We all take many of the good things in life for granted. Here at our ranch, I found I have taken many things around me for granted. Most of these things deal with our way of life that can't be emulated on an off ranch setting. Nature, solitude, family life and working with family are some of the things I consider unique to our life. The following is a journal that I have kept to share with you some of the typical days and everyday experiences we have.

Monday   -   June 5, 2000

Branding Day   (Check out the whole process on our Kids Page)   This is the event of the year! It is a fun day.

We got up around at 5:30. Joe went out to saddle the horses. I finished getting everything ready for the big dinner. I was shocked when a friend from Eastern Kansas walked in at 7:00 a.m. I hadn't expected their crew until later. They had left their ranch at 3:00 a.m. so they could be here in time for roundup. Other local ranchers started showing up and we were off to do branding.

The cattle were in a pasture close by, so roundup was quick. We then sorted and got to branding. There is a lot of work to be done, but we try to keep it fun and pass the work around. Everyone got a chance to rope. We try to let even the young kids practice roping and dragging. It is much faster for the more experienced to rope and get the job done, but this is a skill that is quickly disappearing, so we take the time to let the inexperienced get some practice. In the coming years they will grow into the old fellas who can throw a loop and come out of the bunch with a calf the first time. My job is usually to vaccinate and brand. Once in a while I work the rope and castrate. Laramie branded several calves this year by himself. He is four years old this year. When he wore out from that, he ended up in the barnyard in a mud puddle. We had 260 head to brand and work, but we were done by 12:30.

Everyone headed to the house for dinner. I put the last minute touches on everything and dinner was a success. I had hunted through recipes for a week. We had brisket, creamed corn, beans, coleslaw, pie, cheesecake, and best of all good company. I have been asked for the recipes by some of the ranchers and their wives, so I will be putting our branding day menu on the web site also.

Most of the ranchers went home to tend to their own business. This evening they were all back with their families for another meal and more great company. Branding get-togethers are some of the best social affairs around. The kids played and the adults swapped stories and visited. It almost makes me wish we had a branding every month. Well, at least until I think about working that hard every month!

Monday   -   July 3

Today we met with Dwayne Rice, a range specialist. He is working with us on range development and monitoring. Joe, myself, Laramie, Dwayne and Toni, an intern with Dwayne, left the corrals at 9:30 on horseback. By going horseback, we are able to cover the entire ranch, and look down into the grass and see much more than we could by jumping in and out of the vehicle.

We are now interested in how grass species such as little and big bluestem have increased since last year. We spent four hours looking at the range and discussing range-monitoring systems. In the interim, we saw a fawn that darted out of the trees right in front of us. For this time of year, it was a rather large fawn. We also saw a nice, large, eight point Whitetail buck. His antlers were about a 20" spread, and were still in the velvet, which means they are still covered with velvety fuzz and are still in their growth period. On the high, sandy ground, Laramie spotted two lizards and a horny toad. In the walnut grove, we saw many different birds and squirrels. Preying mantis were in abundance on the scurfpea plants. This was the wildlife most appreciated along the way. Molly, our cow dog, even flushed a pheasant out of a plum thicket. Until two years ago, there were almost no pheasants on this rangeland. Because of the change in our grazing techniques, there is much more diversity, allowing more species to move onto the ranch. It is a very exciting process to witness.

The mulberry trees still had berries on them. They are a favorite of mine. I usually ride out of my way to go under a tree a pop a few into my mouth. The wild grapes and sandhill plums were also almost ripe.

Laramie rode with me on my horse, Jack. Joe was riding a colt he is training for a friend. He had a few mishaps this morning convincing the colt to go through electric fence gates.

It was an especially enjoyable ride. By the time we got back to unsaddle the horses at the tack room, Toni had quite a sunburn. It was past noon, so we drove to a small town with population of about 102 people and ate at the café. We visited about the future of the ranch over dinner.

