Shipping Cows and Training Sue

This last week we shipped out our first batch of cows. These were heifers that had been here
grazing since winter, gaining weight and getting ready to head for a feed lot. There was quite the collection of people here for the shipping process; the owner of the cows, the broker, the financier, and a ranch manager. A health inspector had been by the day before to check the cows and make sure they were a healthy group. We shipped about 600 cows in 2 days, and will ship another big batch next week.

They move all the cows into the corrals prior to shipping so they can be weighed, counted, and checked for any medical issues. Because of the super hot, dry weather though, the dirt in the corrals is like powder and the dust is constant. In preparation, the night before shipping Brian

and I put thousands and thousands of gallons of water on the ground. We filled the water tank in the photo several times at a well owned by the mines, about a mile from the ranch. Brian ran the hose at the corrals and I drove the truck around. I think we spent about 9 hours on the project, but it sure made a difference in the air quality the next day.

Another batch of cows spent a few days this week back in the house field. With cows so close,

we decided to take advantage of an opportunity to do some training with Sue. She has no problem knowing how to chase cows. The issue is getting her to not chase them, or to wait for a command before she goes after them. It is fun watching her though, kind of like a kid in a candy shop. She sees cows and her eyes just light up.

This evening, Sue and I rode the quad out to one of the water pumps to start the generator and replenish the water supply there (this is the water pump, well, and trough project Brian helped rebuild and finish in earlier posts). It is about a 15 minute quad ride out to the well, and

Sue rode out there in the "trunk" area in the back of the quad. She chased a few cows while she was waiting for me to start the generator. When I told her to load up to go, instead of going to the back of the quad she got right on the seat and just stared at me. I wish I had a picture of our ride home. I decided not to push her, so Sue rode right in front of me on the seat, resting her head on my arm. As we got closer and closer to the ranch she moved further towards the front of the quad until finally she was right out on the hood. I had to slow way down so she wouldn't fall off but she sure seemed happy to be in the front seat. I just hope knuckle didn't notice, she

might be a little jealous!

The Garden

I like to garden. Actually, I really like the idea of gardening, but I like even more the reality of eating food that I grew and know how it was handled. When we arrived here in May, I brought with me a ton of garden starts that may brother had been nurturing in his yard in Eugene since February or March. The starts survived the trip down here, but took a lot of attention those first 5 or 6 weeks because of the freezing temperatures at night. I had to take them in and out of the cookhouse every night and lost a few even in that process.

Finally, about the second week of June, Brian hauled in a bunch of dirt to our "yard", and I put the starts in the ground. (photo) They were doing great until June 16th, when it froze over night and snowed all day the next day. We thought we had lost a lot of them, but the damage wasn't as bad after all. After the last several weeks of hot weather and consistent watering, three of the tomato plants and one of the peppers came back. Additionally, my mom brought me 5 good

sized tomato plants last weekend, and the garden looks happy.

Now we have growing: black beans, onions, cilantro, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, beets, corn, broccoli, and a few carrots. We've been eating the lettuce for a few weeks, but yesterday we had broccoli out of the garden too. I've never grown watermelon before, so I'm excited to see how it will do. The corn, although it looks great, and makes any garden look authentic in my book, may never make it to the table. Our growing season is only about 60-75 days, and the corn needs a little more than that. I'm still hoping though, and in the meantime it sure looks pretty. If we're lucky, we'll have enough ingredients to at least make and can some of our own salsa. One of the big challenges has been to protect the growing garden from the many critters of the desert with a mish mash of fencing and chicken wire.....but so far it seems to be holding its own.

A little side note on kitchen activities.....last week I made a big batch of peanut butter balls. If any of you know Brian, you know he loves peanut butter. These snacks are easy to make, super healthy, and at least at our house, disappear quick. Brian shared a few with some of the other guys here, and they were quite the hit. Some of you have asked for the recipe before so here's my best guess at what I put in them. ( I don't really measure, so sorry if my approximations are off).

4 cups peanut butter (or 1 32 oz jar)

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp salt

**stir top 3 ingredients together well

Add:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/3 c raw sunflower seeds (can use roasted)

1/3 c raw pumpkin seeds (can use roasted)

1/4 c flax seed meal

1/4 c wheat germ

Stir all that up really good---it makes a gooey dough, stickier than cookie dough.

This is the messy part now-roll the "dough" into small balls about 3/4" across, then roll each ball in sesame seeds. The sesame seeds coat the peanut butter so you can eat them without getting your hands all gooey. Then your done....no cooking.

