Still waiting
We are still waiting for the January thaw. We have seen some signs of warming as the snow settles into a wet dense mass. On sunny days, the south slopes bare off, only to be covered again in the next storm. As the plowed drifts on the sides of the roads melt, they are revealing the toll of this winter's bitter weather. In a five mile stretch near our headquarters, I counted 13 deer and one elk--victims of road kill. Our neighbors have a similar count in dented trucks and cars. The deer are hanging on the rights-of-way, seeking stubby grass as it starts to poke above the snow crust. The Wyoming Game and Fish reports that there may be a 50 per cent death loss in the deer herd north of Baggs. They tagged a good number last fall so they could track them as the oil and gas industry ramps up production in the area. We hear that some elk are dying on the Red Rim, southwest of Rawlins, as they consume toxic lichen.
Our days are brightened by the arrival of our early lambs. We raise our own rams, so we put the bucks in with our purebred ewes in October for a March lambing. For the first time in over 30 years, we are lambing them out here at the Home Ranch, instead of at Powder Flat. The corrals are drifted under there, and it is easier to keep just one infrastructure up and running. Our Peruvian sheepherders are doing a great job improvising lambing jugs in the horse barn, the cow barn, the calving shed, the granary, etc. etc. The sheepherders north of Wamsutter continue to care for the range sheep through trying conditions. The sage is starting to emerge from the snow drifts on the Red Desert--a welcome sight for man and beast!
Hampshire ewe with her new lamb
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Lamb in snow
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Oscar and Jose loading an early lamb
Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Angus cows on feed
Roberts Pasture
photo by Pat O'Toole
Feeding cows in the Lower Meadow
Home Ranch
photo by Pat O'Toole
Siobhan with Suzie's puppy
Horse barn
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Seamus, Pat and Antonio
Chivington Place
photo by Jim Roberts
Winter in the Routt National Forest
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Hahn's Peak in early March
Routt National Forest
photo by Pat O'Toole
Hawk on the post
Terrill Corrals, north of Powder Wash Camp
photo by Pat O'Toole
Hawk on the wing
Terrill Corrals, north of Powder Wash Camp
photo by Pat O'Toole
Coco, knocked up by a wild horse
Red Desert
photo by Sharon O'Toole
Sunset south of Baggs
photo by Sharon O'Toole
