Up the Mountain
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To start out the week, we headed over to Nate’s side of the ranch. There we gathered cows out of the West Side Creek Pasture. That pasture is only 76 acres, so it was a very small gather. The creek runs through it, so some of us stayed on the west side of the creek and the others went to the east side of the pasture. Once we got some of the cattle gathered on the west side I went and opened the gate that the cattle would be going through and set myself up so that I could turn them to go out through the gate. Once all of the cattle were together, we trailed them back to the corals to be loaded on trailers that would take them to the Zimmerman Pasture. We took a few loads to the pasture and I was put in charge of holding up the herd so they didn’t go farther then we wanted them to. We were right beside the pasture where they would be going but the calves were not there yet, so we had to wait for them before we could put the cows in the pasture. It was a long day because I just had to wait there on my horse and make sure nobody got by. It was also a learning curve too because my horse is the kind of horse that doesn’t like to be alone, so he was acting up a little bit. By the end of the day when we got all the cattle paired up my horse and I were ready to be done for the day.
On Tuesday we headed up to the North Pasture to gather all 231 head of cattle. Some of them were in the Thorburn so I moved those cattle into the North Pasture; we gathered all the cattle towards the southwest gate of the North Pasture. Once they were all there, we opened the gate and started trailing them towards the State Land. We didn’t get very far before the calves were already starting to turn back to where they were last nursed. It was tricky to keep all of the calves there, especially when somebody else would go chase after another calf. Eventually we got them all back on track, for a while anyway. There was always one calf that would look back and run every now and then. The trail that we were taking was a tricky one because there were draws and there was a creek that was on the left of us so the cows and calves kept getting in those. We got to a point where the cows got on the other side of the creek- we decided to start over and let them come back a ways, then gather them again, and send them back the original way. We finally made it to the State Land after a long few hours. It was a learning curve because you can’t let the calves look back and you have to stay close to them so that they won’t turn back.
The following day we packed up and headed to the mountain. On the mountain we fixed fence in preparation for us to be able to trail the cattle up there in mid-July. It was definitely breathtaking when we got up there. The wildflowers were so pretty and everywhere. We split up in pairs and all worked on separate fences, that way the tasks could get done faster. The last stretch that I had was a very important one because the cows pressure it when it snows; they know the way down of the mountain and they know when they are there, they are getting ready to leave the mountain.
On Thursday morning we tried working again on the oiler that we had worked on previously. We got it filled up, but it wouldn’t prime right so we decided to not take it out to the pasture. So, David went to get another oiler from a different pasture. I headed up to the North Pasture to get the oiler that was by the south water tanks. David, the ranch hand, followed me up there and once I got hooked on and everything, I followed him up to the State Land. We placed the oilers and then I headed back to the house. Once I was back, I thought I was going to be weed eating, but we couldn’t get it start so I took salt to the heifers instead. That afternoon we went to the Thorburn, where there was a flood gap. The rain that we got last Friday washed the fence away, so we fixed that before ending the day with a trip to town for groceries.
The following day, we went to the Big Pasture where there was another flood gap that the rain washed away. We picked out all the wire and fixed that one too. It definitely was not as bad as the other one but it still needed fixed. That afternoon David, Terri, and I headed to town for a meeting with the Forest Service. They have a meeting with the Forest Service to figure out the rotation of pastures while the cattle are up on the mountain. They also talk about other things such as water tanks or reservoirs. It was a big learning curve because there was a conflict that happened. According to the meeting, that conflict affected the ranch quite a bit. Because of the conflict, I don’t think the Forest Service quite understands ranch life. They plan where their cattle are going within the 12 months of the year. They have to keep rotating them because of the grass. I believe the Forest Service should be on a ranch for a couple of weeks to understand a little bit of ranch life. They would understand where the ranch is coming from regarding the conflict. Sitting in the meeting was very educational and showed me what to do and what not to do.
To round out the week, David, the ranch hand, and I headed up to the storage tank in the Little Goose lease to set a monitor. The monitor allows us to tell the depth of the water tank. It allows to know if there is a leak if the tank is too low or if it just at the right depth of water.
Submitted by: Josie Sackett
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
