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In the spring everyone on the ranch will help gather the cattle on the lower hillsides for branding. This photo was taken early in the morning when the hills are muted and quiet.
Soon lambing will begin on our range and I will be busy taking care of the leppie lambs (orphans). The herders check out the lambing grounds two or three times daily. We lamb outside (meaning in the hills as opposed to the ranch sheds) and think it beneficial that the ewe not have to take care of more than two lambs, so the triplets and sometimes quadruple lambs are worked out and the herder puts the leppies in a sack such as this while he looks through the rest of the herd. The leppie lambs are then brought to me to care for at the home ranch.
I was driving home from Winnemucca one afternoon and saw this storm coming up Desert Valley. I remembered a little dirt road nearby that was off the highway, and luckily got to it in time for this dramatic shot. This is the cover photo for the book "Fifty Miles From Home" with words by Carolyn Dufurrena and my photographs, available at the Western Folklife Center Gift Shop.
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