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.
First of TP&B
Summer time means play time! At least some of the time. A side job we have to raise and provide heifers for sorting and roping events. We have several throughout the summer- some with fairs, others with the Team Penning and Branding Association. The best part about taking them out there is that we get to join in the fun.
There are always a handful of regulars that go to these things. You have your older generations that are still trying to live the dream and the hobby cowboys that don’t do it full time but jump in where they can on the weekends. At the end of the day, the cowboys that eat, sleep, and dream EVERYTHING cowboy come out for the roping. I love watching those cowboys and horses that know what they are doing. They move effortlessly. They don’t make a lot of noise and don’t draw a lot of attention. They move together with their horses, already knowing what to do.
It was a party for the Eliason family in Blackfoot for the first TP&B. Everyone came down to do a little cowboying and enjoy the company. This is the kind of fun our family has on a day off!
The Last of the Association Branding
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?
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!
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.
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?
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!
Chaps- a functional and fashionable part of the cowboy wardrobe…
Checking out the herd…
This girl will show you how its done!
Following the rope back to the cowboy- my cowboy in this shot…
Looking for the unbranded babies…
Camping out on the Range to Catching Horses
We brand nearly every weekend of April, and sometimes that even runs into May. With so many cattle spread so far across the range it takes several different days to gather up the cattle to get the work done. The weekend we did so many calves at the ranch and then again at our private ground in Locomotive we still had the association branding to do the following day (Saturday). Instead of driving back and forth so much we decided to just camp out.
We were full of adventurous expectations of shooting guns, riding bikes, and other exciting stuff (ok… so I can’t remember all of the ideas we had but I know they were awesome!) but after two full days of branding we were pooped out. That really meant all we had energy for was to sit and do nothing. Everyone was pretty ok with that… Except there was one thing we all HAD to do. Because although we were camping and roughing it, we did have one admit request of The Cattlewoman- we had to shower! I don’t blame her for not wanting a bunch of stinky cowboys and cowgirls in her trailer so we obliged. And with so many to shower that pretty well filled our day. We showered. We ate. We slept. We talked. It was great fun!
There was a teensy bit of excitement when some of the guys thought they should go hunting for the big rat in old shack. Doesn’t shooting at a rat in a dark shack in the dark of the night sound exciting to you. Mind you that the shack would have fallen down at any time if they hit it in just the right spot… Boys…
The following morning we woke to a wonderful surprise- no wind! That might not sound like such a big deal, but we had been hammered with the wind for days. For just a moment we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunrise without any wind.
The Rancher Princess and I followed The Rancher out to catch horses for the days work. The horses weren’t really cooperating… they ran and ran and RAN! Not the way The Rancher wanted to start his day but it made for a fun little photo shoot for me.
Eliason Branding 2015 Day 2
I love rainy days! For so many reasons… Of course because we need the rain- we need the rain SO badly. But I love the rain because then we slow down a bit and I have time to go through the HUNDREDS of pictures that are calling to me. So… without any further time… here are some long overdue pictures. Pictures from our second day of branding.
There’s a funny story that goes along with this day…
Since we were branding out on the range and camping out that night we had a lot to take out and a lot of rigs hauling it all. We all eventually make it and get to starting. The early comers had already started gathering the cattle in so the late arrivers started pulling out the equipments. We think, “everything looks good…” We have half the cows we usually have to do, all day to do them, and lots of good help. This should be a great day!
The herd comes in, the cows go back out and we get the fire started. The Rancher and Rancher Sr. start pulling out all the stuff that they carry around and need for each calf. They sharpen their knives, I fill their syringes, they grab their taggers and tags… No tags! We had no tags! (actually we had like 22, maybe- but still not enough!) Kinda an important part of the day!
We just kinda twiddled our thumbs about it and got started anyway. But uh… no tags, fellas! Eventually we decided that we would tag all that we could and kick them back out to the mommas. Then we branded, vaccinated, castrated, marked- did EVERYTHING except the tags, to the rest of the calves. We held them all until had more tags, which only happened because The Ranch Boss had graciously volunteered to drive home to grab tags to save the day!
The cowboys didn’t mind too much that we had a kink in our day. It meant that we weren’t pushing too hard, which gave them a chance to do a little extra fun roping. They pulled out their fancy big loops once in a while and headed and heeled a satisfying amount. We got the work done, ate some good grub and marked another day down in the books!
