September 5, 6, 7, 2011

[Soapweed]

Coyote Hill is taller than it looks in this picture. It is the highest spot for miles in any direction.

View of the nearest town from on top

Mostly hills in any direction you look

With a ranch or two in the distance

The moon will soon provide a bit of light.

JF Ranch is my traveling companion.

The old stone marker on top. It was hauled up with a team and wagon well over a century ago.

This little modern rig got us to the top in easy fashion.

Gathering bulls on Tuesday to pick out some to sell

We ended up sorting out eight head of 3-year-olds to take to the sale.

The eight head all sold in one draft. They weighed 1658 pounds on average and brought $72.75 per cwt, or $1206 per bull.
They were purchased as yearling for $1400 per head and were used for three seasons. They were on our feed roles for two years
and four months, but hopefully each one bred at least 75 cows while on our ranch.

My sister and I traveling through the meadow

With a bloodhound showing us the way

Yearling heifers in the pasture

They are coming to check me out

Or maybe they are just curious about the salt hauling wagon

Flies are still a factor.

They haven't been preg checked yet.

Not breeding true to form. The cow has no ears, but her calf does. :wink:

Some of the Kosmo Kid's collection

Of colorful cheekens

Rangatang rowdy rooster with an attitude

A little meat wrapped in lots of fluffy white feathers

 

[WVGenetics]

Good looking heifers, Soapweed, and even more beautfiul scenery. I love that open country!

 

[Faster horses]

Looks like you were on top of the world, Soapweed. Looking at
them I felt like I could fall off...

Your grass is still green...no green left here. We haven't had much
rain since July 2. Could use a good one. Several grass fires
have sprung up around the area.

Everything looks good as usual. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[jodywy]

Still amost flat enough to watch your dog run away for a couple days :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[gcreekrch]

Still amost flat enough to watch your dog run away for a couple days :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :nod:

 

[katrina]

 

[per]

Still amost flat enough to watch your dog run away for a couple days :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :nod:

With that knoll to stand on maybe a week of dog watching.

 

[Soapweed]

Yes, we Sandhillers are guilty of making mountains out of molehills. :wink:

 

[kelpies4me]

Hey Soapweed- I read about you and your family in the Working Ranch magazine. Wonderful article, very handsome family and beautiful ranch. Would love to meet you all some day.

 

[mrj]

That Bloodhound looks capable of traveling quite a way in a little while!

It's amazing how much ground even a small dog can cover. My brother has a knee high, or less shepherd, black lab. cross that has gone 'to town', nine miles by the road, which is also about the shortest route, and that little stinker has 'gone to visit the city' several times lately when he gets lonely after the grandkids go home.

Love the photo's of that great, and green!, country. We, too have about dried up, with little rain except an occasional .20 or so since early Aug. We have lots of grasshoppers beginning to make a showing, too. Eating many of the seedheads off the western wheatgrass and little bluestem.

mrj

 

[Shortgrass]

That country is deceptive. A cow can disappear in 15 seconds and will take a couple of days to find her again. You can see a lot of country, but you sure don't see all of it.

 

[mrj]

BTW, I forgot to compliment the 'chicken farmer' on your place, Soapweed! The cowboys here don't like them roosting in the barn, so my chicken house is kept full of little square bales of horse hay so I can't refill it.

I love the oddball chickens! The last survivors after the chicken house was filled with hay lived in the barn, roosting in the rafters. They were an assortment of Auracana's, banty's, and a fighting rooster breed a 'friend' threw in with the banty types I requested! It was quite a challenge to find the eggs!

I miss them a lot, but we are away quite bit and no one I know would be interested in the extra chores.

Shortgrass, we have remarked about that feature of the sandhill country. No natural drainage of small to bigger draws and ridges to follow to the creeks as landmarks! Mostly just a series of hills, valleys and plains scrambled together, is how it appears to us, when driving through.

mrj