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Sorting to go to the Forest

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
Today we gathered and sorted pairs to go to the forest. It was a balmy 35 degrees this morning with 30-40mph winds :eek: . Lets just say my help won't forget this day anytime soon... and I hope they'll come back again :D .

Meet the crew for today's sort:

My good friend Lisa and Jim aka "boss"
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My neighbor Jim.
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My friend Bill.
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And last but not least... Bacon. Bacon had an emergency surgery this spring to remove his gall bladder. It was a close call, but you'd never know it. He's recovered well, and celebrated his near death experience by buying a new horse, new saddle, and will soon have a new wife! He's back shoeing horses, but can only do a couple a day... I believe he's 75 years old this year :) . And yes, you do see chairs in the background... I want my help to be comfortable when we take our snack break, even if the wind is howling :) .
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We ended up gathering cattle and elk today :D .
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Casey is back to work too. She had her enlarged spleen removed recently. The biopsy didn't show cancer thankfully :D .
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Lisa and me hanging out, letting the cattle mother up before sorting. I actually shed my arctic Carhartt jacket, but Lisa stayed completely bundled up the whole time :lol: .
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My count came out good, and I didn't have anymore dead cows :? . I quit losing them as soon as I moved pastures, and I highly suspect grass tetanus. The sprayed grass has a very accelerated growth rate as you can see. In an effort to save cows from dying of Larkspur poisoning, I believe I created a far bigger problem :x , and ended up killing more cows by creating an issue not common in the area. "Well done Brenda!" Someday I'll find humor in this, but not yet :? .
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Tomorrow we haul to the forest!
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Great pictures. Thanks for allowing us to come along and "help," and stay out of the wind while we watched the rest of you do all the work. :wink: :)

Glad your cows have quit dying from the Larkspur. I feel your pain even moreso now, because on Friday we had one little cloud come over, with one bolt of lightning, and it killed four yearling heifers and a bull. :(
 

alabama

Well-known member
As always thank you for the pictures. We are sure having different weather. It was 102 here yesterday afternoon.
 

efb

Well-known member
A new horse, saddle and wife for a gall bladder, hum.... :roll: Wonder if medicare will cover it ???

Thanks for the pictures.
 

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
Soapweed said:
Great pictures. Thanks for allowing us to come along and "help," and stay out of the wind while we watched the rest of you do all the work. :wink: :)

Glad your cows have quit dying from the Larkspur. I feel your pain even moreso now, because on Friday we had one little cloud come over, with one bolt of lightning, and it killed four yearling heifers and a bull. :(

Oh no! :( Lightening has been bad around here too lately... I guess both of our losses are the price we pay for finally having a wet spring. I hate losing animals, but I sure do like this green grass :D .
 

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
Nicky said:
Nice pics, thanks. Hope the hauling goes well :) How far do you have to haul them?

The ranch used to trail to the forest, but changed to hauling since it was faster, and several housing developments have sprung up, making it more difficult to trail. Jim jokes that he doesn't have enough room in his pockets to carry all the keys needed to unlock all of the ranchette gates between home and our allotment :lol: . I'd estimate it's only about 7-8 miles to trail up there.

With the cost of fuel however, we may re-think trailing, if we can get permission to go through the various acreages :wink: .
 

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
Thanks for sharing your day with us.

Spraying the Larkspur really did make a big a difference in the
grass. What is in that spray?

The chemicals used were Tordon and Low Vol 6. It does an amazing job eliminating weeds and increasing grass production. I credit spraying with helping us during this drought... how else can you double your grass production? It is expensive, but we've got a good cost share program which made it feasible.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
We sprayed some sagebrush by air a few years ago, and along with elliminating some sage, it really helped the grass, but this is the first
I heard that Tordon increased grass stands. I don't know what Low Vol.
6 is, however. But I intend to find out. Thanks.

(And we never sprayed all the sagebrush. Just in one pasture that
had a terrific stand. We know sagebrush does a lot of good things.
But as with anything, too much is too much.)
 

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
We sprayed some sagebrush by air a few years ago, and along with elliminating some sage, it really helped the grass, but this is the first
I heard that Tordon increased grass stands. I don't know what Low Vol.
6 is, however. But I intend to find out. Thanks.

(And we never sprayed all the sagebrush. Just in one pasture that
had a terrific stand. We know sagebrush does a lot of good things.
But as with anything, too much is too much.)

Yep, spraying is a useful tool, but doesn't seem to last forever. I started a spraying program about eight years ago, and the areas first sprayed are starting to come back with weeds again. Spot spraying helps, but a person needs to figure out the chemical costs, time and labor before doing it. The cost share program is the reason it has been feasible here.
 

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