Cows on the Move

January 17, 2018 by Allison

All the cows are home. Well, all the cows that are coming home at home. I’m like a momma hen with all chicks tucked under her wings. Ha! No… I don’t feel the need to have them all close under wing and my watchful eye. They are probably going to get out and make for more work for me. Hey honey, lets get them kicked back out ASAP, ok!

We brought the last of the girls home a week ago. On our anniversary, in fact. What better way could we have spent our anniversary than chasing cows?! They actually moved super well, which was kinda surprising. Remember a few years ago when it was kinda a disaster? I was busy reading stories to The Ranch Princess when The Rancher walked in and said my favorite words, “Are ya busy? Can you come help?” Even if I am busy, YES, of course I am going to help!

My job was simple- wait and turn the cattle onto the road and then follow in the truck and trailer. I was more than willing for that job because it was a very cold very foggy and rainy day.

You may be surprised to see the guys heading out on 4 wheelers when I mentioned that we had the truck and trailer. This is how we cowboys in Holbrook roll.. Haha! Actually, the debate of taking horses or 4 wheelers or motorcycles can get pretty hot between the brothers. All in good fun of course! Right? I guess a lot of that has to do with perspective. The Rancher, whose every day job is to get the work done, is all about efficiency. If there is a lot of cows to move or gather over a lot of ground, he may pull out the motorbike. Then there is the opinion that what’s the point in moving cows if you don’t ride a horse… That’s half of the greatness of ranching- work that REQUIRES you to ride a horse. Which is pretty much the best kind of work. Because it isn’t work. It’s play. Both opinions have valid points…

I’ll admit, that while I love any chance to get on a horse, there are those times that 4wheelers are just more convenient. Especially when that may be the only way that I can come along. A whole other OTHER perspective on this intense debate.

I cornered The Rancher and had him spell it out for me on how he decides if he loads up the horses or the 4wheelers.

The guys like to take horses as often as possible. They can get anywhere a cow goes, especially those rangy places. It means that we can rope and doctor anything we see, rather than having to come back to take care of it later. And of course, it satisfies a cowboy’s soul to sit up in the saddle in harmony with his horse.

So when do we take 4wheelers? We usually pull them out when its a quick push down the road and it would take almost as much time to get the horses in and saddled as it would to move the cows. (ok, it doesn’t really take that long to get the horses out, but you get the idea…) But you can see how it might not be worth getting them ready for just a little jaunt down the road.

It seems that the times The Rancher rides the 4 wheeler or motorbike the most is when there is a lot of territory to cover and not a lot of man power. I see this mostly the days where they are bringing the cows in off the range than just trailing them down the road. Or if he is out checking the herd during calving season.

A few years ago we had a really hard winter. Really hard. Acutally, we have had several hard winters over the last few years. But the year I’m thinking of was hard in the midst of calving. It was so important for us to be able to get around the cattle quickly so that if there were any calves that needed help, mostly helping get warm, we could get to them before it was too late. We didn’t hardly lose a calf to the cold and I think the biggest deal was getting around fast.

Where do you stand on this issue? Because it is super important… I know some guys that at more on the rancher end than the cowboy end and they do 4wheelers only. I know another guy that likes to use horses because they will do less damage to grasses and feed. And I even know another ranch that they don’t use horses or 4wheelers… They walk. As much as they can they like to do it all on foot. They aren’t too horse savvy to use horses but they are also concerned on the impact of 4wheelers.

Do you have an opinion? I want to know what you do at your ranch! Because… I’m a curious creature, and even though we all do the same thing- ranching, we all do it differently. But however you do it, keep doing it. 4Wheelers or horses, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we all find our own BEST way to get the work done. Be your best and rock on!

Until next time!
The Rancher’s Wife

Trailing the Cows Home: If Only We Can Find the Gate…

January 12, 2018 by Allison

Its definitely winter here on the ranch. Not because it is cold and snowy, because it has actually been warm (relatively) and rainy. I’m saying its winter time on the ranch because the cows are here and The Rancher is officially feeding every morning. Slowly over the last 2 weeks we have trailed and hauled cows home, starting with the group up in Quaken Asp.

