Recent content by deff

The state legislature changed the property tax laws to greatly raise the tax rate on "second homes" as a way to increase taxes on recreational property. Some were trying to define recreational property for tax purposes but I believe they were unable to come up with anything that wouldn't...

Don't get me started! Our place is in a very scenic mountain foothill valley. We have new neighbors that bought large ranches, kicked off the cows and renevated hay meadows for food plots for elk. They spend maybe two weeks out of the year on their recreation properties. We are left to...

My last horse died last fall. She was over 30 so it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise but it was kind of unsettling since it marked the first time in almost 66 years that I didn't have a horse to call my own. Shucks!, I hadn't rode in almost ten years since I ascended to "senior...

When my Dad retired back in 1974, he leased the ranch and cattle to my brother and I, carried the contract and sold us each parcels of the ranch that he had not completely paid off for the price he had paid 10 years earlier. The folks bought a house in town and my bride and I moved in to the...

Myself and most of the neighboring ranchers are age 70+ now. Most of us have adult kids and grandkids that help out. The kids want to ranch but are reluctant to exchange the security of their jobs in town for the financial risks of ranching. My oldest son and daughter in law have partnered up...

Yes we did. Everything's fed. The bulls are in a small pasture alongside the county road, so we were able to plow them out and drop off a bale after the snowplow went by. Now we are working at clearing the driveway so my wife can go to work tomorrow.

Yes, It is a short growing season, high snowfall place. It is unusual to get that much wet snow in January. We often have a late spring storm similar to this, but by then, it can melt off almost as fast as it came. This is probably only the second or third time in over 50 years that I...

I'm next to the Snowy Mountains just south of Lewistown.

We have received around three feet of wet snow along with high winds causing 6 foot high drifts.this past weekend. It took all day yesterday just to plow a trail with the loader 1/4 mile up to the corrals to feed our bred heifers and replacement heifers. We didn't make it up to our main cow...

Several years ago, my vet highly recommended MultiMin and that I give the newborn calves a shot also. I used to give the cows spring and fall shots and kept the mineral recommended by my feed salesman and salt out free choice all year. Last year, I took forage samples from all my pastures as...

We sold calves at the local auction this morning. A truckload of our home raised 634 wt steers brought $3.24. They were mostly April/May calves, spring and fall vaccinated and had been weaned 45 days. I'm very pleased with the price but wouldn't mind a bit if the market continues going up!

I think that we might have lost some late calves to a cougar last spring although I can't entirely rule out coyotes. I was dropping hay in a bale ring every third day and tagging the calves that came following to the feed ground. I had 16 calves in the tally book but only found 10 when we...

I used to coon hunt but am 70 and getting a bit too stove up to stumble around through the brush in the dark anymore! I've run Black and Tans, Plotts, Blueticks and had a Matthes. I currently have a Bluetick that is head of ranch security whenever she's not sleeping on the couch. We were...

We have a brushy foothill place and often have a hard time fully appreciating all the trees! We are able to range calve and let the cows pick out the thickets to bed with straw when it snows. A neighbor and I partnered up to buy a neighboring parcel. I took the brushy hillside pasture with a...

We have been dry and experiencing highs in the nineties with wind the past 10 days. Neighbors are mostly finished haying. We were messing around with a calendar full of events and trying to get the machinery ready in fits and starts. Most of my haying crew are only available Friday through...