You can substitute any of the dry ingredients with what you have around....I've also used in the past bran buds cereal, chopped almonds, and chopped cashews. We tried it once with dried cranberries but Brian didn't like that as well. You can also try chocolate chips (the mini ones might be good) or raisins. They keep best in the fridge, but are fine at room temperature too.

If you try the recipe and like them, don't thank me....I got the idea from our friend Stephanie when we were in Honduras last fall.....she added cocoa powder I think, and some other things she had around. Its a great energy boost and feels good to eat ( but if you're on a diet, watch out, these are not low calorie items!)

The Wild Horse Gather

This has been quite the weekend here at Squaw Valley. The BLM started preparations last week for the wild horse gather. They estimate about 1500 wild horses live in the mountains (about 4 million acres) around our ranch. Unfortunately, many of them are sick and undernourished, and they are reproducing faster than their rate of natural death. The land designated for their natural presence can't support that many in either grazing or water supply, so every five or six years the BLM intervenes to reduce the numbers.

This year there has been extra drama about the event because of some outspoken and misinformed protesters who want the horses to remain in their "natural" habitat. Because the BLM set up their corrals for collecting and shipping the horses down at the end of our driveway, we have had front row seats to all of the activity.

The end goal is for the majority of the horses that are gathered to be adopted. They have already released over 200 horses back onto the land to continue to exist as a smaller herd. Those that aren't adopted, and aren't released will

go to a wild horse sanctuary in Oklahoma to live out their days.

Yesterday, I was able to watch the entire process from start to finish. There are two helicopters that are being used for the majority of the herding, and they are stationed about 100 yards from our trailer when not in use. Ricarda and I were invited to ride along yesterday morning from the ranch out to the horse "trap" in the mountains that they gather the horses into.

It was quite the ride, I got to see the ranch from a whole different perspective, and we saw a handful of coyotes and antelope as we made our way into the mountains. Once we landed at the trap, we were joined by some journalists, other ranchers, and some protesters/activists at a

viewing point about 1/4 mile away from the trap.

The trap itself consists of a fenced area in the shape of a "V", with the widest points being almost 1/4 mile apart. The helicopters locate the groups of horses and herd them from the air towards the trap. Waiting in the middle of the "v" is a cowboy on foot, with a horse standing next to him called the "Judas horse". The idea is that once the wild horses get deep enough into the V, the cowboy will release the Judas horse and it will run straight for the narrow part of the v that ends in a corral. Because the wild horses are herd animals, when they see the Judas horse running, they will follow it. The whole process was really interesting to see work over and over again.

The representatives from the BLM did an incredible job of answering questions and deflating tense emotions from some of the activists. Ricarda and I watched for almost 2 hours, but didn't say a thing. It is nice sometimes to get to just observe, and know its not your job to say

anything at all. All in all, it was a cool day, and probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

They will continue to gather more horses through this next week. After the horses are in the corrals up at the trap, they are loaded into stock trailers and brought down to the corrals hear at the ranch to have a few days of ample water and feed before they are shipped to their next destination for veterinary care and sorting.

Since there are a lot of stock trailers going up and down the valley for the wild horse activity, this is prime time for cattle rustlers to sneak in unnoticed and get away with thousands of dollars in livestock inventory. To reduce the chances of that, and keep a closer eye on the herd, Brian, Jake, and I will start camping tomorrow morning up in the mountain allotment.

We will be taking 3 horses, a quad, a wall tent, a pop up shade tent, and our own smaller tent. We are just setting up camp out there in the boonies, so have to haul in all our water for the week, feed for the horses, food for us, fuel, etc. I am the cook for the week, and am responsible for watching camp during the day while the guys check fences and keep an eye on the herd-there's only 4,000 of them, so it shouldn't be too bad :-). The plan is to camp for the week and come home Friday morning. I'm sure by then we'll be ready for a shower!

Midas

You probably know by now that the closest town to our ranch is Midas. Midas is a quaint, tiny little "town", tucked into a small valley about 6 miles away from us. Midas history goes back into the 1800's when it was a "booming" gold rush town. At its prime, it had almost 1500 residents. The size of the town varied significantly with the flow of gold, and now has only about 16 year round residents. This time of year, the town grows a bit with people spending time in their summer cabins, and relatives coming to visit. Of those that live in the town full time, most are retired, however a few mine workers live there. There is no school and no post office.

There is one business in town, the Midas Saloon and Dinner House. They make incredible burgers, really good pizza, and great salads too. The owners, George and Terry, do a pretty good job of knowing everybody by name, and introducing new comers to the regulars like you would introduce two people who were in your living room. We end up there at least once a week, and now and then the whole ranch heads over there for a group meal.