Quaken Asp is some of private ground in the mountains past our home where we pasture the cows in the fall. Its a favorite of our family’s- a place where we go up for a 4 wheeler rides, hunting, an evening drive… you name it, we do it up there. In fact, The Rancher proposed to me up there. Yep, I love it up there. When The Rancher announced that it was the day to bring the cows home from there, I immediately asked if I could come along too. I would say it was 50% me wanting to go for a ride, 30% that I needed get out of the house and do something, and a strong 20% that needed some quality time in a place that I loved.

Luckily for me, I managed to upgrade my ride from the gator, which I always plan to take because it lets me take all my little people and manage to take photos off the trail, to my horse! The Ranch Boss, my father-in-law, had shoulder surgery a few months ago and the thought of something going wrong and him coming off his horse was enough to make him call dibs on the gator. At first I thought that meant I was destined to stay home or to sit in the truck and wait. But, because I am his favorite daughter-in-law, The Ranch Boss volunteered to take my kids with him and I was free to saddle up and go.

Once we got up the mountain, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the cows were going to be difficult to bring home. We rode to the very edges and corners of the field and only gathered up a small portion of the herd. As cows do, they had managed to tear the fence down in a few places and meander far, FAR away. And not only they were few and far between, but they were also belligerent and stubborn and wouldn’t move. They would sit in the trees, head up the mountain, and no matter what we did, turn tail and run.

Ya wanna here just how stupid and ignorant and frustrating these cows were? Ok, it wasn’t the worst move we have ever done, but still frustrating.

There were four cows that I found in the bottoms, stopped in a groves of trees. Calling them trees is kinda pushing it… It was more like a bunch of overgrown bushes that left no room for a horse to move around but apparently enough for a cow to wiggle under. And there was no amount of whooping and whistling that was moving these cows. I tried coming at them from every direction and something worked because eventually they started moving (I guess I am scary… BOOM!) Of course they don’t take the easy way down and jump in with the rest of the herd but they decide to go further up the mountain, through even more brush. About this time The Rancher rides in and he followed them up and over while I kept looking for others in the rest of the brush.

Things were going pretty ok, but we could see handfuls of cows that still needed gathered in. The Rancher and Cowboy E headed out to gather in whatever they could find, while I grabbed those four cows and kept pushing them. I actually didn’t have to push all that much because they were moving plenty fast on their own. Unfortunately they kept going further and further up the mountain and away from the herd. I would get the leader stopped and headed back down just to see one take off another way. This happened over and over again. Where was a good ranch dog when I needed him?

We were headed in the same general direction as the herd and I knew that we would come out just fine, so I opted to stop fighting those old girls and just see where they were taking us. I knew that other cowboys were on the same side of the mountain as we were and that in reality, if I needed help, I could leave the cows and things would be ok. But, being the good cowgirl that I am (or at least pretend to be), I just kept going. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned when I first trailed cows was to let them take the lead. They knew the range better than I did so it was likely that they knew the best way out. I was hoping that this little bit of advice wasn’t about to fail me. After moving for a long for a while, I start to see more and more cows. Apparently this group all had the same idea to head for the same corner of field, not realizing that they had passed up the better route of going through the bottoms. About that same time, I see Cowboy Pete push a few more cows in my direction and turn around to head for more so I figured I would just take this group and move on down. We started following the fence, assuming that it would take us to the road and out. But I started to look where the fence headed and all I see are corners.

Who builds a fence with 12 hundred corners in it?! Ok… I know that the where and how the fence goes depends on a lot of different things, but still… I mean, if I kept following the fence, where was I gonna end up. I didn’t bring my map of the range so… I called The Rancher instead. He informed me that occasionally they just take the fence down and make their own gate… Oh. Make my own gate. I can do that. I rode up ahead of the cows and took the wires down. Just then The Ranch Boss called me to explain that I needed to turn the cows around, that there is a gate at the corner already opened. Ya know, the gate that we had passed already. He said it was an easier ride out so, I turned those cows around. And went back to where we had started.

No gates to be found… I might have grumbled a little.

