corn stalk grazing

The year of 2012 is nearing it's end and the prediction is that it will be the driest year on record.  This meant that grass did not grow at the ranch and after eating the grass left over from 2011 the cows had nothing to eat there.  They are now in the irrigated corn fields of the North Platte Valley to eat corn stalks for the winter.  The stalks, husks and leaves are the crop residues left after the corn has been harvested.  The residue has enough energy for the cow's needs, but they need to be supplemented with protein, vitamins and minerals.  This may mean that many of us, including people in the cities, may have to substitute less nutritious food into our meals.  Hopefully ranchers will manage through these trying times and there will plenty of beef for all people soon.

just friends

"Tom" the ranch's border collie isn't so good at  herding cattle, he was suppose to be moving the calves out of the corral.  He would rather just be friends with them.  Tom can stay in the corral and watch the calves for hours and never get bored.

dusty corral

The ranch had two very windy days this week (winds up to 70 miles per hour).  Add that to 16 months of very little precipitation causing extreme drought and even pastures with very limited grass growth allows the soil to blow around.  We bring the calves into the corral for a quick meal then get them back out into less dusty areas of the pasture as quickly as possible.  Over all health of the herd remains good.

Ranch history comes alive

History buffs from Rapid City (Jon Nelson and John Amato) met with Blake and Arden for the day to discuss history of the Running Water Station.  Jon and John spent many hours going over the site with metal detectors, they found a pocket watch (with initials D.E.O.), a spoon handle with engraved letters and many pieces of metal and glass.  Jon presented us with the book Crossing the Plains with Custer that he co-authored with Paul Horsted.  This was quite and interesting and enjoyable break for us from the intense work of calf weaning.

Searching for energy

The exploration for uranium is underway once again, The drillers have dug 12 of the planned 25 test holes at this time.  The test holes are all concentrated near one canyon in the SW corner of the ranch.  The geologists are looking for seams of a formation they call Chadron Sand that has a high probability of containing uranium ore, They hope to find 15 feet or more thickness of this formation.  The drillers pull out a sample of the earth at every 5 foot level.  They tell me that so far the holes have shown 0 to 7 foot thickness of this formation and they don't have the analysis done to tell if there is uranium ore in it.  This driller is pointing to the small sample that indicates 7' of Chadron formation from this well.

growing up

We have 375 calves weaned and started on an independent life without their mama.  A few have developed respiratory infections created by the extreme dry and dusty conditions due to the most severe drought in over 50 years.  Fortunately they have  responded very well to the treatment that we have implemented at an early stage of the disease. The calves have learned to eat a new ration that is 16% protein for 1/2 of their diet while still spending most of the day in the pasture eating grass that they have been familiar with the first 5 months of their life.

identified the culprits

We arrived at the ranch house yard this morning to find the thieves that have been conducting garden raids munching away.  We jumped from the pickup to apprehend them, but as you can see they escaped by exiting through the back.  If we ever see their rear again we should be able to identify them.  Considering the raccoon, the deer and the cows all gaining access to the garden in recent weeks there won't be any vegetable canning done this year.    

corral improvements

The corrals at the ranch have been solid board fences that gave cattle protection when the calving season was in the winter and early spring.  Our calving season has been moved to late spring and the cows are not brought into the corrals. These corrals are now 35 to 70 years old and needing to be replaced. We are weaning calves at the ranch this year instead of taking them to a feedlot, so we have started replacing corrals so we can make the calves more secure as they adapt to new surroundings.  As you can see the fence design is more open and less expensive, but still a lot of work to build.

fire near ranch

This past week has been bad for lightning caused fires north of the ranch.  The West Ash Creek fire in the photo is burning within 15 miles of us. The 3 fires have burned 135,000 acres at this time and are still not under control.  The second photo is smoke in our valley--you couldn't see more than 1/2 mile.  Currently the wind has changed and we can now see, the fire is not coming towards us at this time.  The National Guard with helicopters, the Forest Service with tanker planes and many fire departments are at the scene.   Our neighbors that have tanker trucks are hauling water to the fire fighters.