The rest of Midas, (other than a few manufactured homes), is made up of small dwellings that are often refurbished original cabins or previous businesses. Last weekend, while my parents were here for a visit, we went to Midas to check out some of the older features, and stop in and let Terry cook us a burger.

These are photos of old mines, ( the door going into the side of the mountain) run down unoccupied cabins, and the saloon.

Branding

Branding is not for the faint of heart. Leading up to it, "A Branding" was talked about like it was a party. Lots of people, hard work, and a big meal afterwards.....well, it wasn't too far from it.

We spent two days this last week branding. We branded calves that have been born since mid April. (there was a previous branding in early April before we arrived for the calves born in the early spring). The calves we were branding weighed approximately 150 to 400 pounds. The day

before the branding, the cowboys gathered all the pairs (moms and calves) and brought them in close to the branding corral. The morning of the branding, they were all brought into the corral at one end, and the crew was all set up at the other end.

The team for branding starts with 5 or 6 people on horseback roping the calves in the group and bringing them out to the middle of the corral. They rope the calf by the head first, then someone else comes in and ropes it by the heel. Once the calf is roped at both ends, "headed and heeled", a couple people on the ground come in and "mug". The muggers have a hard job. They have to wrestle the calf to the ground as quickly as poss

ible and retie the ropes around the calves front and back feet so they don't hurt themselves or

the ground crew. For the 400 pound calves, this wrestling match was quite the challenge.

Once the calf is on the ground, everybody works pretty fast to get the whole job done and let the calf go back to its mom as soon as possible. Other than the muggers, the ground crew also consists of someone giving vaccines, someone putting in an ear tag (that was my job-its a gun much like an ear piercing gun), someone clipping off the horn "buds", the brander, and the cutter. If everything went well, the entire process on the ground could be completed in about 90 seconds.

Branding used to be done near a fire with a hot iron, but now we use an electronic brand powered by a gas generator. Before the calves are branded we call them "slicks". Unfortunately, cattle rustlers are still a reality out here, so branding our calves to help prevent them from being stolen is necessary.

The cutter is the one castrating any of the male calves. It is an amazingly fast process if the person doing it is any good. It was a little hard to stomach the first time I saw it, but the calves don't hardly respond (if at all), and I just learned when to look away. The hard core guys (and gals) save the testicles, and roll them in flour and fry them later in the day- the call them "calvefries"- or rocky mountain oysters.

I was talking with one of the guys about it yesterday, and he said that anthropologists compare brandings to the war parties of cultures of the past. They say that the act of removing then eating the animals testicles is the ultimate expression of human domination. Hmmm.....I just think its gross.

Our first day of branding was just the people from our ranch. We branded 222 calves. We started the day at 5:00 am, and finished about 2:30 in the afternoon in 98-100 degree weather. It was so hot, and the dry powdery dust never really settled for most of the day. The second day of branding there were 6 buckaroos that came from 2 other local ranches that did all of the horseback and roping work. These guys (and girls) were really good, really fast and hardly ever missed. We branded 120 calves, starting about 5 again, and finishing by 11 am. They brought with them a lot more of the "buckaroo culture" than we usually see here. A few of them gave us a great display of rope tricks after lunch. Jose, here in the video, has actually been a world champion roper. He was really good and laughed a lot.

My mom and dad were here visiting for the weekend and were able to watch much of the branding and also the roping "show". My dad made a pretty good video of Jose's roping. I hope this video posting works....I haven't posted a video before.

The Rodeo

Last weekend, as an extension of Brian's birthday celebration, we went to the Elko Silver State Stampede Rodeo. In contrast to Winnemucca- our normal town for supplies (which some people call a glorified mine camp because about all you can do there is get supplies, get a meal, and go to a casino), Elko feels much more like a cowboy town. Its also bigger, has more things to do and see, and hosted a great Rodeo Saturday night.

It was about a 2 hour drive from Squaw Valley ranch to Elko, which if you can imagine, is the opposite corner of a triangle from Winnemucca on a map between Winnemucca, Squaw Valley, and Elko. (squaw would be like the top point between the other two). We could have gone back to I-80 the way we usually go to get to Winnemucca then headed east on the interstate, but instead we chose to take the dirt road through the Tuscarora mountains for a more "direct" route. We've been told that no one even takes this route in the winter, and the summer is questionable. It was a slow, rough ride, but nice scenery, and we went through a few other large ranches on the way.