And then we turned around again and headed for the place I knew I could get out, make-shift gate I had torn down. And that is when I saw it. A gate. Hidden in a sort-of corner (as opposed to a nice square corner) that we had passed. Over and over again… These blasted cows, that have been on this mountain year after year, head straight for the gate that THEY want to go out, and then MISS it altogether! Gah! If I was a cursing woman, I would have used all sorts of obscenities but… I held my tongue. And those crazy girls redeemed themselves by sticking to trail for the rest of the ride home.

Mostly…

Until the next ride!

The Rancher’s Wife

A Good Winter Day Sorting Cows

February 27, 2017 by Allison

Last week sorted cows in Locomotive. Scratch that… It was actually like SEVERAL weeks ago that we sorted. In fact, its been long enough ago that we sorted, that the snow has melted and we have mixed the cows back up. I had a twinge of hurt when they mixed up the cows again. Because I feel that we just did the work of getting them unmixed up… Oh the work we do…

That day of sorting had a lot of emotions running through it. There were those overwhelming feelings of just being totally exhausted from the added work with dealing with the snow. There was the tension of not knowing how the day was going to go, if it was going to go at all. Then there was the final relief and thankfulness of finally getting the work done.

You can imagine we slept well that night.

I’ll admit, I had my own doubts about how the day was going to go down. They had never had to sort all those cows there. They never had so much snow to work the cows in. I was afraid for the worst- cows not cooperating, horses slipping on the ice, and cowboys coming home hurt and discouraged.

That is always my fear. Because I have seen it.

When I was a little girl, I saw the hard days that my dad had. There was the day that he couldn’t take his own boots off because of the 4wheeler accident. There were the days that he came in exhausted from no sleep trying to keep calves alive in the cold. There were the days he couldn’t keep the equipment running to get the hay done before the storms rolled through.

But there is one day that comes to mind above all the rest as being hard for my ranching dad.

It had been a long winter. The calving was over and breeding season was in full swing. Doing the spring work in the still winter conditions was getting long and tiresome. Eventually there was a break and the thaw finally came. It only took a few days for things to change. The frost thawed, the ground dried and suddenly it was hard again.

He was bringing in a heifer to AI. He saddled up his horse and headed out as he did every time. Now let me tell you a little about his horse. She had a long, long ugly nose. And that was about the only bad thing about her. Ok, not really… everyone horse has her issues. But this girl was good. She could cut a cow as good as any other. Once she knew what cow she was bringing in, you just let her do the work. She could drop her back end and change directions in a second. If you didn’t hang on she would move right out from under you (and I know that from personal experience!). She loved the work and worked hard.

The heifer my dad and his partner were bringing in was a little feisty. No surprise and really, no big deal. And for my dad, it was even a little fun. Like most cowboys, he enjoyed the rush of the ride. But then the heifer cut back and Whitney, his horse, went to spin. And then she went down.

In those couple of days that the weather changed, my dad was busy. Are you surprised? He is a rancher, they are always busy. Busy enough that he hadn’t had a chance to take of the cleats on his horse.

When she turned back, those cleats dug into the ground, and she spun, but her leg didn’t. And it broke.

My dad knew instantly that it was bad. So bad. He was right.

He called the vet and he was able to come in and help Whitney. They were able to set and cast the broken leg. But she would never chase a cow again. It was devastating.

My dad says that every cowboy gets one good horse and one good dog. She was his.

Ya know, despite the great days we have on the ranch and in this life, there are some really hard days. We take risks. We work in sometimes dangerous conditions. We work with animals that can do a lot of damage. And when those bad days come we just have to take it in stride.

My dad couldn’t put his partner down that day. He just couldn’t lose her. She meant to much for him. So he decided to turn her into a brood mare. Now her babies are on the ranch, doing the same work their momma did.

Thankfully, our day sorting on the range had a good ending. A great ending. The work went well and the cowboys came home safe. Not everyday turns out so well and we are grateful for the good days. Its the good days that keep us going when we have those hard days.

Our Snow-Pocalypse

February 7, 2017 by Allison

Hello from the land of snow!

