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July 2004
CATTLE WORK
Branding
We branded the west end of Wild Horse Flat on Friday, July 16th. We had a grand time! Sean dropped what he was doing and came out Thursday evening with two horses. Tom and Ellen left Effie in Dallas to contend with city life and jumped on an airplane to Amarillo. They rented a car and arrived at the ranch late Thursday night. Eric was able to change his work schedule around and flew out Friday morning. (Also, Felix Vigil and Paul Trujillo came out to lend a hand.) Having so many family members out to help was simply fantastic…it made the work seem like play! This was Ellen's very first branding, and she really took to it. By the end of the day, she was flanking like a pro and vaccinating to boot! That day we poured 113 cows and branded 87 calves. It was a great success! (We had planned to brand again on Sunday, July 18th, but we had to cancel it because of the huge rain that we got the evening before. I was thrilled to get the rain but disappointed to waste all of our good help…)
Our second round of this month's branding took place on July 23rd. Richard, Caitlin, Hilary, Guero, Abel, and I branded Sabinosa and the east end of WHF (this is what we had planned to brand when we had so much help available the previous weekend). We had tentatively lined up several helpers for the days work, but&emdash;as it turned out&emdash;Felix was sick, Sean couldn't make it, and Paul had mayoral duties in Mosquero to attend to. Everything was going well until we started pouring the cows and realized just how many head Guero had managed to call in. There was no way that the six of us could work all 72 head of big, energetic calves. However, Paul ended up saving the day, remedying our short-handedness by answering our semi-desperate cell phone call and reporting that his business was done and he could help! Anyway, in the end, it was a long day, but successful. We poured 99 cows and branded 72 calves.
Moving Cattle
On Saturday, July 17th (the day after we branded with the family in WHF), we took advantage of having so many riders and moved the cattle from Campana pasture into Waggoner Water Trap. We needed to move the cattle to a new source of water since all the springs in the Atarque were almost dry. Sean, Eric, Ellen, Tom, Richard and Hilary were on horseback while I called the cattle using Abel's truck. The move went smoothly but turned out to be unnecessary since it rained like hell that night and filled up every low spot in the creek!
Other Fun and Interesting Stuff that Happened with Family Out…
Tom, Ellen, Hilary and I took the two 4-wheelers and drove the old abandoned road from #4 windmill to the big fill by the railroad tank. It is the road we used many years ago when the train was still running. We had a lot of fun dodging rocks, mesquite, cactus and eroded wheel ruts. Ellen is much more appreciative of being able to use the railroad bed as the main road.
Tom scattered the grass seed he bought several years ago all around Nana's house and down by the barn. Ellen and I started out helping him until we got side tracked building small, one-rock dams across the many rills that have formed on the hill where the water and gas lines come down to the first terrace. We simply picked up the small rocks from were they lay and placed them three rocks wide and one rock deep across the rills to impede running water. They were quick, easy and fun to build…but would they work? When I was down at Nana's checking rain gauges, I took a moment to go see what they looked like after all the rains. I was amazed by what I saw. Behind most of the dams was silt and growing in the silt were brand-new grass seedlings. It was so gratifying to see. I can hardly wait to build some more.
EQUIPMENT UPDATE
Grader Purchase
We bought a 1983 Champion grader from an auction in Las Vegas on July 24th. Rick was bidding against one other man, and we got it with a final bid of $14,000. (Blue Book value is $15,000.) Champions are made in Canada&emdash;they are now owned by Volvo&emdash;and have a good reputation. Our grader has a 12 ft. board, a ripper on the back, and is articulated in the middle (like the front-end loader). It has an automatic starter and all of the controls are hydraulic.
The Champion will be replacing the old 1941 Caterpillar grader, which is a bit of a monster to operate. All of its controls are gear-driven, so simply driving the damn thing turns into an exhaustive, muscle-numbing exercise. It also must be pulled with a truck in order to start since the pony-motor no longer works. In essence, it was such a pain to work with that we never used it unless it was absolutely necessary.
The thought of purchasing a new grader has been in the back of my mind ever since I attended the road-building workshop last year at the Thorp Ranch. I walked away from the class looking at roads differently, understanding that just a few alterations can make a huge difference in the amount of required maintenance. I have also been eager to put some of the erosion-control and water-harvesting techniques into use. To top it all off, it would be nice just to keep these ranch roads&emdash;both county-maintained and feed roads&emdash;in better shape. I hope that the Champion will prove to be a good grader for years to come.
