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.

winter fun

When the work is done for the day (ice chopping and cattle feeding, and fence repairs and more) then Tom and Blake can ice skate on ponds near the river or go sledding.  This sled is the one that Raymond Wohlers received for Christmas as a boy 85 years ago.  The sled was later used extensively by Arden and used in lesser amounts by Travis, Carrie and Blake.

Winter work

Temperatures at night has been dropping into the single digits which means more work removing ice from the tanks so cattle can drink.  This is a great exercise program and gives Blake a couple of hours of cardiovascular workout and muscle development every day.  This workout and his skills in wrestling developed while handling 3-400 pound calves is making Blake one tough hombre.

solving water problems

The lack of wind to pump water for cattle this past summer helped make the decision to install solar power to submersible pumps as a more reliable power source in sunny western Nebraska.  This will hopefully bring more warm underground water into the tanks to reduce freezing of tanks this winter, which will allow the cattle to stay in the pastures that did not get utilized in the summer.  A problem developed after installation with the pump delivering too much water causing the well to pump dry.  Therefore we will drop off one solar panal so the pump won't pump quite so much.  Watch the blog for further developments.

health problems

The first group of calves to leave the ranch 6 weeks ago are now doing fine, eating well and playing because of their contentment of being fed well and water always handy.  However the second group just weaned 10 days ago are having serious respiratory disease problems, already 30 of the 177 have been medicated and 4 have died.  Hopefully the crisis is nearly over and the group will move forward.  This picture shows 2 sick ones in the foreground and 2 dead ones further away.  On the other side of the fence is the 158 head in group 1 happily crowding the bunk eating away.