March 20-21 Corrals, Tumbleweeds, Goodbye to Rojo & Barkley

---------Barkley--------------------Rojo--------

Two of our better horses had to be "put down" this week. Due to age, Rojo, one of our strongest and fastest horses, but now barely able to walk in to water each day, had to be put down. He was known for breaking into a run if you gave him his head at all. And sometimes it took both hands and a little prayer to get him to stop. Cap, John, and Guy each took their turns on Rojo. Barkley, one of our own home-bred horses from our previous mare April, had developed a hoof condition which caused the hoof to split and was painful for him to walk on, also had to be put down. He was born in 1993 when Charles Barkley led the Suns to the finals- thus the name. It was a little emotional for Chris, Cody, Matt & Steve as this was our first time involved in such a sad event. It's no easier for an old cowboy-Guy couldn't watch but stayed at the truck.

We accomplished a lot on the corrals. Built a new wood gate, straightened 3 metal gates, rehung two gates that the cows knocked down last year and removed the gate between the barn and saddling area. We burned tumbleweeds that had collected around the corrals and rebuilt a wire gate at the knoll's mill. We cleaned out the old tack room on the south end of the stables, which has not been used in decades, and we now have an additional storage area.

There remains plenty of work for our April work weekend including a roundup to get the yearlings off of their mothers and lots more repairs and cleanup. Any help will be appreciated.

PS- Chris Nicoll is home from his mission so he will be shoeing the horses this year.

Feb. 21, 2009- More Fence Repair

-------Good Fire------------Bad Fire-------What Fire??

Different fence- same project. The entire south fence of the horse pasture (1/2 mile) was laying on the ground. Guy, Ginny, Tom, Cody, Steve and a Baker friend (Nick) put in a full days work replacing all but about 3 T-Posts and restretching the 4-wire fence. It was knocked down by the accumulation of tumbleweeds which allowed the snow to collect and break the T-posts. Guy & Cody first had to use the propane torch to burn off the weeds. It went much better than removing all the tumbleweeds off the fence, piling them up and burning them as we did last time. Only problem was when lunch came and two firemen (Wildland Firefighter Cody and City Firefighter Steve) weren't paying attention some left over embers caught the gate posts on fire and burned them to stubble. We seldom (if ever) used the gate so we just strung wire across it for now.

Jan. 17, 2009 Repair Down Fence/Unload Hay

Winds had blown tumbleweeds against the north fence of Cecil Pasture and snow accumulation had then snapped metal t-posts and completely layed the fence down in some places. Guy, Ginny, Tom, Cody, Don, Steve, Blaine B. & Matt G. spent a beautiful January day removing & burning the tumbleweeds and repairing the worst portion of the fence. Tom & Ginny also brought up a large load of hay which was unloaded into the barn. Tom & Ginny have also been doing some research about how to keep the water troughs from freezing. They purchased a solar powered water pump which they installed at the Knolls tank which produces a continuous bubbling of air that is supposed to keep the water from freezing. We'll see how it works.

Oct/Nov 2008 Fence Repair/Separate & ship Calves

Guy, Ginny, Kevin, Cody, Blaine B., Ryan G., Chris N, Cameron (friend of Chris) & Steve fixed the gate btw. lane and Knolls, the fence btw. Knolls & Cecils and fence btw. Cecils & Unit 36 (still needs extensive work).

The following day we rounded up cattle on Knolls and separated mother cows off calves. Russell Nicoll and some of Kevin's kids joined us. Checked cows teeth and culled 7 cows and 2 bulls. Calves for sale totalled 40 heifers & 32 steers. 25 young calves were retained.

Due to low prices at the auctions we didn't immediately sale the calves but kept them for two weeks and Guy fed them in the corrals. Prices weren't much better 2 weeks later, but daily feeding was wearing on Guy so we shipped in November to Belin, New Mexico and because of the size of the calves they brought a decent profit.

Cody Weagant, Esquire

Congratulations Cody on passing the bar exam!

Young Calf Roundup and branding- September 12 & 13

 On Friday Steve and Guy shod one hoof on two of our horses so that they could be rideable.  I believe that will be all that the newly trained horseshoers will do in the future is here and there a shoe, while fully shoeing the horses will have to be left to some hired hands until Chris returns.

Ginny and Steve then unloaded a trailer-full of hay which Ginny had purchased in the valley.  An additional trailer-full remains and will be brought up another weekend.  Steve and Ginny then rode the east pasture (east of Jenny's pasture) on quads and pushed the few cattle there onto Jennys.

On Saturday Cody Weagant, Ryan Garner, Steve Nicoll, Alisha Baker, Ashlee Nicoll and a friend rode Jenny's pasture by horse while Ginny and Russell rode quads and rounded up and pushed the cattle directly to the Knoll's pasture and to the large mill where we cut off the unbranded calves. Turned out to be 19 of them that we had to throw and brand on the ground which was definitely a workout.  A long day got us back to the ranch at 4 pm.

The cattle look good and there is good feed at the Knolls so they should be looking good in October for the sale.

Elder Nicoll

Today Chris gave a wonderful talk in advance of leaving for his mission. He made is family proud (in a righteous way) and I noticed a very pleased pair of grandparents. We wish (and pray) for Chris's efforts in Canada. He is following the example of the original ranchers, Casper & Helena, who showed their faith by accepting the mission call to serve in Bavaria.

Thank you for all the work you've put in at the ranch the past many months. You will be missed.