We were on the road again at 3:00. We headed on to the "Hall" ground in Kiowa County to check water. In the summer time, it is always a must to check water in pastures that don't have running water, such as a creek, or a large water storage area, such as a pond. The water in the tank was to the brim for the 200 cows there. Back Home Again.

Tuesday   -   July 4

The 4th of July. We had planned a rather uneventful day, but we should have known better since it was a holiday. It seems catastrophes on a ranch don't understand the equation - holidays = vacation.

It rained .75" at our house. After a phone call, we found out it had rained nearly 3 inches on the Kiowa County ground. That was a good indicator the creeks would be running fast and probably have the water gaps washed out. Water gaps are the stretch of fence that passes through a creek. Joe left with fencing materials. It is about 15 miles as a crow flies to the land, but it takes nearly 45 minutes to access this place, as there are no county roads that cross the range from our place to there. Not long after he left, a neighbor in Kiowa County called me. Our cows were out. I knew the day had definitely changed. It took nearly an hour to run the horses in out of the pasture, saddle two of them, hook up the trailer and fill the pickup with gas. Joe was waiting for me when I got there. We gathered the cattle, put them in a different paddock, and fixed fence. We were headed back home by about noon. Even though it was unexpected, it was enjoyable.

The cows at our house needed to be moved to a new paddock when we returned. When the horses were unsaddled, it was 3:00. We cleaned up and headed to Dodge City to eat dinner with friends and watched a spectacular fireworks display set to music.

Wednesday   -   July 5.

I spent the morning cleaning up longhorn skulls. They have to be cleaned up and horns polished to be merchandisable. Joe checked cows. Joe, Laramie and I went for a walk to the pond to check out the beaver dam in the evening. The beavers had already chewed through a tree we had been watching their progress with. There were lots of bull frogs croaking everywhere. We found a piece of an old, large kettle along the creek. After a short hike to the site where we were married, we headed back to the house. It was dark.

Thursday   -   July 6

We moved the cows from the Hall ground to the N&N ground. It was about a 5-mile cross-country horseback drive. Laramie rode his horse, Cimarron, by himself today. Joe and I rode as did our partner J.L. and his 7 year old daughter, Elizabeth. It was a nice ride, and the cows moved well. We had only one mishap when we went through a gate and several calves went through the fence onto a neighbor's place. We got the cows nearly to their destination, and I headed back on my horse to get the pickup and trailer. The kids, J.L. and Joe checked the other cattle that were already at the N&N in the meantime.

Our lunch was a picnic lunch in the pickup on the way back to our place.

A neighbor had called to let us know one of our bulls was in his pasture. Joe and I rode over and drove him to the house and gathered all of our cows on our place afterwards. We have 379 head. They are nearly all Longhorns and Longhorn cross cattle. It is time to put the bulls in on the cows for breeding. The cows are run in one herd until breeding. At that time, our purebred longhorns cows and their calves are sorted off. The Longhorn cross cows are sorted off and put with Charollais bulls. The Longhorn heifers are sorted separately also. It is a long process to go into the herd and find a cow and calf that are a pair. Joe then brings them toward the gate on horseback, pair by pair. I help him sort the pair away from the other cattle as he gets near the gates. I was riding Scooter today and Joe rode a colt. It is a good learning experience for the colt, even though he misses cutting some cows once in a while and slows the process down. Tomorrow we will start early and finish. Today was 100 degrees. Maybe we will get done before it gets too hot tomorrow!

Friday   -   July 7

We were out by 6:30. Joe went to fix some fence right off the start. I went out to catch the horses. What a lucky draw! Joe's stud colt ran by me and kicked me right on the back end as he went by. He is a little feisty and knows exactly where to aim. It made for a sore day in the saddle and walking up and down the alleyways to open gates. Wow! You should see my great horseshoe tattoo!

It was a trying day. The cows didn't cooperate well today. One calf would not stay in the new pasture with his mama. He insisted on crawling through two fences to the corrals to be with the other cows. We put him out several times, and finally decided to let him figure it out on his own. This afternoon we branded 14 yearling heifers and drove them horseback to their pasture.

