ranch description
The Spider is a relatively small ranch. 300 head Forest permit on 68 sections.6 big pastures and a few smaller ones All pretty rough country. Lot of variety. Top end is about 6000ft. Pine trees and cedar mesas and bottom is 3400ft. Sonoran desert. Lot of granite boulders and chaparral in between. Lions, deer, elk, bears, coyotes, javalina and lots of other little critters.
This is a cow/calf operation where we calve in the spring and try to ship yearlings weighing around 700lbs.the following spring. Cows are pretty much on their own. We only feed bought hay to the horses we have up and to the cows sometimes when we're working and can get a pickup and trailer to whatever little holding pasture we're working into. We provide salt and mineral supplements and that's about it.
My job is mostly about trailing them up and rotating pastures according to a plan we develop with the Forest Service in January every year. Sometimes it's hard to figure out in January when and where it's going to rain in July and August and we have to adjust accordingly. We really have 2 growing seasons. Spring and Summer/Fall. If our summer rain is late sometimes that season can be pretty short. I try to not be in the same pasture during the same growing season for 2 years in a row. This is a little harder then just having a summer country and a winter country as cattle don't really know where they're going all the time, but I think it's a lot better for the country to let the perennial grasses have a chance to make seed at least every other year. I try to make a move around the middle of April, then again around the middle of July, and again middle of the fall. We stay long (5-6 months) in the winter.
I try to torture these cows as little as possible. The only processing they get is when we brand and vaccinate the calves. No hormones, antibiotics, bug spray or anything else not absolutely necessary. We drive them everywhere they go. The only time they get on a truck is when they're getting sold. All this really helps keep them gentle and that really helps in this rough country. I hire 1 or 2 day working friends to help me the first week or two of a move, and we'll usually get about 70% of the cattle in the pasture, then I pretty much go find the remnant by myself. There's always a little remnant somewhere. Job security.
