Leaving the Red Desert
In December, I wrote about the migration of the sheep to our leases in Wyoming’s Red Desert. Most of the ewes spend the winter on BLM grazing leases, and in a “checkerboard” pasture owned by the BLM and the Wyoming Game and Fish. That pasture is known as Chain Lakes and is wonderful winter country distinguished by ephemeral lakes at the “bottom” of the Red Desert Great Basin. The Continental Divide separates here, creating a closed basin which drains to neither the Atlantic nor the Pacific.
Blog readers have seen many pictures of the sheep as they winter on this high desert country. Seasons pass, and it is time for us to head for our spring country. We are hard upon shearing, which typically takes place sometime between April 20th and May 5th, for us. We are dependent upon the traveling shearing crew, which spends an intense spring season traveling from flock to flock. Our crew, “Shear Pleasure”, is based in Casper, Wyoming, and recruits mostly Kiwi (New Zealand) shearers for the season.
The shearers schedule is not set in stone, to say the least, as they work around weather, ranchers’ needs, equipment maintenance, and shearer availability. This year, our crew is pretty close to on schedule, with their biggest delay caused by tick fever, an occupational hazard. They are due to arrive Tuesday, the 24th, so we are praying for good weather for the five or so days it takes us to get through the ewes. Luckily, other shearers came early and we got most of the rams out of the way.
Leaving the Red Desert
North of Creston Junction, Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Approaching the I80 underpass
North of Creston Junction
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Our trek south is the reverse of our December journey north. The biggest hazard is crossing under I80 and over the Union Pacific overpass, while flagging for ever-increasing amounts of traffic. Flagging entails one pickup, with flashers and red flags, traveling in front of the sheep, and another behind. Often the flagger has to jump out and wave frantically at approaching traffic. We crossed three bands of about 1800 ewes each, three successive days. The first day greeted us with ice, wind and snow. Most of these photos were taken on the second day, which dawned clear and calm.
Baggs Bound
South of Creston Junction
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Crossing the UP line
South of Creston Junction, up and over
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Traffic backed up on the railroad overpass, first day
South of Creston Junction
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Off the highway, through the Rodewald gate
South of Creston Junction
photo by Sharon O'Toole
We probably trail more than any other sheep and cattle operation in the United States. Much of the success of this depends upon the kindness of our neighbors. Often crossing private land allows us to make our treks shorter and easier. On this particular trail, we could continue down the highway. These days, the highways are heavy with oilfield traffic as people and equipment head for job sites, and even with extensive flagging, trailing on the highway is a dangerous business. In the last photo, we are seen entering the gate into Duane and Debbie Rodewald's place, just north of our Badwater pasture. Thank you, Duane and Debbie (and our other neighbors as well!).