Repairs
We put a new windshield in Dad's little red Mazda pickup (and now we can see through it once again)!
We had to put a new clutch in the new (used) tan Ford pickup to the tune of $1,000.
VARIOUS RANCH HAPPENINGS
More Cleaning
Caitlin and Hilary took upon themselves the brutal and disgusting task of cleaning out my shop. In 1972 Rick and I partitioned off a section of the old barn to make a place for me to work with clay. We got the walls up, a stove put in for heat, work benches made, and a potters wheel installed. Through the years, it had become a catch all room for everything that was too bad to use but too good to throw away. It was also a home to many generations of pack-rats. Cleaning my shop out was an insurmountable task. But, in the span of two days, the girls preformed a miracle. All the junk was thrown away and barrels full of rat shit, cactus thorns, pieces of insulation, and various other debris was removed. I can't thank them enough because I'm sure I would never have done it nor could I have asked someone else to clean it&emdash;it was that disgusting.
Seismic Guys
On Wednesday, July 14th, the seismic team working for the Ceja Corporation came out to tour the ranch, as well as to give us a chance to meet them and ask some questions. Shane Matson was the geologist who was the most vocal of the group. Shane was accompanied by two fellow geologists, Ron and Jerry. Rick and I spent most of the day driving around with them, starting in WHF and going down through the Rincon and Alamosa. They are planning on doing 2D seismic work, which they claim will do no damage to the water wells. They will have a crew of 10 guys who will be staying in Logan. They want to concentrate their work along the roads (mostly going north/south but with a few lines going east-west). They will do this using a machine they call T-Rex, which has big, fat tires and can go anywhere. They wouldn't cut any trees down or work when it is wet. The Ceja Corporation has sent a tentative proposal to Sally, and that is really all I know at this point. Everyone's input on this situation is welcome.
Steers to be Butchered
We plan to take the four steers to be butchered at Ede's in Amarillo on August 3rd. They will have been on feed for 11 weeks. They will hang for approximately 3 weeks, so they will be ready to pick up around the 27th.
GUERO AND ABEL'S PROJECTS
Guero fixed the creek crossings up Alamosa Canyon. He started at the crossing due North of the Shipping Trap and went by #3 windmill and up Fowl Canyon to #5. Then, he went over the mesa to Persliano, then down to Rincon Bonito and Post Office Canyon, and finally back down to the Shipping Trap Corrals.
Guero and Abel finished rebuilding the waterlot fences in the Shipping Corrals. Now, all four waterlots are completely enclosed by sturdy, 6-wire fences that can (hopefully) withstand the attacks of any Trigg Ranch bull!
RAIN UPDATE
All of the rain that we have gotten in the month of July has been absolutely fantastic! The ranch has been transformed from completely parched, brown, almost non-existant grass with no tank water to something that we haven't seen in a long while…luscious green, growing grass that is heading out and tank water that is over-flowing! We have had showers pretty consistently throughout the month (I'd say every few days to a week… in essence, just about the time we all start saying that it sure would be nice if it would rain again!). The rains have been spotty, but each subsequent shower seems to catch the places the last rain missed. Anyway, the grass is as good as I've seen it in years and I'm most thankful!
July Rainfall Totals
Holmes household = 4.64"
Nana's = 4.73"
Alamosa = 4.60"
Red Mill = 3.50"
Wild Horse Flat = 3.63"
Paynes = 4.07"
Yearly Rainfall Totals to Date
Holmes household = 10.82"
Nana's = 11.49"
Alamosa = 11.74"
Red Mill = 12.61"
Wild Horse Flat = 11.82"
Paynes = 14.40"
*These totals are absolutely amazing considering we are only 7 months into the year. Historically, our yearly average is only 11.5 inches. Let's hope that it keeps on raining!
AND OTHER NEWS…
Wildlife
I saw bear tracks going up the road on the West Side.
· I just wanted to follow up on the nest of baby hawks that I report on in last month's newsletter. I have been going up to check the water level in Medio tank regularly this month, so I was able to watch the growth of the baby birds. They were growing like weeds up until the last week of July, but the last time that I checked on them the nest was empty and all the young hawks were gone. It was so much fun to see their progress from little, gray fuzz-balls into sky-worthy, young birds!
As Always,
Your Lovely President
Kristen
(By the way, Caitlin helped immensely with the production of this newsletter. Thank you so much, honey-pie!)