accidental injury

While standing in line waiting inoculation for protection against disease this steer calf caught his leg in the facility and fractured his left front canon bone.  He was anesthetized and a fiberglass cast applied.  This uncomplicated fracture should be healed in 4 weeks and the cast can then be removed.  He is currently doing well.

beaver forecast end of drought

The Niobrara River is dry for miles through and near the ranch.  However beaver are working hard preparing logs for building a dam to impound water once flows return.  They have more optimism than I do at this time.  Blake and Arden walked up and down the river bed for several hundred yards, but could not find where the beaver's home could be.  The beaver family and the Wohlers family are hoping
this hard work will pay off soon.  

river dry

Wohlers  Ranch is once again suffering a drought year.  The past 2 years have been above average in moisture received, but so far this year we  haven't yet reached 4" of moisture, last year we were at 13" and average is 9".  Plus we have had a lot of hot drying wind.  The pastures are drying down and grass has stopped growing.  We are going to be very short on winter grass and hay costs are double that of 2 years ago (if you can find any at all).  We are already trying to find feed for winter, but may need to sell much of the cow herd.  Of course many ranchers are in the same predicament so naturally  the market for good cows  has dropped considerably.  This is a photo of the Niobrara River near the ranch buildings showing that it quit flowing this week.  The river quit flowing on to the ranch for several months each summer for 4 years during the drought of the last decade which was the only time that happened in the history of the ranch.

water for cattle

The rotational grazing program that we do on the ranch allows for a more healthy range and more forage for the cows.  This is accomplished by grazing with a large number of cows for a brief period of time then allowing the pasture many months without cows for regrowth.  This is great for the grass, but presents a problem to have enough water for a larger group of cows when we must rely on wind to pump the water.  We attempt to solve the problem by pumping with electricity (too expensive to  put in lines to distant pastures), by using solar panels to produce electricity to run the pumps or by creating more storage of water by putting in bigger tanks to collect water when the wind does blow or the sun shines.  Some wells have 24 foot tanks that hold 5,000 gallons of water,  but at this windmill we lined up 4 of the 11 foot tanks that together hold 4,000 gallons of water.  It was not an easy job getting the tanks level and each tank to be 4 inches lower  than the tank before it.  Then dirt was banked around them to hold them in place.

Blake studies?????

Blake is enrolled in the "High Plains Ranch Practicum" involving 8 days over the next 7 months.  This is a program developed at the regional research centers of the U. of Wyoming and UNL.  He attended 2 days this week and studied grazing management with emphasis on drought conditions (especially needed this year) and body condition scoring of cattle to determine if they are maintaining appropriate weight.  Later he will study marketing, nutrition for cattle and other topics related to the ranching business.

Garden time

Calving season is over and the cow-calf pairs are on new grass in summer pastures.  The calves have been given their initial immunizations and are satisfied with the new surroundings.
Blake has turned some of his attention to cultivating the ranch garden that has finally started growing with the summer heat, although the severe winds the past month and the lack of rain has been problematic.  The biggest crop will be tomatoes (there are 20 plants at the ranch and others in Scottsbluff).

getting goosed

I finally found this years goose nest.  As you can see it is near where the nest I made for them is located.  The nest is on the bank next to the river and merely a depression in the dirt.  This pair must have been too lazy to make a nest in the water out of cattail leaves this season.  There were 2 snapping turtles (with 20" diameter shells) and a muskrat swimming in the river next to the nest location.  Hopefully they either don't like goose eggs or mama goose is a ferocious defender of her young. Since the opposite bank looks directly down on the nest it should be  easy to watch the hatching process this year.

