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PRESIDENT’S
NEWSLETTER
June – July 2006
WORK WEEK 2006
Let’s begin with a quick summary of our Work Week accomplishments
this year:
-
Sally, Linda and John bought, transported, and planted a wonderful array of desert-friendly plants in order to beautify the newly-reworked patio at Nana’s. They also installed a drip system to keep them flourishing between visits.
-
The work on Gail’s began with gusto. The house was cleaned of its clutter, with most of its former contents now filling the dump (with the exception of a few things, such as the pair of hot, mustard yellow pants that Christine scored!). The two front facing bedrooms were completely emptied, cleaned, cracks filled, walls washed and painted, and ceilings textured and painted.
-
Stephen rebuilt the window frame in the far bedroom.
-
Eric headed up the crew that put in the new sewer line, septic tank, and the first section of the leach line. All of the leaks in the existing water line and plumbing in the house were fixed so that the water could be turned on to the house. Also, since the ditches were dug for the sewer lines, additional hot/cold water lines were roughed in for future projects.
-
Also, the family made valuable headway with consultants Ric Tredwin and Kelley Shull. They helped to facilitate the family becoming much more involved in the decision-making and direction of the ranch. Under Ric and Kelley’s guidance, the Board has become a much more directive body with a more formalized structure. This includes increased communication with the family by having family members form committees whose job it is to address specific issues and areas of concern for the ranch. Also, the Board now holds monthly meetings by conference call, with Minutes and decisions-made going out via email to all.
CATTLE WORK
Branding:
Branding got off to a late start this summer. We wanted to start late May, but many of the calves had not hit the ground yet and those that had were very small. Also, I was hoping that it would rain so that we didn’t have to stress the cattle further by branding at the height of the drought. Of course, this was all in addition to having to remedy our truck issues (see “Repairs” and “Purchases” below) before we could get started. At the beginning of July, Guero, Abel, Rick, Caitlin, Hilary and I started slowly working our way through the pastures. In the middle of July, we lost Caitlin for 2 weeks while she had the wonderful opportunity of attending a ceramics workshop at Anderson Ranch in Colorado (a graduation gift from the Martins), but we gained helpers with Sally, Tom, Paul Trujillo and Felix Vigil pitching in when needed. (When Tom was out, he participated in branding by dragging calves for the first time in his life. Heeling calves is not as easy as it looks, and Tom found that out first hand. But, for his first time out of the shoot, he did a great job!) Now, the end is in sight, with only 2 more pastures to go.
Cattle Sales:
While branding, we have culled ten bulls (because they were either old,
ugly, or small) and took half to auction and the other half to Caviness.
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
EQUIP Program:
Here is a quick recap and update on the EQUIP program. We signed up for
this program at the beginning of June. The contract is for Alamosa pasture,
which obligates us to do rotational grazing with a 90-day rest period
before grazing again. In return, they pay for half the costs for fencing
and dependable water as required to divide a large pasture (Alamosa is
roughly 2,300 acres) into smaller and more manageable paddocks (we are
planning to divide it into 5 pastures of about 500 acres each). In our
case, this will mean building approximately 6 miles of fence. We are also
planning on changing #3 windmill over to solar power and pumping the water
into a 20,000 gallon storage tank. This tank will in turn supply water
to drinkers in three of the paddocks. The program also pays 75% of the
cost of brush control. We were hoping to spray the mesquite this summer,
but our hopes were dashed when a mesquite expert came out with Jason Scott
(our NRCS consultant). We were informed that the mesquite are too stressed—due
the drought—to get a good kill (since the herbicide is absorbed
through the leaves). Who would have thought that even our damn mesquite
could be suffering from the lack of moisture. The expert said that even
he had never seen this before! We were advised to wait until next summer,
which—of course—broke our hearts, but we will do since we
want to get the best kill for our money.
EQUIPMENT UPDATE
Purchases:
- As many of you know, we purchased two trucks at the end of June. Abel’s ’97 Ford had given up the ghost, with a frame that was cracking apart as fast as we could weld it back together, the clutch going out for the third time, and a list of other serious needed repairs as long as your arm. We bought a used 2004 Power Stroke from the Ford dealer in Raton to replace it. With 26,000 miles on it, we got the truck for $23,000. While leery of used vehicles and the risk of “buying someone else’s problems,” we did our research going in. The Ford house in Tucumcari used the VIN number to confirm that it didn’t have a history of serious repairs. We also talked to the previous owners who were actually a ranching couple who used this as their “go-to-town” truck and had put on mostly highway miles. The only reason they were trading it in was because they got a deal too good to pass up. After purchasing it, we had Jack Usrey put on the flat bed from the old truck and its cow-catcher. Guero and Abel installed the Trip Hopper feeder and siren.
