Moore Ranch Journal

Saturday - September 2
Joe and Cody left for Hill City for the rodeo. Laramie and I stayed home to look after the cattle and the water since the weather has been consistently above 100 degrees. We went to Kristi and Casee's for a Bible Story on Saturday. Joe left for Houston, Texas for a funeral, after they got back from the rodeo. Our friend, J.W. Isaacs, a foundation breeder in the Texas Longhorn industry passed away on Friday.

September 4th - Monday; Labor Day
Joe is still gone, so Cody helped me out. We went to the Kiowa County land and moved the heifers to a new pasture. It is sometimes tricky to handle yearling animals. They are young, and many times would prefer to break and run away. J.L. and his father, Windy Spurgeon, were also there. We got them moved fairly easily. You will notice it is Labor Day. It makes no difference to the cattle if it is a designated holiday. They were ready to be moved to a new pasture.

Tuesday - September 5
Ahh, this is what ranching is about. We moved 285 head of cows and their calves 9 miles today. We are running short of grass on our Kiowa County land. Rather than overgraze the range and put that ecosystem under stress, we rented some wheat stubble 9 miles to the north. The temperatures have been near 100 degrees, so we had to start before day break to gather the cattle, while it was still cool. They were gathered off of three pastures and we started northward. We traveled through a neighboring ranch. It is a unique landscape that has a huge (by Kansas standards) canyon running the length of it. The cows at first were content to follow J.L., as he was calling them. Later on in the morning, they began to move more slowly and made it difficult for those pushing the cattle at the rear. We finally reached the new pasture at 12:30. It had taken us nearly 4 ½ hours. The last mile was tough. The cows were ready to see some water and take a breather. It did help that we had turned into the wind. This helped to cool the cattle off, but the last mile was through a plowed field that was terribly dusty. The riders at the back could barely see the cattle in front of them. All went well and they are moved. Surely it will be much cooler when we are ready to move them back in the fall!

Wednesday - September 6
Loren Denetclaw, from the local NRCS office, came out to explain some range monitoring techniques and look over a soil and range map he had put together for us. It was an interesting day of learning and sharing ideas. Laramie came along and, as always, had to dream up his own name for the range plants we are trying to learn and identify. We are interested in knowing what condition our range is in and monitoring it as we graze so that we can determine the grazing intervals in the pastures.

Thursday - September 7
Hillary Loring, a biologist from Kansas University came out to do a biodiversity study on the ranch. We are on the edge of what is believed to be the split from mid-grass prairie to short-grass prairie. We are interested in knowing what species of range plants are here, and how that changes with our management decisions. Hillary identified quite a few species and Joe and I learned a lot. Hillary was quite surprised to see as much Big Bluestem as we saw today. There is always something else to observe and learn. Joe checked the cattle in Kiowa County.

Friday - September 8
We got up early to finish the biodiversity study. We saw many interesting things and learned a lot. There were many places we found Big Bluestem and other grasses making progress, and the range improving. I had to cut the adventure short to meet another organist at the church. After practicing, I went to the tannery and picked up five hides. They all turned out really great. I will be selling them and ranch experience trips at a booth at the Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Pageant. Joe has contracted with the Pageant to use 50 head of our cattle for the historical period depicting the cattle drives in the 1800's. The Pageant is held every three years and is a great production. Joe and three other cowboys will be holding the cattle and driving them in the pageant. The production is very authentic, so since I am a female, I won't be riding in the Pageant. This led me to the booth idea and marketing some ranch products there.

Saturday - September 9
Joe and Cody left to go to a High School Rodeo in Eastern Kansas. Laramie and I had neighbors over for a Bible Story and playing. We also went to get feed samples out of a field that we are considering buying for hay. I also stopped and checked our only piece of farm ground, which is planted to milo. The hot weather has been good for the milo allowing it to dry out. Now if we can find someone who isn't busy cutting their own, we will "be in business".