Once we were in Elko, we went to a famous country western store that has a small museum of buckaroo gear and horse tack from the late 1800's and 1900's. Some of the spurs had very detailed and ornate silver carvings on them, and all of the tack was obviously handmade. That particular store/museum carries original work from Garcia, a famous buckaroo from the late 1800's whose family still produces very fancy (high dollar) gear. It was fun to look at,

but you could drop a lot of money in moments!

After a quick dinner we went on to the Rodeo to be there for the first event, mutton busting. The

spectator stands didn't completely fill up until later in the evening for the professional events, but it was definitely worth it to be there early enough for the mutton busting. For those who haven't seen it before, think of the county fair, and lots of kids, and big woolly sheep. Yep, the idea is to ride a sheep for at least 6 seconds before falling off, just like the pros ride a bull. Except the kids don't get any type of rope, the just hold on for all their worth.

The event started with about 40 entrants, I would guess ranging in age from 3- 8. About 10 of

the little cowboys and cowgirls never even left the gate, showing that obviously the parents were a lot more excited about the event than the kids were. It was entertaining watching parents trying to negotiate with crying children, then finally giving in and walking away. Of the kids that did do the event, the majority of them fell of before the 6 seconds, so it wasn't a qualifying ride, and most of them were also crying by the time their parents got to them after they fell off.

The little guy that won held on like glue, and finally the announcer had to just tell him to go

ahead and let go. The whole event was just pretty cute, and we laughed a lot. I don't think I've ever seen so many "little cowboys". There were sure a lot of little hats, little chaps, and little boots.....like most things in life, the parents obviously really get into dressing their kids for the occasion.

The rest of the rodeo had typical events: bronc riding, bareback, barrel racing, roping, and bull riding. It was nice to really get "off the ranch" and do something. Somehow, just going up to Midas for a burger with all the people we work with doesn't really accomplish the same thing! :-)

The final event for the night was called the "ring of fear". Anyone could sign up, then they drew 6 names to actually participate. The basic event is simple: 6 large circles drawn in chalk in the rodeo ring with one guy standing in the middle of each 8 ft (approx) circle. They released a bull into the ring, and the guy who stays in his chalk circle the longest wins $500.00. Before we went to the rodeo, Ricarda joked and said "Don't let Brian do the ring of fear!" He didn't, we were content to watch 5 other guys get thrown around by a bulls horns. The 6th guy, the one who one won the event and the money, just happened to be the last guy to get the bulls attention.

There was a dance with a live band after the rodeo and we stayed for a while to visit and take in a few songs on the dance floor. It ended up being quite a late night (morning) for us. After leaving the rodeo about 11 and taking turns driving for an hour, neither of us could stay awake enough to drive. (we'd been up since 3:30 that morning). We were going home on the interstate (not going through the mountains in the middle of the night) and pulled over in Battle Mountain to sleep for a few hours. When we woke up at 3 and started the rest of the drive home, we were laughing that if it was a work day, it would be time to get up anyways. We finally pulled in about 4:30 Sunday morning, and were blessed to have our second day off this month to sleep and be lazy all day. Happy Birthday to Brian, my best friend, my soul mate. ( and total props for falling in love with me when I still had braces and acne--you're the man).

The weekend farm

Although you all think we're on a ranch, we're also on a very small "farm". Aside from about a half dozen dogs living here at Squaw, Gareth and Maura also have 3 pigs, and Firman and Lindsey have a dozen chickens, a baby lamb, and a dairy cow and calf. (and by the number of dead mice we discard from our mouse traps each morning, you'd think we were raising a herd of them too).

Over the weekend, Firman and Lindsay went home to Montana for 4 days, and we were their animal's caretakers. Luckily, the calf did a good job of keeping the cow Josie emptied out, so we didn't have to do any milking. Taking care of chickens is pretty easy, and we collected a batch of fresh eggs that we're still working through. That baby lamb however.....geesh!

At first, the lamb was cute. It needs to be bottle fed with a rich formula three times a day. It sucks with an incredible aggression, requiring 2 hands sometimes to hold the bottle still. However, it also pushes on my legs hard enough to almost knock me over, and its hooves completely demolished my toes the first time I fed him with sandals on.

I figured it out pretty quickly though, and started wearing boots, jeans, and keeping the dogs around to control him a bit while I fed him. The little guy has become a nuisance though since after 4 days of feeding him, he now comes running when I'm around, and often makes a bed on the steps of the cookhouse just in case I might come out with a bottle in hand.

The well/pump/watering trough project is complete, and we've been going out to the pump a couple times each day to start the generator and build up a water supply there. A few cows have unofficially relocated themselves there already, and the guys will be moving several hundred more pairs into that field sometime next week.

