Docking Lambs

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This past week was a long one. We started off the week cutting hay in Gillette. A small 40–45-acre plot of alfalfa lays in the middle of town, and we were given the go ahead to cut it. This field was split by a drainage ditch, leaving 1/3 to the North and the rest to the South. Kevin and I made 6-10 passes around both sections before the sun set. I was able to see an in-field sickle replacement, as the guard had been rubbing wrong and caused the sickle tooth to come loose.

Oil pipelines disturb the dirt when they are built, causing weeds to grow and rocks to surface. Late Tuesday morning was spent picking rocks off of the pipelines. We did this to allow the tractor and plow to be able to drive over top the pipeline, turn the soil, and prep for native-grass seeding. After the sun came out and dried things off, I went into town to finishing cutting hay.

Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, it had rained enough to cause a slow morning. We made due and replaced a well pump that had gone bad. We had to pull the pump all the way out of the well; upon inspection, we realized the pump was full of mud and rust. After finding that, we checked depth of water, the depth of bottom of the well, and replaced the pump. Due to the rain and wet conditions, we were given the rest of the day off.

Thursday we spend most of the day gathering sheep in the singles-pasture in order to prepare for docking on Friday. Joe, the hired hand on the sheep ranch, and I ran together to the far corners of the pasture and began pushing the sheep to the docking pastures. Riding through some of the draws and creeks was quite tough and showed how rough the back pastures can really be. After we pushed to the sheep wagon, we then moved South to the next pasture. Here, I realized I had a flat tire and had to swap bikes. By the time I was back, this pasture had mostly been pushed through.

Friday morning, everyone met early at the docking pen and gathered from the docking pasture to the corral. Docking was a new experience for me, and the sheer number of lambs we went through was quite staggering (to me anyway). Between the two pastures, we did over 900 lambs. This was a long day, and we ended the day with eating burritos and talking. We were supposed to gather the twin pastures Saturday, in order to dock Sunday; however, the rain kept us back from doing so. Instead we had to wait for Sunday to gather and dock. Sunday, we docked the rest of the lambs adding up to a total of almost 2200 lambs between docking on Friday and Sunday. To say my back was sore is an understatement.

Submitted by: Jaxon Ondracek
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team