It was good to be inside and quit early at 6:00 pm. We ate, played a few games with Laramie and called it a day.

Saturday   -   July 8

Good news, the stubborn calf that wouldn't stay with his mama, finally did figure it out and is back out with her.

Saturday is my laundry and cleaning day. I got the laundry done and patched 3 pairs of jeans, which took much longer than expected. After lunch, Laramie and I went down to the creek to splash around in the water. We saw snails everywhere, small fish, and a small water snake. Joe was putting up an electric fence in Kiowa County while we were enjoying the cool water. The rest of the afternoon, we spent in the office putting together items to send to Sharon Ward, the gal who does a marvelous job with our website.

Sunday   -   July 9

Laramie and I made it to church. He spends Sunday afternoons with his grandparents. Joe and I checked cattle and did a few maintenance items around the ranch.

Friday   -   July 14

We got 3 pot loads (semi truck loads) of 400-pound heifers in today. We have quite a crop of hay grazer, so we found some heifers to take in for a few months. We met the trucks in town early in the morning and they were weighed at the elevator. We then took them to the pens, unloaded and counted them, and checked for sick ones. They look like a decent set of heifers. They are Brahma crosses and came out of Texas. We put insecticide ear tags in their ears. J.L., his son Eric, Laramie, Joe and myself were there. We tagged them in the working alley so we didn't have to catch them all and it would be less stressful. It was a terribly hot, sticky day. Joe got his upper arm smashed in between a pipe and a heifer. We ate a picnic lunch and then strung a short piece of electric wire in the pasture to train them to it. It appears the heifers have been worked with horses, but they haven't been accustomed to an electric fence. Having them used to horses is a big plus!

Eric came home with us and spent the night. It was great to have air conditioning. Late in the afternoon, I took Joe in to get an x-ray. His arm was not broken, but the muscle was smashed and was causing him a lot of pain. When he was using it this morning, it didn't bother him. When he quit using it, the swelling and pain started. The doctor said it would be a slow healing process.

Saturday   -   July 15

Joe went early to meet J.L. and ride the heifers and check for sick ones. They found one and doctored it. Roping with the injured arm was not a great idea. Laramie and I went to the Leppers. They are neighbors. We get together once a week and do preschool-like activities. Kristi is a great friend of mine. The time we spend together is the bulk of my socializing.

The Clark County Fair is just underway. Joe and I judged the BBQ contest. It was a great and tasty thing to judge! Afterwards we went to the Bull-O-Rama. In years past, Joe and I have put on the Bull-O-Rama with our own bucking bulls. It was such a change this year to be observers only. What a treat! Laramie was a contestant in the Mutton Busting. He stayed on his sheep, and they had to pry him off of it. Cody, our 17-year-old son, also rode in the Junior and Novice division. He stayed on his bulls but they didn't buck very hard. He placed 2nd and 3rd. We went to a dance afterward. Laramie danced my legs off! It was a late night, but nice to visit with others.

Sunday   -   July 16

Joe went to check the heifers again. They seem to be doing great. His biggest problem was throwing his saddle on his colt with his injured arm. I went to church with Laramie. It was a lazy day. Nothing spectacular happened, other than it was HOT, and it rained in the evening.

Monday   -   July 17 through Saturday   -   July 22

This is a week for office work. Thank goodness the weather is cooler and I can work with the windows open and enjoy the fresh air. I am working on the ranch accounting bookwork, paying bills, estimating future cash flow needs, making calls to contacts about range and wildlife ecology, and doing some updates in the database for mailing out our quarterly newsletter.

Laramie has spent the week playing Indian and going with Joe when he can.

Joe has been helping J.L. lay out an above ground water line to water cattle in Kiowa county. In our approach to grazing in paddocks to better utilize the grass and allow the grass more rest, we needed water availability in a different area. After many meetings with the Conservation Service last year, we had plans for all kinds of water lines, wells, storage tanks, etc. We declined the plan and the cost share monies that would have come with it. I was really proud of the guys when they came up with the current system that works well for just pennies compared to the other plan we had considered.

