birthday gift – an old pistol that is practically brand new. Lynn bought it for me about 50 years ago but I never used it. Dani wanted a pistol, so she was delighted to have it.

Dani opening present

Dani's new pistol

new old pistol

We had a spell of colder weather; yesterday morning the temperature dropped to 15 degrees. I had to take the ice off the horse tubs and the heifers’ water tank. Today was a little warmer. We let the young cows from the lower back field into the post pile pasture where there’s some new green grass, but left the gate open so they can go back and forth; there is still a lot of grass in the rough edges around the lower back field.

We hooked up the tank heater to the heifers’ water trough so we won’t have to keep breaking ice for them, and I plugged in the tractor early this morning so it would start by mid-day. We used it to drag a couple old trailers out of the weeds in the barnyard to place them on either side of the big bales we put by the bull corral. We can use those trailers to anchor some deer netting to make a protected area that the deer can’t get into—so they can’t get into the hay or into Babe’s feed manger and poop in his hay.

Then we put the blade on the tractor for winter, and Lynn used it to scoop mud and manure away from that feed manger so the bull won’t be standing in mud to eat.

NOVEMBER 17 – One of our neighbors is still missing a bull that never came home from the range—on the rangeland bordering us to the south. Every time we go to the 320 to check our cows, we look across the canyon (the other side of our ranch) to scan the mountains on that range, but haven’t seen any cattle.

Andrea scanning the far side of the canyon

Wednesday we drove up there and checked on the cows and the amount of protein they had left.

th

cows enjoying protein

Last Thursday afternoon Lynn went to Kirtley Creek to locate a well site for some folks who bought some acres in that subdivision. He’s now located more than 30 wells on that creek—on the ranch that we leased for a year (in 1970) from our family doctor who owned it at that time. There was never enough irrigation water and we spent a lot of time and money trying to make a hay crop (buying sprinkler pipe, and Lynn commuting back and forth from our place (10 miles away) to irrigate it. We only leased it one year, and it nearly broke us, but in later years, after it got sold and subdivided, he’s made a lot more money locating wells for all the people who have been buying property there!

That evening we went to a meeting in town, with Andrea (she drove us in and back since we no longer like to drive at night). Two people representing the Idaho Water Resources Board explained to irrigators in the Lemhi Basin their settlement proposal for resolving conflicts regarding use of high flows on the Lemhi River and its tributaries.

Traditionally, all ranchers who irrigate with water from the river and the many creeks that feed it use high water in the spring and early summer, in excess of their decreed water rights, in order to get over all their fields and pastures before the stream flows drop in late summer. This is the only way that these ranches can be adequately watered to grow a hay crop and pasture, and use of the high flow in this manner fills the aquifer and feeds the springs and wetlands that help keep the streams flowing longer in late summer. Now however, there are other interests wanting the water—for fish, or demanding a minimum stream flow, etc. and there is risk for losing our use of water that is crucial to the survival of these ranches. So the Water Board’s working group has spent 2 years coming up with a way to protect our traditional use of this high flow. The meeting was held to explain their strategy (and possible settlement of certain lawsuits and issues) to the irrigators.

The next day I took my camera with me when I did chores, and took a photo of Babe in his pen, and a deer in the brush just below his pen.

Babe in his pen

deer in bushes

I also took photos of the heifers in their pasture below the lane, and some of them licking salt and mineral out of their mineral feeder.

heifers in their pasture below the lane

heifers licking salt & mineral

On Saturday Michael and Carolyn moved their cows from the lower part of the 320 to the Baker Creek side and upper part, to join our cows. The grass is just about gone in the lower portion and there is still a lot of grass left on the Baker Creek side, so we will let them all graze it together until we get snowed out. They took more protein blocks and put them on the saddle toward Baker Creek, just through the lower gate.

The past few days have been warm and all the snow melted on the 320. If weather stays mild and the feed doesn’t get snowed under too deep, the cows can do well up there for several more weeks. Andrea and I went up there Sunday to check on them and to see how long our protein tubs at the top bedground will last. Michael’s cows were full and content on the lower saddle, and our cows were all at the upper part.

our cows at upper protein tubs

Michael's cows eating protein on lower bedground

We drove down into Baker Creek and fixed the overflow on the water trough; it was plugged with fir needles and the trough was running over and making a mud-hole that will eventually freeze and make icy footing around the trough. It was good to get the overflow pipe unplugged and working again. I took photos of Andrea getting the fir needles out of the overflow pipe and getting it working again.

trough in upper Baker Creek

trough running over on lower side - overflow pipe plugged

Andrea digging fir needles out of the overflow pipe to unplug it

Monday was warm and Dani helped us do several things. We checked on the young cows in the post pile pasture and I took a photo of Dani feeding a handful of grass to Pimples—a 2-year old cow.

Dani feeding Pimples a bite of grass

Then we took advantage of the nice weather and took Ed’s shoes off. They’ve been on since summer and her feet were getting too long. Dani is learning how to do a little more hoof care; she took off the front shoes.

Dani learning to take off shoes - taking off Ed's shoe

I took off the hind shoes and trimmed those feet, since Ed has arthritis in her hock joints and doesn’t like to have a hind foot held up very long, and I could do it quickly. But she was very patient with Dani taking off the front shoes, and after I showed Dani how to trim one of them, she trimmed the other.

Dani trimming Ed's foot

We were going to take Shiloh’s shoes off, too, but about that time a strong wind came up, and we decided we’d wait and do it on a nicer day so Shiloh wouldn’t be nervous and flighty. We also still need to remove shoes from Willow and Dottie before winter. Snow balls up worse in a shod hoof, creating ice balls, and that makes it more difficult for the horses to walk around.

The wind continued and got worse, and blew all night. Yesterday was miserably cold and windy. Our weather is definitely heading into winter.