Sunday - September 10
Finally the mornings are cooler. The afternoons are still hitting 100 degrees. That is very unusual for this time of year. I played the organ at church this morning, taught Sunday School, visited our oldest son in Dodge City and came home. I thought I would help Joe out and go around a fence and get it in shape, since tomorrow we are moving cattle on it. When I got to the pasture, I saw the cows had already moved themselves. I got the fence fixed in three hours. The beep of the answering machine greeted me as I came in the door. It was the neighbor letting me know he had seen two of our cows out on the dirt road. Off I flew to see which two cows to be unhappy with. By the time I got there, the two cows had multiplied into 100 head of cows. Back I flew to the house saddled a horse and rode out to put them back in. They had been reaching through a wire gate to eat some juicy weeds and knocked the gate down. The gatepost was broken, so I used my rope to rig the gate back so it would hold the cattle. It is just that time of year for cattle to be out. Everything is drying up, and they are sticking their heads through the fence, looking for something greener on the other side.

Monday - September 11
I was off to a Sunday School Teacher's meeting early. On my way back home, I stopped in at a Thrift Store to help out the ladies that run it. The proceeds from their sales go to the local nursing home. All of the volunteers are elderly ladies who can't get around very easily, so I have tried to help out once in a while. Back at home; I worked on the some longhorn skulls for a while. Joe's mom was passing through, so we went out to eat. When we arrived back home, Joe and his mom had to leave immediately to take care of his grandparents in Denver. He will have another night full of driving.

Tuesday - September 12
I fixed the broken gatepost that I had rigged up with my rope a couple of days ago. Now it is brand spanking new and ready to be tested by the cattle!
Joe went to the N & N this morning to move some heifers with J.L. J. L. was late getting there, but Joe was able to move the heifers by himself to the new pasture. That was rather surprising to all of us. They then went on over to get a bull that was out on the neighbor's pasture. The bull was rather cantankerous when the guys got there. J.L. roped the bull around the head. His saddle was too loose to hold the bull safely, so Joe roped the bull. Joe had chosen to ride a colt that morning. The bull decided to take Joe and the colt. Since the colt is a bit inexperienced, he didn't have enough sense to get away from the bull. The bull ended up hitting the colt and the colt blew up. Joe ended up in a pond beside the horse, but he still had the reins and the rope dallied (wrapped) around the saddle horn. He said he was not going to let go of either of them for anything. He didn't know quite where the bull was, and he sure could have been bull target material. When the colt saw Joe on the ground, he boogered and took off. All the while, Joe was hanging on to the rope and reins. When things came to a halt he crawled back on and they managed to get the bull back to his proper home. Joe came home sopping wet.

Wednesday - September 13
The Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Pageant is in a couple of weeks. Joe and I have contracted to supply the longhorn cattle for it. The Pageant is put on by the small community of Medicine Lodge and draws a huge crowd from across the nation. It is done every three years to commemorate the Peace Treaty signed at the same location. The Pageant reenacts the Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement of the prairie region of the United States. Of course our part in the cattle will be the cattle drive era when longhorns were driven from Texas to the North to markets.
We shipped 100 head of cattle to the Peace Treaty pasture today. It is the same old process of gathering the cattle, and sorting off one cow and calf at a time to make sure they are paired up and no one will be left behind with the wrong mama. The trucks were three hours late arriving, but we got them loaded before dark anyway. They will unload the cattle tonight in corrals and turn them out in the morning when it is light. This will allow the cows and calves to find each other, and pair up. If they would dump them directly out in the pasture after dark in a strange place, it is possible that a calf wouldn't find it's mama right away and end up running through fences helter-skelter and be strayed.

Thursday - September 14
We shipped out 397 head of heifers today. We had taken them in on the gain. This means that they belong to another fellow, and we took the cattle in to graze on our land. We were responsible for taking care of the cattle, doctoring any sick cattle and moving them to new pastures. The payment we received for this care and use of pasture was figured by the amount of weight they gained while they were here.
We left for Kiowa County early and gathered the heifer's horseback. It was a nice crisp, cool morning. It took a little bit of effort to get the heifers started through the gate, but we didn't have any of them get away from us, so everything went fairly smooth. After we got them to the corral, they were loaded on five semi trucks.
In the afternoon, Joe and I went to Dodge City to testify at an E.P.A. hearing. The E.P. A. is considering reclassifying many streams and dry creek beds in Kansas. It was a very interesting day to hear everyone's comments. The turn out was tremendous. Joe and I felt we were in the minority concerning our views of the water, pollutants, and ranching in general. I spoke with some members of environmental groups who were present. I had good visits with them concerning their stances on the issue. This is something I couldn't have done several years ago.