Time to move on

This was reloction day as 181 head of Wohlers Ranch steers left the Fall Run Feed Yard where they overwintered the past 5 months ( They grew from 460 pounds to 883 pounds).  They are bound to Yuma, CO where they will be feed a high quality ration until they weigh about 1300 pounds.  Then they will be made into choice quality steaks for fine dining at some of the best restaurants in the country.

Ready to work

Tom has been getting a lot of work hours in the past month mostly he is on foot as he loves to run while working.  But as calving season wears on, and Tom is feeling his age, more often then not he enjoys riding and this is where he sets and waits for a driver to take him to the job site.  He is trying to figure out how to start this this thing so he can go to work by himself.

April fools trick

On April 1st cow 256 was  having difficulty giving birth so I brought her to the obstetrical barn to give assistance.  The problem quickly became evident as I found 2 calves trying to exit at the same time.  So I pushed calf B back so calf A could be born and then calf B was able to quickly follow.  There were concerns that they wouldn't have enough to eat, but so far they are doing well.

illegitimate calf

The first calf of the year was born today, she is a few weeks early but not unexpected as we knew when the neighbors bull jumped the fence last spring.  The picture shows everything going well, but this first calf heifer is not being a very good mother and we may need to take her to the corral for motherhood training.  A few hours after this birth an older cow had a premature calf born, she is trying to be a good mother but the calf is too weak to stand so we gave her some dried colostrum (the first milk that gives immunity from disease and is very nutritious) now we wait to see what tomorrow brings.

breaking in a new ranch hand

Blake and Arden gave the precalving vaccinations to the first calvers a couple of weeks ago and this week on Monday and Friday Sharyn got to experience cattle working as the 2 groups of cows were given their annual immunizations.  Sharyn was great help and should make a satisfactory ranch hand.   Her driving skills were appreciated the most as She led the cows into the working corrals with the feed truck while the other 2 cowboys pushed up the stragglers with 4 wheelers. 

beef industry research and education

Arden is on the board of the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation (NCF).  The NCF's mission is to advance the future of Nebraska's Beef Industry by investing in research and education programs.  In 2011 NCF gave out 19 scholarships of $1000, awarded research grants of 5K and 10K to 3 professors and established a new endowment for a range professor.  NCF also supports livestock judging teams from UNL and 3 community colleges.  Support for FFA and other needs that fall within our mission statement are made each year.  Money for these programs are raised by individuals donating steers to the Retail Value Steer Challenge which places steers in a feedyard until they are ready for harvest.  The donated steer and the profit he makes during the feeding program creates the funds.  This program will raise about 170K this year.  Steer number 49 is my donation for this year, if he places in the top 3 in any one of 3 categories I will win some money back.

burning barns

Another excess building was erased at the ranch this past week.  The barn in pasture D1 (the Johnson Place) hadn't been used in many years and was near falling down,  We removed the tin roof and pushed it over several months ago and needed to wait for a calm day with some snow cover to do the burn.  Now we need to get all the nails and the foundation picked up or buried.
We haven't seen the elk along the river again so we haven't been able to get a good picture for this blog, but will keep looking.

Attracting hawks

The platform to attract Ferruginous Hawks to nest on the ranch did not accomplish that task last year.  Therefore we attached tree branches to the perimeter of the deck to create a better substrate for nest building.  Hopefully our luck will be better this year as we have an adequate food source in the nearby prairie rat town.

herd additions

We now have 407 cows to calve this spring with 90 of them being first calf heifers.  41 more heifers were purchased at the Torrington, Wy auction last week to add to the herd.  This group of heifers match up very well with the home raised heifers by weight and calving date.  They came from the Meike Ranch near Kaycee, Wyo that I did herd work for when I practiced out of Buffalo nearly 40 years ago.

checking cows

Travis and Joe came to the ranch this week to check on the progress of the cows in the winter pastures.  They lucked out since the weather was so mild this week that there was very little ice to remove from tanks and the cattle had so much grass to eat that they would rather graze then come in for extra protein supplement.  Unfortunately there wasn't  enough snow to enable Joe to do some sledding after the work was done.