Yearling Roundup

March 21 & 22 rounded up cattle on Knolls and Cierro Hueco to locate 12 yearling calves and wean them from their pregnant mothers. Only able to find 8. 5 were already branded,so only had to brand 3. They'll be weaned over next few days and then put in bull pasture. Cleaned out manger area and horse stalls. Removed the float valve at Jenny's mill to purchase another and Tom Baker family will install that over the next month. At the roundup was Dad (Guy), Ginny, Alisha, Christopher, Ashlee, Cody, Ryan, Tracy, Deanna & Steve. Horses rode: Barkley, Cinco, Chit-tah, Guapo and Winston. Rojo looking older and skinny so we didn't ride. Also didn't ride Pepper and Buddy. Colt is looking good.
Also want to make everyone aware that Christopher took two months off from his job, is living with my dad & mom and working at the ranch. If you didn't know, he worked the last 6 months at Babbitt Ranch (largest ranch in Arizona) near Flagstaff and Grand Canyon. For a perspective, last fall they branded 3400 calves compared to our 80. And they do it all on horseback and roping them rather than using a squeeze. He learned how to shoe horses and was able to shoe all of the horses for a savings of 400-600 dollars. We also roped the 3 calves that we branded and did it on the ground- first time I've ever done that and we had a good time. He roped off of Guapo and the horse did real well. He and dad are working every day on fencing and so we'll see on May 3rd, our first ranch work weekend, what work we will still have to do. It is comforting to me that there is someone out at the ranch with my 82 year-old father in case something happens.

Water Problems

During November the generator at the Knoll's Mill stopped working. Guy brought in a mechanic who discovered it was wire that had been chewed through by a mouse. Now fixed. Portable generator at ranch house mill also stopped running. Generator belongs to the person running cattle on Johnny Naegle's land. Guy got the owner to get it repaired

11/12/07 Talked to Guy. Said that he had good water at Knoll's mill (70 inches) but the feeder trough was leaking more now and he's concerned. We tried to repair it earlier with a repair dough. Asked him what we should do and he said he didn't know until he got back up there to take a look at it again.

Asked dad a few weeks ago about how to know when you need to put hay out for the cattle in the winter but didn't get a satisfactory answer that made sense to me (something like "when they need it"). But he and mom both reminised about the winter of 1969 when the snow was so high that dad and Casper had to pull hay behind horses on sheets of tin. Dad said they didn't have to open any gates because the snow was above the fences and they just walked right over them.

Calf Sale

Guy and Ginny went to the auction on Friday. By 4:00 pm the calves had not yet been auctioned and Guy thought there was still about 1,000 calves to be sold, so they came home.

The calves were sold for about $1.15/lb. quite a bit under the price a few weeks ago of about $1.30/lb. A lot of calves showed up that day and anytime there's over supply the price will go down.

9/29/07 Hay, salt, Knoll's mill

Guy, Steve, Chris, Ashlee and Matt Garner work at ranch.

Guy bought 44 blocks of salt, 3 varieties- unloaded into storage shed (more specifics on the salt in the operations handbook)

Unloaded barn full of hay.

Knoll's Mill drinker tank has small leak. Attempted to fix with JB Weld (water compatible mix). We'll have to see if it holds.

Moved appr. 10 head of cattle that were near the mill from Knolls pasture onto Cierro Hueco . 3 cows weren't cooperative and Guy feels there are still a few more on the Knolls.

Collected info on Knolls Mill Generator. Will post to Operations Handbook.

Guy wants to know final tally of riders for roundup by Thursday so he can get horses shod.

9/25/07 No Help Needed with Hay

Guy called and said that the people delivering hay will be unloading it themselves. No one will need to help.

9/23/07 No Hay next weekend, salt only

Just called Guy and they will not be getting hay this weekend (9/29) because they are cutting the hay this week and have to let it lay in the field and dry. He thinks it may be the next weekend (Conference Weekend). I told him to call as soon as he knows. I'm going up to help with the salt unloading this weekend. Greg will not be needed.

As a sidelight, dad mentioned that he purchased 8 cows this week and two of them calved already. I asked him why and he said as replacement cows. He mentioned that he was thinking of getting some more and I just mentioned that we ought to sit down and talk about this because of the possible obligation we have to get some money to siblings that are wanting to cash out their share of the Nicoll property. He was open to that discussion.

He said that he probably wasn't going to ask George Wallace for help during roundup since it's hunting season so we can take his name off.

Steve

Calf Sale Work - Add your name if coming

* Tue 10/23 Roundup (we need 8 people)
Guy, Steve, Don, Brig, Ginny, Ashlee, Conrad, Dan Kuefner, Cami, Caleb, Jacob, Ryan, Matt Mueller,

* Wed 10/24 Separate and work cows (we need 5 people):
Guy, Steve, Ginny, Dan Kuefner, Ryan, Matt Mueller?

* Thu 10/25 Load calves (we need 3 people):
Guy, ? Hall (Truck Driver), Steve, Ginny

* Fri 10/25 Auction at Belen, New Mexico:
Guy & Ginny