Can you finally see us out here? The snow is finally settling! If you add up the total inches accumulated, we have had like 71″ of snow. Is that not insane?! That is over 5 feet of snow! But don’t imagine that all fluffy 71″ are still standing like they just fell. Some of that snow was way heavy and packed everything down with it. We had a week of warmer weather that helped melt things down a little too. And we actually had a couple of inches of rain that dropped the level down even more.

We have been praying for the moisture for so long and we feel so blessed to finally have it. But in the dry spell that we have been having the last few years, we might have forgotten the not so awesome side of so much moisture.

Now, I want you to know I AM NOT COMPLAINING! Just simply explaining the challenges of having so much snow. Because there are challenges, friends. Besides the obvious road closures keeping us from going ANYWHERE, school snow days, and hours spent cleaning off my roof so it won’t fall in (I might have been stuck up there for a while…), the biggest challenge has been keeping the cows on the up and up.

I’ve told you before that we winter our cows down in Locomotive (some come home for the fall and until mid-February, but then they end up back down there…). Its a great place to have them for the winter because, generally, there is no snow. Or just a little bit of snow. That makes it better for calving, less sickness, and not having to feed them everyday. But when you have so much snow their bellies are dragging through the snow, they certainly can’t get to the feed underneath it.

So this winter, with the snow-pocalypse and all, we are having more work than ever!

When the storms first started coming through, we pushed the cows as far south as we could where the the storms had been less severe and there was more feed available. Ironically, it always happened to be on a Sunday that the guys from the association wanted to move them. You might not think that would be any worse than any other day of the week, but wrestling 3 kids alone in church is rough, friends. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, come visit next Sunday…

Back to the cows…

So even after getting the cows south, enough storms came that NOT feeding them wasn’t an option anymore. So then they had to bring them back up to where we could get to them with hay. And that was a lot of work.

First they had to find all the cows. And if you know cows, once a storm hits they just start moving- moving to find shelter or feed or whatever… But they just start moving and when there are hundreds and hundreds of acres for them to go, it takes a while to finally find them all. The Rancher didn’t complain too much at this. I mean, when you HAVE to go snowmobiling all day for your work, it can’t be all bad, right?

But after finding the cows, they had to get them up to the feed yard. That was definitely a challenge… Of course the cows were going to struggle moving through the snow and would fight you nearly every step of the way. I probably wouldn’t want to move my big pregnant self through so much snow for miles either. So the guys pulled out all the graters and tractors and … (I don’t even know what all equipment they had!) and they plowed a path to trail the cows back.

And now to have 1,100 cows are rounded up together, it takes a lot of hay and a lot of time to get them all fed. I’m pretty sure right now, all the guys do is push snow and feed cows. Feed cows here at home, drive to Locomotive, feed cows there, and if there is any time before dark, they push snow. Seriously, it is all they do.

And it is exhausting.

I think it wouldn’t be near so bad if we were all healthy, but we are not. Sickness has gone through the ranch, not to mention other issues (like being run over by a cow and lacerating your liver…). So while we are trying to heal and get healthy, we are using all our energy to keep the cows on the up and up.

I’m honestly a little worried about the guys. This is the time of year things are slow and they get to recuperate before calving and then branding and then turnout and then summer… But I don’t think anyone is feeling rested after these last few weeks! It could be a long few months ahead of us.

But we are still SO thankful for the snow!

Now we just pray for the energy to withstand it all… Did you know there is more snow in the forecast? Yay… (I might be crying inside….) !!

Thinking happy and warm thoughts,
The Rancher’s Wife…

I tried taking pictures of the horses in my back yard, but there was so much snow my camera couldn’t focus!

Taking hay down to the cows and unloading without a tractor…

Its snowy and beautiful even if its so much work!

The upside of so much snow!

Growing a Kid Crop, Growing a Calf Crop

January 11, 2017 by Allison

2016 will go down as a big year for The Rancher’s Sidekick. It’s amazing how fast kids can learn and grow and change. This boy went from baby to a boy overnight. I know, that’s not how it actually happens , but when you are the momma you just can’t let your oldest grow up. But then one day you wake up and he is going to school and totally ok without you. And then he comes home from school and he can read and write and likes girls and he just isn’t the same kid you sent out the door.
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Click “Read More” for the rest of the story!