Association Branding- Day 1
Enjoying the Monotomy
Are you tired of hearing about our somewhat monotonous life lately? The cows have babies, we check the cows, we tag the babies, we feed the cows, we go to locomotive and then we repeat it all… Nothing crazy or extraordinary is happening so I don’t have stellar stories for you. I guess I could make one up… Would you know the difference? Don’t worry, I won’t…
On this sunny day the kids and I loaded up in the truck to truck down to Locomotive. Sometimes I like to go just because it gets the kids out of the house so they can’t destroy the house so much. Seriously, I am ready for summer for them to spend all of their time outside. I feel like a make ZERO progress… I’m sure no other mom has had that problem, right? I heard a saying the other day about how trying to clean the house with kids around is like trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos. Yes. Truth.
So we drive with dad. The Rancher has a bike stashed down with the cows to buzz around the cows we quick. The kids and I take that time to do some exploring. We find sticks and rocks and tags and occasionally something cool like old plastic pipe. Ya, know… typical childhood treasures. We throws rocks and take walks while trying to avoid the poop and not chase all of the cows away. Its kinda hard for me to take ranch pictures when I can’t find the cows… This fine day we stopped by the troughs to throw rocks in they overthrow ponds. I’m pretty sure I was the coolest mom that day!
They threw rocks. I snapped pictures and this is what we ended with!
Monotony can be nice sometimes… You enjoy these photos and I’ll go whip up something a little crazy!
Loving the Open Range
I’m a Montana girl. The small ranching town I grew up in was just a little valley, cross crossed with streams and rivers. Something very VERY different from where we are ranching now. Everything was green. All the time. That may be exaggeration, but really I remember that there was so much green-ness. So many meadows, so many hay fields. There were little groves of trees everywhere. Really so much green! And then there were the skies. I love the fresh and blue open skies. The clear mornings that renew each morning with a new sunrise. The sunsets were made with cord that illustrated that God truly is an artist. And the clarity of the nighttime sky allowed you to see even the most distant stars. Whenever I go home I just drink it all in.
Mother Nature’s Desert Treasures
Not Letting the Drought Win
There are few things ranchers depend on for their industry- cows/calves to sell, buyers to buy, and feed to fatten them up. The first two are in pretty constant supply, feed on the other hand… Well that’s a little subjective…
There is always feed out there, but good quality feed at a good price can be hard to come by. Why? One word… DROUGHT.
The last few years we (and by “we” I collectively mean all or most ranchers) have been needing rain in a bad way. Without rain grass, grain, alfalfa, hay, whatever won’t grow. Pretty cut and dry (hehe, dry… that’s what we are right now!).
The other day we had our turn to check water in Locomotive on our BLM association ground and we took a turn through our private ground to check the feed. Our private land in Locomotive is where we take our cows to calve out every winter, the turnout day coming up in just a few weeks. But the sad truth is that its going to be a very different year for Locomotive.
Throughout the summer and fall we have been keeping an eye on our feed down south, hoping and praying the rain and sun to get to work to make grass that we need to winter the cows. As the time has gotten closer and closer to moving cows out there we have realized we don’t have NEAR enough feed to winter all the cows there and keep the ground healthy.
Last year it was rough. With years of drought, we finally grazed it down to its limit. And we hate getting to that point. We consider ourselves stewards of the land. We care for it, trying to keep it flourishing in something more than tumble weed. But without the rains and the tough soil we have struggled the last few years. You can see in the pictures that the normal greenish brown is yellowish brown or even more greyish brown.
So what’s a ranching family to do in a situation like this? We could just take the cows down and not care. But we care. We want this land to sustain itself and our cows. We need this land to sustain itself and our cows. So we are keeping most of the cows home this winter. We will take down the number of cows we think will make it on the range and keep the rest here. That means The (poor) Rancher will have LOTS of cows to feed at home… bummer. And we might have some tougher weather for our cows to calve in… And we might have a little more sickness go through the calves since they won’t be spread out across the range. But we are hoping that we can help the land to renew itself and be fruitful in the coming years. This year will mean we get to put in a little more work, but protecting our land, something we CAN’T do without, is worth any effort.
So with a little less cows, a little more rain, maybe a few grass seeds, and a lot of faith we are trying to care for the land and not let this drought win.
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