The long trail south, with an aside from “Moby Duck”

Every year in mid-April, we begin the long trek south with the sheep.  Most of them have wintered on the Red Desert, north of Wamsutter, Wyoming.  They trail sixty miles or so to the Badwater pasture–a checkerboard pasture southeast of Creston Junction.  When the Union Pacific put the railroad through in 1865, the U.S. government gave them every other section for 20 miles on either side of the track as an incentive.  If they’d just given them a solid ten miles, it would have made life easier for future generations, but that is how it is.  Half the sections are privately owned (and many of them were sold by the railroad over the years) and half are BLM-administered lands.

This annual journey includes crossing under Interstate 80 and over the Union Pacific tracks, thankfully on an overpass.  It is a trail fraught with hazards, as the traffic is sometimes heavy and the railroad overpass is blind on the approaches.  We do a lot of flagging and keep the sheep in the right-of-way as much as possible.

I recently read “Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author,Who Went in Search of Them” by Donovon Hohn–a book which tracks the vast number of container ships who travel from Asia to the United States with consumer goods.  I was interested to note that the sheep were passing over railroad cars carrying containers that clearly originated in China.

Containers which came by sea from China.

When we pass through the gate into our good neighbors Duane and Debbie Rodewald’s pasture, we give a huge sigh of relief.

Pepe, surveying the route

Modesto, pushing the sheep under I80

Guard dog leads the sheep under the interstate

The road isn’t closed today.

Heading up the railroad overpass.

Sadie helping

Going through Rodewald’s gate–hallelujah!

 

Pregnancy testing on the Red Desert

In the lambing seasons of 2010 and 2011, we had terrible cold weather, freezing drizzle and snow.  We estimate that we lost at least 1000 lambs, beyond normal death loss, each year to the terrible conditions.  This year, we determined to be ready for another hard spring, especially after November blew in with a lot of cold and snow.

We decided to build a shed on the private part of our lambing grounds, which also includes BLM allotments and a Wyoming state lease.  Then we would at least have an alternative in case of bad weather.  We have always “drop lambed”, which means that we start out with bands of 2000 ewes or so, then move then along morning and night, leaving the newly lambed ewes and their babies behind.  This is known as “cutting the drop.”  The sheep are constantly attended by our very competent Peruvian sheepherders, and Pat, Meghan, Eamon and I go back and forth with supplies, groceries, and whatever else is needed.

To make the best use of the shed, we decided, for the first time, to pregnancy test some of the ewes.  The lambs who are most vulnerable are the white-faced twin lambs.  They do not have the hybrid vigor (the result of breeding two different purebred lines) of our Hampshire/Rambouillet cross lambs.  We tested, over the course of a week, about 3,400 ewes bred to Rambouillet rams, in order to determine the ones pregnant with twins.  We can, this year, keep those ewes close to the shed, and give them shelter and extra care as needed.

Of course, as the saying goes, only fools and newcomers predict the weather.  This past winter has been the mildest in recent memory, and spring is appearing ahead of schedule.  Of course, that does not mean that May and June will be warm and dry, but it is certainly shaping up that way.

Geri Parsons, a certified veterinary technician and partner in Optimum Livestock Services LLC, is a master at ultra-sounding ewes.  She and Dr. Cleon Kimberling, formed their livestock health company following Dr. Kimberling’s retirement as the long-time (and famous) sheep extension veterinarian at Colorado State University.  Due to unplanned circumstances, Geri’s keys became locked in her pickup, along with all her gear, at the end of a long day, and a very long way from assistance.  We were near the top of the aptly named Cyclone Rim.  Luckily, the next day, a newly made key solved the problem, but not before our crew had exhausted their burglery skills.

Eamon bringing the ewes up the chute
Geri works in the tent, out of the wind

Eamon and Pepe

Meghan branding ewe

McCoy, keeping them moving

We used all our expertise to try to open Geri's truck

Only one pickup drove by in two days
Cyclone Rim, Red Desert, Wyoming

 

In like a lamb…and a cow

Hampshire ewe with twins

Spring is almost sprung.  We have new lambs on the ground.  We raise our own Rambouillet and Hampshire rams which we breed to our commercial ewes, so these babies are born earlier in the year than the lambs from the range sheep.  We shed lamb at Powder Flat, so here are some photos.  It seems to be a good year for twins and triplets, God bless ‘em!

Christian giving extra milk to triplets

Guard dog hard at work

new lamb trying to get her feet under her

Our cows spent the winter in Laramie, Wyoming, eating hay on the windy plains.  We recently brought them home to eat our own hay until the green grass comes.  I expected them to fall over after leaving that windy country.

off the truck and into their home corrals

eating hay in the Lemmons Meadow

Where's the wind?

 

Osos de Ladder Ranch–LSRV soccer tournament champions

Osos de Ladder Ranch--ready to play

team with Ladder Ranch cheerleaders (ranchhand Sara and Julia the cook)

Oscar passing the ball

Our community, the Little Snake River Valley, puts on a gathering and barbeque each September.  We recognize that we’d better get together and visit before winter sets in.  Local businesses buy beef, lamb and pork at the Junior Livestock Auction at the county fair and donate it to the barbeque.  Food is set up, a band is hired, kids games are held, and everyone gathers at the local museum in Savery, Wyoming.  2011 marked the second annual Peruvian (mostly) soccer tournament.  In our area and neighboring communities, a lot of Peruvian men come through the H2A program to work on local ranches.  The tournament gives them a chance to visit with their countrymen and play their beloved soccer.  A trophy and cash prizes go to the winning teams.  This year, our guys, some of whom came straight down out of sheep camp, beat seven other teams to become the 2011 champions.  We get the privilege of displaying the traveling trophy in our cookhouse for (at least) a year.  You go, Osos de Ladder Ranch!

Soccer fans--Pat, Sharon, Maeve, Meghan, Tiarnan, Marie, Tom Cobb (from #2 team Cobb Cattle Company) and Eamon

Teofilo the goalie

Victory hug. Richar (second from right) scored all the goals

(top) Julia Ralston, Jared Blakeley, Percy Ore, Marie Meirke, Antonio Basualdo, Teofilo Rimac, Sara Ralston (bottom) Oscar Payano, Pepe Cruz, Richar Ricse, Wilton Rupay, Edgar Oscanoa

All of the soccer players

Harry Russell (almost 100) dancing to the Defiance String Band

Eamon O'Toole and Pat Sheehan--twins? or cousins?