Obviously school wasn’t the only place he was growing up on me but at home and on the ranch too. Can I just say how amazing it is to finally have a kid that can help out around the house?! My kids have doing chores and helping since they were little (in our house everyone helps in the home and on the ranch as soon as they can walk… not really, but young… I believe in teaching my kids how to work). But The Rancher’s Sidekick can actually really help now. Like do a job on his own. And not like the I’m-doing-my-chores-but-mom-really-does-all-the-work-because-I’m-too-little-to-do-a-good-job kind of on his own.

Can you tell I’m pumped?

This may be as freeing as potty training!

Ok, I may be dramatizing things a bit, but it’s so nice to have him growing up and able to have a little responsibility and him handling it so well. Proud momma here.

And then there’s the growth he’s had on the ranch. There’s a reason I call him the sidekick because he goes everywhere with his dad. In fact, this last summer, he would wake up early to make sure that he wouldn’t get left behind. There were very few day that he didn’t go about to work with The Rancher and stay out there all day. And he wasn’t just a tag along but actually helped get the work done. I couldn’t believe the stories he would come home telling about his adventures throughout the day. In fact, I would sit there, eyebrows raised at The Rancher, when I would hear about how he had pushed the cows all alone out on the range. It seems just like yesterday I would have to go with him if he wanted to ride and now all of the sudden he isn’t just riding by himself but pushing his own herd of cows! Of course, The Rancher would smile and beam with pride at his growing boy and slowly my heart would slow down and I could see that our boy really was growing up and he is becoming someone I am so proud of.

Now, it complete transparency, he is still a typical little boy that is currently in big trouble for not listening to his momma. And he absolutely drive me crazy with all the boy noises, farting, burping, and how he torments his sister. But, as we are all a work in progress, I can’t help but be so pleased with his progress.

Ya know, on the ranch we are all about growth- we’ve gotta get out calf crop BIG. We select genetics to grow big calves and to have cows that milk well to grow big calves. We have genetics to have calves that grow big out on the range and desert and genetics to have low birthweight calves that will gain fast. We supplement our cattle with protein and mineral to help with nutrition to grow big calves…. Its all about growing big calves! At home we are worried about growth too, but less about physical growth and more about what kind of people our kid crop is becoming. We want to see them grow into hard working, responsible, caring, and committed people. We want them to grow into people that

So far, I think we are doing pretty ok!

Range Weaning Out to Black Pine

January 9, 2017 by Allison

Not being a local girl to southern Idaho, its been pretty fun for me to hear and learn little bits of the history, especially the fun tidbits that relate directly to the family, the ranch, or the land we run on. And since the family has been around for more than 100 years and we run on like 50,000 acres (ok… I don’t really know how much land it is, I just made that up… but its a LOT) of public ground, there is a lot of history there. History ranging from the construction of the transcontinental railroad to the wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail to the local Indian tribes that lived in the valley.
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Click “Read More” for the rest of the story!

We summer our cows in the Black Pine and Juniper mountains and just above our ground at the van Colman is the old Black Pine gold mine. When I first heard an out the mine, I pictured an 1849 old prospector panning for gold in the stream, finding his fortune a nugget at a time. But of course that was wrong because there aren’t ANY streams crossing through Black Pine and I don’t think the mine was open in 1800s. The mine was open more recently, like 1990s recently. Crazy, huh?

How cool that only 20 years ago guys were saying that they were gold miners! That sounds more like somebody’s alternate life not a reality in this life… super cool- not that I wouldn’t want to do it, but super cool for someone else to do. The idea of going underground in a dark creepy mineshaft just does not appeal to me! Maybe that’s still picturing the old prospector kind of mining and not the modern machinery mining…

Back in the day, when The Rancher was just a little buckaroo, they used to take school trips out to the mine and check out the operation in progress. Being the kid he was, he was totally in awe with the equipment- loaders so big the entire school could fit in the bucket! (remember, we have a small school out here so its only like 30 kids instead of 300…). As they would tour around they would get to see them blasting the hillside. It was actually more of hearing it than seeing it as it was pretty far away, but still super cool for any little boys that enjoys demolition! And then to top it all off, they could see the final product of it all- gold bars.