Friday   -   July 21

I rode out with Joe this morning. We saw the neatest thing, and lucky for me I had my camera. There was a hole in a tree near the creek. Joe said, "That would be a perfect place for an animal to live." We rode up to the hole, and sure enough, there was a possum in it. It pretended as though it were asleep and barely opened its eyes to see what we were up to.

Saturday   -   July 22

It is rodeo night in Greensburg. Cody rode a bull tonight. He actually didn't make the whole ride, but has one more ride under his belt. Joe took our last five bucking bulls for the rodeo contractor to buck out and possibly purchase. Both nights they bucked very well, with the exception of Oscar, our white Brahma bull.

Sunday   -   July 23

Ahh Sunday. It is always nice to make it to church once more. Joe, Laramie and I went to church and went out to eat for a treat afterwards. The rest of the day was a lazy day. Laramie took his turtle to show the other kids at Sunday School.

Monday   -   July 24

Joe and J.L. were busy checking cattle and doctoring at his place today. The flies are just beginning to be a nuisance on the cattle. Face flies can transmit bacteria to the eye and cause pink eye. The eye is not actually pink, but if the cattle aren't treated, they can become blind in the eye. I am continuing my dreaded office work.

Tuesday   -   July 25

Laramie was up early to go with Joe to fix fence. We have a few cows of our own with pink eye and also foot rot. Foot rot often occurs in wet weather or when cattle stand in ponds when it is warm. The bacteria enter the hoof region and cause swelling, cracking, and bleeding. The cattle must be treated to prevent lameness. In the late morning, we all three went out and gathered the cows and sorted off 10 head for either pink eye or foot rot. We took them to a special chute which Joe's father designed for horses and horned cattle. Joe and I treated them with antibiotics. There was also a yearling filly, which ran into a post or something and needed the laceration cleaned and antibiotics also. She is not broke yet, so we used the chute to doctor her also. The chute is a very simple way to handle the animals and very low stress on the cattle also.

In the afternoon, Laramie brought his horse to the house to lead him around the yard and Joe moved the heifers to another paddock on horseback. You can guess where I was again - the office.

Wednesday   -   July 26

I am about to finish up my sentence in the office! Laramie and I spent time at the creek throwing sticks in and looking at things. We saw a small garter snake. They are harmless. There was also an old deer stand way up in a tree. I climbed to the top until Laramie begged me to come down. He was not brave enough to make the climb. We also needed some medicine from the vet, so I made a trip to Ashland, which is 35 miles away to pick up medicine. I also picked up a few groceries while I was there. I don't enjoy making trips off the ranch, so we try to combine as many errands together as possible. It is such a time consuming task to run for just a few items.

Joe got up at 5:00 this morning to help J.L. He is having terrible problems with his calves. It is assumed that the vaccine he vaccinated with this spring was not viable. He has lost 2 to 3 calves every day to pneumonia like symptoms the past two days. He has doctored many daily also. This is out of the ordinary. Joe was needed to gather the cattle, revaccinate and doctor the calves that are sick today. Nearly all of the calves were running a fever. Having so many sick at one time is at epidemic proportions.

Saturday   -   July 29

Casey, Owen and Kristie came over to have a Bible Story and spend time with the kids. Just as we were done with the story, Joe drove up with his latest find. It was a large snapping turtle. We have seen them in the creek, but I was never brave enough to go near them. After seeing this turtle in action, I won't be messing with any in the future either. It was about 10 inches in diameter. When it got up to walk, it was tall. There was about 5 inches of daylight underneath him at a walk. It had webbed feet and a long tail with spikes on it that reminded us of a dinosaur. It could stretch out its neck and snap at a stick very quickly. I was amazed to see it had no teeth. It's biting seemed to be done with the hard, sharp edges of the outside structure of its mouth. We let him go and return to the creek.

