hunting paradise???

The ranch has been leased to Heartland Prime Outfitters for hunting rights.  On rare occasions we can have elk, turkey and mule deer.  Their main interest is white tail deer and pronghorn on our ranch.  They do not want to hunt coyote or prairie dogs that we have plenty of.  We are now in archery season for pronghorn antelope.  The outfitters have set up 2 blinds near livestock water tanks.  The hunters wait in the blind until an antelope comes near to drink.  This is Brian from Illinois who is in his second day waiting for success.  The temperature has been 98 degrees during his time there.   He seemed glad to have me stop for a quick visit. 
 

Make hay when it rains

 The ranch has irrigation rights from the Niobrara River however we don't use them as we could anymore.  So we only justify harvesting hay when there is adequate rain to grow grass properly.  Since we do not have the equipment for haying a custom hay crew put up 325 bales for us (about 225 ton).  This is half of the hay we need for the winter.  alfalfa will be purchase from producers for the remainder of our needs.

Beautiful weeds misplaced

 The ranch has experienced 3 years of extreme drought.  It appears to be over as we have received as much rain in the last 3 months as we did in the 3 years prior.  Moisture for 2023 is at 16.3 inches were as average would be 10.3.  The grass is growing great, but so are the weeds.  Many pastures have areas loaded with sunflowers and it makes a beautiful sight.  But being out of place they are still a weed and the cows don't eat them.  

   

Mining gravel

               

We contracted with Dawes county 4 months ago to open up a gravel pit on the ranch.  Gravel was soon piled and ready for transport, but none was hauled until this week.  Being close to the highway the pit is handy for the county.  Being 3 miles from our buildings it minimally affects the ranch operation, but still creates a small side income.  So I consider that a win - win business deal. 
 

Beef Quality Assurance at the Wohlers Ranch

The Wohlers Ranch has pride in raising cattle in a humane manner suppling livestock with proper nutrition, providing necessary shelter and handling them in an easy manner.  Most of our animals are quiet and adjust to our ranch life with no problems.  However there are occasional  members of the herd that are like some people that test our patience.  We recently attended a seminar to update our commitment to beef Quality Assurance.

Labor saver

 Ranching is similar to many industries having difficulty finding employees especially for occasional day help.  Finding qualified and experienced help for ranching is nearly impossible.  Therefore a calf table was purchased so 2 old guys and 1 young hard working young guy could process the medical needs of the new crop of calves.  Blake can push a calf into the table and then hydraulic levers allow the calf to be restrained laid over on it's side so the procedures can be performed with little stress to the calf or the cowmen.

Tidying up

 Old and nonused  often wore out machinery has been relocated to the junk row at the ranch for many years.  Some of the discards may be over 100 years old.  It has been handy to have a source of scrape iron when needing to make equipment repairs.  However the size of the junk pile has been getting ridiculous. A trailer was filled with scrap and hauled to the salvage company.  It was a 2 hour job to load 1 1/4 ton of iron that brought in $240 when delivered 60 miles away.  This is not a get rich job, but after another 6 to 8 loads the ranch will appear more well kept.