Unfortunately, the mine is shut down now, not so much from a lack of gold but more to the financial troubles the company had… So all that’s left there now is a few old shafts and remnants of the old mining carts and tracks, just memories of the old operation. I always wonder how much more gold is down there, especially with new technology and innovations. Maybe if I wasn’t a busy rancher’s wife I could be a gold miner. With the way cattle prices have gone recently, maybe a little diversification wouldn’t be a bad idea!

Not Lost, But Certainly Not Sure Where we Are

September 19, 2016 by Allison

Hey, friends. Do you feel abandoned…. again? Summer just gets so darn busy (I think I’ve told you that the last 3 years!) that some things just have to go and since I can’t stand to go without clean underwear or cleaning my house it is, unfortunately, my blog that gets neglected. But lucky for you I still take lots of pictures and remember the good stories so I can still keep you caught up.

Like this one day that we were almost lost.

I say almost because I don’t want to ever admit I was lost, but if there ever was a day, it was this one.

Let me set the stage. It was a beautiful and lovely fall day when the guys were gathering the cattle from Cow Hollow (the summer range pasture) to take into Black Pine to wean the following week. It takes about three days to get everything gathered and moved to the corrals (not to mention the week that it takes for the lost stragglers to make it down!) where they can work them and we were on the last day. The herd goes right past another set of corrals that conveniently works great to stop and sort off any extra pairs that don’t belong or castrate any bulls or that sort of thing.

Normally the cowboys are on their own for an exciting sack lunch, but on this lucky day, one good ranch wife suggested we meet up at the corrals with the cowboys to grill some burgers. We jumped on that idea, because the cowboys were tired of eating sandwiches, we were tired of making sandwiches and we were really tired of seeing some of those sandwiches come back home. Ya know, we ranch wives end up in a terrible conundrum- we have to make sure that we make send enough food and enough sandwiches to keep the cowboys full and happy. But at the same time, too many sandwiches are a bad thing. They come home all warm and soggy and no one wants a leftover sticky, soggy sandwich so they end up in the garbage. So you can see why we jumped on the burger idea.

We, The Montana Girl, The Cattlewoman, and I, loaded up in the truck with 4 babies, a load of buns, patties, and sheet cake and headed out to find the boys. I had never been to the corrals we were headed to but The Rancher had given me some sketchy directions where we headed. I knew the general area we were looking for hope that the landmarks I did know were enough to help us get. Luckily, Rancher Sr. gave his sweet heart even better directions than I had, so I just opted to leave the navigating to her.

Our instructions were pretty simple- after the road goes straight, take the only road headed to the right shortly before the road goes under the freeway. Pretty simple, right? We thought so. We got to the straight part of the road and started looking for a road that headed off to the right. And we found one, but it looked more like a goat trail, so we figured it didn’t count. We kept going and saw ourselves another road and this was a real road. It had to be a real road because it actually had a road sign. And we were sure we should take it because the sign said “Cow Hollow” and that’s where the cows were coming from. So we took it.

We knew that once we got on the road, all we had to do was drive a half mile and then take the fork to the right and we would see the corrals. Well, we didn’t see the corrals…. buuuut we could see some cows so we kept going. We got to the cows and they weren’t ours and our cowboys were NOWHERE to be found. So what’s a girl to do in such a situation?

Just keep driving, of course. I have to tell you at this point we just kept laughing (laughing seemed a better option than crying) because we knew that something was up. Either we didn’t follow what seemed to be simple directions or our directions were bad. And to make our situation seem worse, we were out of cell phone service so we couldn’t even call anyone to let us know where to go or what to do! Typical, right?

So we kept driving. And driving. We figured they had to be this way because they were bringing cows from Cow Hollow… and the road we were on was Cow Hollow so logically we were headed in the right direction, right? So we kept driving. Through one gate… and then another. The farther up the road we got, the more we laughed and slowly conceded that we didn’t really know where we were going. But despite our dire circumstances there was a bright spot in it all- we had the cake and chocolate cake makes anything better!

