Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Feeding cows, Powder Flat cairn
Moffat County, Colorado
photo by Pat O'Toole

At the turn of the year, I showed the evacuation of our ewe lambs from our desert ranch at Powder Wash to the Red Desert, where the rest of our sheep are wintering. A few days ago, we had to do the same for our desert cows. We loaded them onto a semi and trucked them up the Home Ranch to join the rest of the cows. Meghan or Pat hauled hay out every day, but it became clear that we are not in for a January thaw, which would expose last summer’s grass for grazing. The desert cows are horned, and much more independent than the mountain cows, who are used to almost daily attention. Nonetheless, it was time to bring them home, and feed them until spring.

Thanks to our neighbors, the Raftopoulos's, who let us use their corrals. Ours are completely drifted under. They are feeding 1000 cows at a ranch about five miles from our Powder Flat headquarters, so had a tractor and an employee to do the plowing. We trailed the cows over the day before the truck came. This was a big help to us.

I didn’t get any photos of the semi because we were busy loading. One cow managed to get under Pat, and tossed him about like a rag doll. Alas, I have no photos of that either, but he did live to tell the tale, with only a little limping. We had a few cows and calves that wouldn’t fit on the truck, so we hauled them home in horsetrailers (after changing a flat on one of the trailers).

Today, I was in the local grocery store, the Stage Stop. The proprietor told me, “I wish you ranchers would stop praying for snow!”

Loaded for home
Arambel Place, thanks to Raftopoulos's
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Calves in the back of the pickup
Arambel Place
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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The winter is wearing on, and on. In the “old days”, we considered this normal weather, but we have had so many brief dry winters that we feel well and truly buried. We are moving our animals in closer, trying to protect our haystacks from marauding elk, and spending money on feed. That animal feed is made even dearer by the ethanol bubble, which has increased the costs of all livestock supplemental feed. High corn costs and a hard winter are a nightmare for basic producers such as ourselves. At least the days are getting longer.

Hayshed, Squaw Mountain
Lemmons Meadow, Routt County, Colorado
photo by Pat O'Toole

Cows on feed, Sheep Mountain
Lemmons meadow
photo by Pat O'Toole

Desert cow
Powder Flat, Moffat County, Colorado
photo by Pat O'Toole

Winter deer
Powder Flat
photo by Pat O'Toole

Questar blading a wellsite
Powder Wash, Moffat County, Colorado
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Sheep on the Red Desert
photo by Pat O'Toole

Red Desert camp
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pickup loaded with sheep camp supplies
Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Horse Mountain at Sunset
west of Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole

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Daisy and Dot
Red Desert, Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Pat O'Toole

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We have been dancing with the weather. A storm blows in. We stack up the firewood, dig into the haystacks, scatter more feed for the cows and sheep. Every three or four days, we get a couple of days of good weather and load up groceries, bales of hay, grain, dog food, mail, fuel, water and provisions and head out to the sheep camps. This involves a 125 mile drive, some of it over interstate 80 (usually the most hazardous part of the journey) and some of it bucking drifts over two-tracks. The herders ride out the storms in their sheep camps and head out each morning, blizzard or shine, to feed corn to the sheep and keep them strong and together.

We had taken our ewe lambs (next year’s replacement ewes) out to our Powder Flat ranch and its associated grazing allotments, some 65 miles west of our Home Ranch. It used to be really good winter country, but has been severely affected by drought, energy development and an invasion of wild horses into this non-HMA area. (A Horse Management Area is one set aside for wild horses. They are not supposed to go outside these areas, but they too are pressed for feed and water, and cannot read.)

We had enough feed on our private and BLM lands for our ewe lambs to graze, but in mid-December, it started to snow. We have been in drought for eight years and were startled by this development. It is not bad news, for winter’s snow brings us summer’s grass. We decided to truck these ewe lambs up to the Red Desert, some 170 miles north to join most of the rest of our sheep. We have corn there, and men and trucks to feed and herd these sheep. The Powder Wash country is buried in snow. We have good and plenty on the Red Desert, but the wind has blown it around, and we will be altogether there, and not trying to tend camps in two directions. Edgar, the ewe lamb herder, will be glad for the company and improved conditions.

In the meantime, we struggle over icy roads.

Brian, bringing up the lambs
Chivington Place, Powder Wash
Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Guard dog in the corral
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Ready to load
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Spencer on his truck
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Lambs, truck, and snow
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Loaded and leaving, but
Meghan and Didi had to unload in the dark
photo by Sharon O'Toole

The ones we brought home
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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All ears
Joe & Patsy's place
Carbon County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Suzie and new puppies
Porch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Happy New Year to all!

We are in a hard and fast winter. All my worrying about the lack of snowfall and water has been for naught, as worrying often is. Now, the worry is for a bad winter. Drought and climate change has brought a series of short dry winters, which led us to plan for those conditions.

Mid-December brought several changes in a hurry. First, the snow began to fall. We can tell bad winter stories with the best of the old-timers, having spent the legendary winter of 1984 in a cabin without electricity or running water (which were the least of our worries). So far, this winter does not compare to that one, which started early and did not leave until mid-May.

We depend on our good employees, who are often pictured in this blog. In the matter of a few days, our ranch cook and one of our reliable sheepherders quit. My friends know that over the years, we have employed many many ranch cooks, a good number of them crazy. We have a poster that says “You don’t have to be crazy to work here—but it helps.” However for the past four and a half years, we have had a very nice sane cook who showed no inclination to run off with any of the sheepherders. Alas, for me, someone else noticed that she is attractive, nice and single, and I lost her to a suitor.

The long and short of these events is that Pat and I have been doing the work usually done by the departed employees, as well as our usual responsibilities—already a full days work. Our neighbors and our kids helped fill in the gaps. Meghan is always a steady hand, and her husband Brian has helped out, adding to his deputy sheriff duties. Eamon and his fiancée, Megan, showed up to help feed the cows and shovel. Bridget even came home on her vacation time from her job in New York to cook, sort sheep and bring good cheer.

This is to explain the sparse entries on this blog for the past few weeks. Here are photos of recent days.

Cows in the Lower Meadow
Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole

Feeding cows, Squaw Mountain
Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole

Truck with corn for the sheep
Red Desert, Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Worth its weight in gold (same price too!)
Red Desert, Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Winter camp
Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Jose in front of his camp
Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Edgar carrying the tarp
Lookout Pasture, Powder Wash, Moffat County, Colorado
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Siete Amigos
Lookout Pasture
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Guard dog guarding supply wagon
Lookout Pasture
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Bridget bringing up the bucks
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

A girl and her dog
Bridget and Sisi
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat at the sorting gate
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Crosses on County Road 23
north of Wamsutter, Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Cyclone Rim
Red Desert
photo by Pat O'Toole

Seamus examines the tree
photo by Pat O'Toole

Really Santa, I've been good!
Siobhan at Christmas
photo by Pat O'Toole

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