The second vaccination seems to have done the trick on J.L.'s calves. There were no more sick ones. Joe, Laramie and I went to the N&N ground and rode the cattle there. We roped and doctored one heifer that had foot rot and hunted for another one. We never did find her. The heifers are grazing in some very tall feed. In some places it is eight to nine feet tall. It makes finding something laying down a grueling game of hide and seek. Laramie and I rode the draws looking in the tall weeds. We checked the cowherd there, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

We did see an unusual item. A bird had built a nest within a sunflower that was about 8 feet tall. Inside the nest was a small blue egg. We never did see the mother bird, so we don't know exactly which kind of bird it was. If we had not been horseback, we wouldn't have seen it at all.

The worst event of the day was the mosquitoes. Joe drove the pickup to put out salt in another pasture. In the meantime, I led Joe's horse and Laramie followed on Cimarron. In the bottoms, the mosquitoes were unbearable. Unfortunately there was nothing to do but tolerate them and keep on riding. Laramie's horse is a white color, but you would not have known it with the mosquitoes around. The horse was covered and looked black. It was good to get on top of the ridges where there was a small breeze that lightened the mosquitoes up. No wonder cattle stay on top of ridges to enjoy the breeze and avoid the flies and other pests!

Sunday   -   July 30

I played the organ at church, so we left early. We spent the day at a friend's home, riding four-wheelers to see their cattle and Laramie also swam. That evening we went to the church picnic. The homemade ice cream topped off the whole day.

Monday   -   July 31

I am still spending a lot of time in the office sorting through paperwork and trying to get pictures of our cowherd together for some leasing agreements. It has been a very time consuming task. My father brought over two calves for me to castrate for him. Joe and Cody spent the morning loading a trailer with hay to haul to some friends in Texas. Later in the afternoon, Laramie and I went along to pick up the last load on the pickup.

Tuesday   -   August 1

Joe went to the N&N to ride cattle again. He found the heifer we had been unsuccessful in finding before. In the evening, Laramie was eager to go to the creek. He had made himself a fishing pole out of string and a small stick. We walked to the creek and tried our hand at "fishing". Five wood ducks flew up as we got to the creek. We saw an earthworm, some minnows, snails, tadpoles and a mud dauber nest in an old tree. Joe had finished preparing supper by the time we returned. He is always trying a different concoction. It usually turns out very tasty.

Wednesday   -   August 2

I am still spending a lot of time in the office sorting through paperwork and trying to get pictures of our cowherd together for some leasing agreements. It has been a very time consuming task. My father brought over two calves for me to castrate for him. Joe and Cody spent the morning loading a trailer with hay to haul to some friends in Texas. Later in the afternoon, Laramie and I went along to pick up the last load on the pickup.

Thursday   -   August 3

I finally finished classifying, sorting, and picturing cows on the computer. Joe went to the N&N to check cattle. When he returned in the afternoon, we gathered the longhorn herd horseback and doctored two for foot rot and five with bad eyes. We turned them out on a fresh pasture, hooked up the trailer loaded with hay, tied the hay down and went to the house to get Joe on his way to Texas. It was 9:00 p.m. by then. Joe left about 10:00 p.m. so he could travel while it was cool. It will take him most of the night to make the trip.

Friday   -   August 4

It has been plenty warm here. I checked the water for the cattle later in the afternoon. I did not even have to go to the tank to know there was no water there. As soon as the cows saw the pickup, they started running across the pastured and bellering. I knew immediately they were thirsty. Luckily the paddock they were in is right next to a paddock that has a creek flowing through it. I only had to open a gate and call to them, and they were glad to get a drink of cool water. I favor pastures with running water, as it eliminates a lot of labor and a lot of hassles in case the pump gets behind as it did today.