- We also replaced Guero’s ’99 Power Stroke with a brand new 2006. We traded in the tan 2002 F350 Power Stroke that we bought used in 2003 on the advice of our Ford mechanic (because of excessive wear on the Turbo due to a pre-existing broken air filter case). We got $14,000 on the trade-in and paid $15,400. Again, Jack put on the flat bed from Guero’s old truck and a new “Ranch Hand” cow-catcher. We put the regular bed back on Guero’s ’99 and are having the steering column, power-steering unit, various oil leaks, and AC repaired in order to use it as the ranch’s extra/go-to-town truck. Both of these new purchases are working out very well. It is so nice to have reliable vehicles, especially during summer branding!
Repairs:
- Apart from the repairs indicated above, I want to boast about my newfound mechanic skills! The plastic hose connection on the top of the radiator in the Red Mazda had completely disintegrated. Hilary and I fashioned a pipe insert and rebuilt the connection using automotive fiberglass. No leaks!
- In the Champion grader, we are having the two cylinders that rotate the blade rebuilt.
RAIN
UPDATE
Oh, rain! How I wish I had happier news to report! We have had VERY LITTLE
rain this summer, and as a result we have grown almost NO GRASS. The tanks
are drying up (dry on the West side, drying up in the middle, but still
enough water on the East side). My depression sinks deeper by the day…
JUNE/JULY RAINFALL TOTALS
Holmes household =
- June 26--0.50"
- July 4-----0.10"
- July 5-----trace
- July 6-----1.42”
- July 7-----0.22”
- July
10---0.02”
TOTAL---2.26”
Nana’s = 2.82”
Alamosa = 4.34”
Red Mill = 3.58”
Wild Horse Flat = 1.59”
Paynes = 4.08”
AND OTHER NEWS…
Getting My “Mesquite Killing” Fix:
Ever since I got the news that we will not be able to spray the mesquite
in Alamosa with the EQUIP program until next summer, I have been getting
my mesquite killing fix through other avenues. I have been spraying mesquite
by hand on the 4-wheeler in areas where they are particularly troublesome—such
as around the houses, corrals, windmills, and along key roads. My usual
routine is to leave the house around 6:00 a.m. and spray until it gets
too windy (usually around 10 or 11 a.m.). So far I have sprayed around
Nana’s, Gail’s, up the road along the fence into the Creek
Pasture, along the road to the Shipping corrals, around the Shipping corrals,
around Dad’s, along the runway, around the Horse corrals, at Campana
(by the tank and where we set the portable corrals), around the WW Trap
windmill, around the Medio corrals, and up at #1 windmill. (However, when
I left the 4-wheeler at #1 overnight, I returned the next day to find
that the 4-wheeler and sprayer had been slightly mauled in my absence
by some unidentified animal. We have a hunch that it must have been a
bobcat because the newly reupholstered seat had been clawed in places
and there were claw marks on the body of the 4-wheeler. It also broke
the wand extension of the sprayer that had been custom made for us by
Tom! However, Tom rebuilt it for us, and now it is even better than before—longer
and lighter!)
Wildlife:
Our bear sightings are becoming more frequent and—alarmingly—at
closer proximity to the houses. The closest encounter yet happened around
the end of June when Rick and I awoke to Mocha’s frantic barking
around midnight. When we got up to investigate and shone the spotlight
around the yard, we discovered the source of her agitation—a reddish
bear (who looked to be about 3 feet tall when on all fours) standing not
15 feet from our patio area and where we park the cars. We attempted to
shoo him off, but we were surprised at how unafraid of us he seemed. Even
a shot fired over his head didn’t get him moving. However, the very
same night, Guero and Abel both reported being visited by the same bear
around 2 in the morning! Within a couple days of this sighting, Abel reported
waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of his trashcan being
knocked over and tossed about. He got a look at this bear too, but it
was a different one! He said that it was bigger and dark black in color.
Also, I finally spotted the redheaded woodpecker that the birders—Martin
and Jo—have reported seeing.
As Always,
Your Lovely President
Kristen
(By the way, my lovely daughter Caitlin helped immensely with the production
of this newsletter.)