We were steadfastly watching our phones and Tada- finally we got service! The Rancher picked up and just laughed when I explained our exciting predicament. We were way, WAY off! So we found the least scary place to turn around at (because there aren’t too many places for a U-turn out in the hills) and headed back to the road. It turns out that it was really simple to get there, we just hadn’t gone far enough down the road to take the right right! All we needed was for someone to have said, turn JUST BEFORE the highway, or AT the turn. Nevertheless, we made it.

Now if there is a lesson in all this, its this: a man should know to give detailed directions to his wife. Sure the directions we were given were accurate and simple, but without the details we had to fill in the blanks ourselves and that didn’t turn out good! But we know that DETAILS just aren’t a part of a man’s brain so the reality is that detailed directions will never happen. Which means the real lesson in all this is that every ranch wife needs to know EVERY inch of land, EVERY road, EVERY corral… EVERY blasted sage brush so that when they say “meet me here,” you actually know where to go and don’t take an hour long scenic route.

Despite the craziness and somewhat stressfulness, it was a lot of fun. Not any fun I want to repeat anytime soon, but we certainly made some memories.

A Family Cattledrive

November 11, 2015 by Allison

Oh boy was this a crazy summer! With all the ropings, family events, community activities, and building a house we were running in every direction. To help things out, the cows decided they didn’t need much moving for the summer. For real… Between the field rotation we were on and the rains it seemed we hardly had to move the cows. The unfortunate thing about that was that I didn’t have many opportunities to ride with the guys or take any photos.

On the one chance I had to saddle up, the whole family got to tag along. We really weren’t even moving to new field, just pushing the cows to a different trough. So even though it wasn’t too much of a ride, it was perfectly short enough that we knew they would last and have a great time. We have my old horse from when I was a kid that The Rancher’s Sidekick has claimed. And the Ranch Princess bounced around between me, Rancher Sr., Cowboy E, and The Rancher. It might not have been much, but we made a few good memories.

Trucking Cows for a Day

August 3, 2015 by Allison

I’ve never been one to love the life of a trucker, not to mention be married to one. The long days if driving and being away from home just don’t appeal to me. I love a good vacation, but a slow noisy semi truck is no vacation.

But on occasion, I do LOVE to tag along with The Rancher to haul cows. We have a semi and bull wagon for our personal use mostly. But we do hire out for custom cattle hauling when called upon. It’s not a lot, just enough for us to make a little income to keep the semi maintained. My favorite drive is hauling cows up and down Logan Canyon. We start it good ol’ Park Valley- dry deserty area with only sage brush to call trees. Then cross down into the beautiful Cache Valley to drop off our load. The trees and water and mountains and cliffs and flowers are breathtaking! The lush green in the summer turns to vivid orange and yellows in the fall. I’m almost salivating just reminiscing of it’s beauty.

We just dropped off our first load of cows of many loads to come. I’ll admit it was a long day, but still great. This momma had to get up at 4:30 am to get all the snacks and clothes and you tractors necessary for a small ranch family to play in a semi all day. It got to be an even longer day when the ranch wasn’t quite ready to load up as we got there. They were still vaccinating calves which meant lots of sorts and moving groups of cows around… I could have slept in my on bed another two hours if we had only known! But I did get some much needed paper work done while we waited do I can’t complain too much.

I have to laugh a little st what it takes to get into the area where we dump the cows out. The turn off is so tight thst we have to go up passed it and turn around ;which involves crossing the highway blocking traffic, to only stop part way across the highway to back up so we can sneak by the skin of our teeth to get all turned around. I held my breath but apparently to The Rancher it was no big deal.) to make it in. It’s actually at s camping/ hiking parking area that they have to close off so they can get in and out. It’s so small if an area that only two semis can be in there at a tune, so you can guess how a bunch of extra cars in the way would really foul things up. Once they actually hooked up a truck and horse trailer to a parked truck to take it out of the way. I doubt that hiker was very pleased to come back to see his truck NOT where he left it.