Friday, Saturday   -   August 4 & 5

I got up early and moved the cattle out of the paddock where they watered at the creek. They were only in the paddock over night, but we had planned to let this part of the range rest for quite some time before putting them back in. It was somewhat tricky to move them out of this particular paddock myself, especially since it had all the tender new grass in it. God was helping out a bit, and they all went through the gate, finally.

Casee and Kristi Lepper came in the evening. We took the kids and camped out on the creek bottom in the old Walnut grove. We set up a tent, and cooked by a campfire. We took the kids on a nature-hunting walk. We indeed did find some great treasures. Casee found some neat spiders, a locust skin and some animal bones. Laramie found a bobcat skull and both of them found several different feathers. The big find for the two- day adventure was a buffalo fossil. It was very fragile and we only unearthed part of it. We marked the location in our minds and will come back for the rest when we know the right procedure to get the fossil. We went back to the house on Saturday, had a bible story lesson and took a good nap. Sleeping in the tent was not very conducive to a good night's sleep!

Sunday   -   August 6

Laramie and I went to church and came home to check the cattle water. The rest of the day was a lazy day.

August 7 - 13

The family took a great vacation to Colorado. We camped in the Wilderness region of the White River National Forest.

Monday   -   August 14

It is the first day of school for Cody. For Joe and I, it was a day to check all the cattle since we had been gone all the previous week. My dad had kept an eye on things for us while we were gone, but today was the day for an intensive check. We had one bull that had gone visiting on the neighbor's spread. Joe and I went over horseback to drive him home. He was determined to stay with his new girls. Joe roped him around his horns. Usually after roping an animal and having the horse pull on them, they will then realize they can't win, and will decide to cooperate and continue on with the mission homeward. That was not the case with this bull, today. Joe finally waited for me to gallop back home, hook the pickup up to the trailer, drive to the neighbor's place and then we loaded the bull. As you can imagine, to load an uncooperative bull in a trailer is no easier then convincing him to trot on back home. Cowboys do have a system however to load an animal in the middle of a pasture which works quite easily and is easy on the animal. A rope is strung from around the animal's horns, through the trailer and then to the outside of the trailer. The cowboy dallies up the rope (wraps it around the saddle horn) and has the horse give a tug on the rope. This usually convinces the animal to hop in and take an easy ride home. This process is especially necessary for a sick animal that for some reason can't travel all the way back to the corrals. In some instances, it is much easier to take the trailer to the animal, rather than requiring them to make a long trip by hoof.

Tuesday   -   August 15

It is still catch up time for us. We continue to get all the camping equipment from the vacation taken care of and all the office work caught up.

Wednesday   -   August 16

Laramie and I went to the creek and waded in it and played. We saw some wood ducks and had lots of fun splashing each other with the cold water. It was a nice break from the office work.

Wednesday   -   August 23

I attended the annual Prairie Chicken meeting in Lubbock, Texas. It was an interesting mix of biologists, State Wildlife officials, U.S. Fish and Game personnel, representatives from the E.P.A. and ranchers. I learned a lot about the prairie chicken habitat and also some ecotourism activities that have been happening on ranches.

Friday   -   August 25

We got together at Lee Hawes ranch with several other ranchers. We get together quite often and discuss observations, ideas, and concepts. It is a very unique group with lots of talent and insight. We spent most of the day visiting with everyone and stayed late to visit with the Hawes. In the evening we went to the High School football scrimmage. Cody, our middle son, is playing football this year.

Saturday, Sunday   -   August 26 and 27

Cody had the first High School Rodeo of the fall season at Strong City. We left Saturday morning for the four-hour drive to the rodeo. We stayed at the Hoy's ranch. On Sunday morning we had a business meeting with them. We scrutinize each other's ranch and businesses. It was a great weekend except for the 112- degree day and sitting through a rodeo in that kind of heat. Cody tied for second on Sunday.

Put Online:   9/1/00

Site maintained by Sharon Ward, sharonw@consolidated.net
Please, let me know if you encounter any difficulties.

http://www.longhorn-cattle.com/journal7-00.html