In the mean time, Brian has been spending some quality time investing in his hammock. We brought this one back

from Honduras with us, and it makes a great place to rest in the evening. (thanks Sean and Steph!)

Brian turned 37 this week, and we plan to go into Elko tomorrow after work for the Silver State Stampede/Rodeo for a little celebration. I don't think he'll try and enter any events as a wildcard, but you never know!

I can't remember if I've put this sunset up yet or not.....but its worth seeing again either way.

Fourth of July....better late than never

We celebrated the fourth of July on the 3rd actually. The town of Midas has an annual tradition that we participated in on Saturday. For us, the day started with sleeping in until almost 7! What a morning. :-)

The Midas celebration kicked off with a parade. All except one of the "floats" were either on

quads, on foot, or on horseback. The parade lasted about 7 minutes through the main street, then they turned around and came back again. The most impressive participant was one of the buckaroos from another ranch who rode his horse and did incredible rope tricks. After the

parade he did a side display of rope tricks on foot as well.

The parade was followed by a community potluck at noon. The burgers, hotdogs, drinks, and ice cream were provided. I brought a blackberry cobbler, made with wonderful Oregon blackberries and Junction City honey I had brought with me.

After the potluck there was a horseshoe tournament, bingo, and a cake walk. They charge a small fee for participation in each activity to raise money for next years

celebration. Brian and Jesse (the ranch manager), paired up for the horseshoe tournament and ended up winning 3rd place out of about 20 teams. They received $20 for the win, but first place got $180!

I would guess there were about 80-100 people there. In addition to the 30 summer residents of Midas, a lot of extended family comes up every year to be a part of the day. No fireworks though. My guess is that the dry landscape just doesn't make it worth the risk. A fun addition to the day was seeing the hummingbird that had decided to nest under the eaves of the Midas saloon.

Brian ended up working both the 4th and the 5th, so no long weekend here. He has spent almost every day of the last 2 weeks on horseback though, and usually logs 7 or 8 hours each day in the saddle. I have spent 4 or 5 days of the last two weeks painting the house down at lower clover (all with a roller and brush). I usually start very early because the heat picks up and makes painting very difficult by about 11 am. I have a few more days of trim work to go then that project will be done. I also stained the decks at lower and upper clover last week...maybe I should recreate myself as a handy mam!

My walks up the driveway are getting earlier and earlier, most days I put in my 4 miles by about 5:30 am. The heat and the mosquitoes are starting to drive my schedule for the day more than I'd like, but it means the afternoons can be slow and lazy.

Early Morning Starts, Summer is ON

The last three mornings have started very early. Wednesday the alarm was set for 3:45, Thursday we woke up at 3:20 (even though the alarm was set for 3:45) when 2 of the cowboys that were going out first pulled in, and today (friday) the alarm was set for 3:00, and Brian was out the door about 3:10. These early mornings remind us a little of concrete work in the summer! The heat is on in full force, and the cows need to be moved up into the mountain allotment. It is taking multiple days to clear the cows out of the allotment they are in now that covers several square miles. Because they are currently on the BLM land, there are rules that direct how long (and how many cows) can be in any one place for a specified period of time.

Moving that far can be hard on the cows, especially if they were to do it in the heat of the day. That's why the team has been working so early. The harder it is on the cows, the more stress, the less weight they gain, and the less money is made....everything is all connected.

The silver lining though this morning; Brian watched the sun come up from the back of a horse, standing on the ridge line waiting for there to be enough light to start his circle. I wish I would have been there....I can just imagine the picture, a silhouette with a pale pink sky behind him....all that would have been missing is his faithful cow dog Sue in the foreground. She was home sleeping today.

I've been working on a painting project this week down at lower clover. After scraping, washing, and caulking the double wide manufactured home, I'm now about half way done with the main painting (rolled on). I'll probably finish that this next week and do all the brush work the week after that.....you can't rush these things. (I only work a half day at a time usually, and rarely 2 days in a row.....I'm a little spoiled.) One day last week while I was painting I had a little helper. In the picture with me is 4 1/2 year old Kenna. Her family is friends with our ranch managers and came for a visit for a few days. They were staying at lower clover, and Kenna wanted to come out and help me paint. When I told her to ask her mom, and that she needed to put on some clothes she could paint in, she looked at me in my overalls and said so sadly, "but I don't have any of those". Luckily they found something that would work, but she was excited to have a bandanna and white sunglasses to match mine. When their family left a few days later, Kenna told Ricarda "I'm gonna miss your house because I'm gonna miss the lady that comes to do your painting"....

This last picture is from early in the week, Brian and Jake in the shop building/welding new headgates for irrigation canals.