Still, all good and fun. We drove, we enjoyed the sites and I stole just a minute for some photos (it really was just a minute because between the time for my potty break and diaper duty, it’s all I had before we were unloaded and on the road again.)!

The Last of the Association Branding

May 28, 2015 by Allison

How about a little different post? Still lots of pictures but instead of a wind up with some sort of an interesting story, lets do a commentary. A running commentary to let you know what I was seeing when I took each picture.

Ready?

Riding in the herd…

Brothers… The little brother was pestering the older brother, the older brother took down the younger brother and commenced the Chinese torcher tap. Nothing but true love there!

The Ranch Boss just had his 87th birthday and refuses to stop. He may slow a little, but he is determined to never quit.

I just thought this blaze was funny… Like, bummer birth mark or something…

You find cowboy style and personality everywhere. Some cowboys go simple and some like bling everywhere, even by their horses slobbery mouth.

When I got up close I realized that he had his name on his spurs- AWESOME! And he has some cool red top boots peeking out. That’s like cowboy lingerie, right there!

Horses on the range- its a beautiful site.

There isn’t a better place for kids to be than out in the middle of nowhere branding.

The Rancher’s Sidekick always has to be in the middle of it all. At the point in the day he had proclaimed it his job to stand on the leg so it wouldn’t move. Don’t know that we needed it but I’m glad that he found a job he could rock.

The saddle- a cowboy spends many long hours in this seat… It better be just to his liking!

Just a boy giving shots, but once again… its a great place for a growing boy to be.

Dragging calves in…

Sure glad he has a cap on that… Sometimes people get unintentional vaccinations

Thank goodness for back pockets because when your hands get full there is always a place to hang your tagger and your clips.

We always load up toy for the kids. In fact I think there ends up being a whole sand pile worth of toys out there!

And then sometimes they end up hauling more than just dirt. The Rancher’s Sidekick started gathering up discarded nuts and taking them to the dogs. I’m glad that was all he was doing with them…

The Rancher’s uncle… I’ve known him for quite a while and he has ALWAYS had the mustache. The length of the handle bars has varied over the years but it is truly his signature!

I know he wasn’t really posing, but I tease that everyone is so used to striking a pose for me that it is just second nature to stand picture ready!

How many boys does it take get a calf down? Lots… and still the calf will give ’em a run for their money!

It got dusty… no surprise. And it looked cool.

Gathering the herd in for the after lunch branding. Taking a pit stop at the watering hole…

Rancher Sr. doing what he does best. He has become such a great friend. I love having him for a father-in-law.

When you ride next to me you are going to have your picture taken. And I love them even if you aren’t looking at the camera!

Cowboys make beautiful photographs… I love my job!

Cows scattered across the range- this is why we bring so many cowboys. And this was only one small corner of our beautiful world. I love having wide open spaces for an office!

Boys in the dirt… need I say more?

We could see a storm moving over the mountains and it was a stunning backdrop.

Love the dramatics of the sky. Having a non dusty windy day was incredible!

A look at the scene from herd side…

One of my favorite cowboys.

Every week there are a few new faces around to help and enjoy the cowboy lifestyle.

A different perspective… But appropriately, looking up to a cowboy

Cute. I love cute calves! Especially the baldy calves.

Drug by the heels. If only he knew what was going to happen to him.

Sisters make the best friends.

Her parents had better be ready for this beauty to grow up. Check out those eyes!

A little saddle bling with your brand on it can never be a bad thing.

Just taking a minute to visit with a friend. Kids and horses were meant to be together.

Any guesses what this coffee can is for? Oh, just to gather nuts in… Calf nuts…

Should we be concerned that there are no adults in this picture?

J4… When the ropers bring in a calf they shout out what brand to put on it- Rocking-A, AE, J4 , Bar over the hip, K+… and many more

When you pester the big boys they just might decide to hog tie you. While I was taking this picture I could hear them saying (in more colorful language) that they unfortunately didn’t have enough rope to finish the job on this growing boy… It was his lucky day, that’s for sure!