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.