Friday - September 15
I received a call this morning to talk on a talk radio show about the Ranching for Profit school and how it has impacted our ranch. We delayed our outside work until after the radio broadcast and did some odds and ends office work.
It is the end of breeding season and it was the day to pull the bulls in the Longhorn herd. Joe and I gathered the Longhorn herd, brought them to the corral and sorted the bulls off. At least sorting bulls doesn't require the slow work of pairing like it does with cows. Of course there always has to be a stubborn bull around. He jumped out of the alley before we could get him turned out to the new pasture. We had to go and gather him again. I thought Joe might have to rope him, but he cooperated.
Tonight is High School Homecoming. Cody will play football and our oldest son T.R. will be home.

Saturday - September 16
Our oldest son, T.R., was home today, so we spent some time with him. In the afternoon, Laramie and I went over to Kristi and Casee's house for a preschool lesson and Bible Story. Laundry, lawn mower repair, tent cleaning and various and sundry other items were on the agenda too.

Sunday - September 17
We had a rehearsal for the Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty today. We left the house after running in the horses and saddling them. We had hoped to go to church in Medicine Lodge and then go on to the rehearsal. When I heard a loud "bang ker thump" as we were going down the road, I knew church was out of the question. We had blown a tire on the trailer. Since we were near a friend's house, we pulled in his driveway and changed the tire. Ted came out and visited with us while we changed the tire. Once more we were on the way to Medicine Lodge.
The Peace Treaty rehearsal went well. We were there only five minutes before two other horses got loose and Joe retrieved them. The cows and calves we had taken down were gathered and held until our scene in the Peace Treaty Pageant. It was a fun day with friends. We scouted out a campsite near the cattle and came on home. We were near home when we smelled scorched prairie. While we were gone, a seismograph crew had started a fire on a neighbor's place. Luckily none of our land was involved.

Wednesday - September 27
Oh, a day in my life to remember. Joe and I decided to pre-vaccinate our crossbred calves today. We went out horseback and gathered them. Laramie rode Cimarron and was able for the first time to gather in a few stragglers himself. After bringing the cows and calves to the corral, we sorted off the calves and went to the house to have some lunch.
After lunch, we were getting ready to vaccinate and I realized I had left the syringes in the house. My horse was two pens away, but Joe's colt was right by the gate, so I decided to hop on him and retrieve the syringes. On the way back to the corrals, the colt spooked, reared a few times and took off at full gallop. I realized I was in a real pickle when I saw he had a bosal on. This is a type of headgear often used on colts. It does not have a bit, therefore the only control I had was my strength against his strength. I could see he wasn't going to slow down any. I supposed he would make a quick, short stop when we reached the corrals, and I would end up over his head in the next corral. I did end up on the next corral, but not that easily. The colt never stopped running. We pummeled through a closed pipe gate before I landed in the corral. The colt only had a slight cut to his head and was scared to death. I wasn't scared to death, but my injuries were a bit worse. Joe went to the house to call an ambulance and Laramie held a hat over my face to keep the sun off of me.
I ended up with a punctured lung, fractured ribs and fractured vertebrae. My stay in two hospitals lasted a week. Healing will likely take quite a while.
Thanks be to God. My head, my neck and torso were not involved at all. If they had been, I could have easily been killed.

Tuesday - Oct 10
Joe checked cattle today. I started putting labels on 6,600 newsletters that were to be mailed out the first of October. It felt good to have something meaningful to do. Joe found a large water tank that can be hauled with a semi. We have hired a semi to haul the tank to and from the pasture. This will help on the labor end of things since it was taking all day long to haul water to the cows.

Thursday - October 12
I had a doctor's appointment today to confirm I am healing up all right. I also got to drive the pickup as Joe decided to feed some supplement to the cows. I was surprised the cows were in such great shape. It felt good to be outside again.
I also saw a strange looking nest in a tree. It appears that it might be a pack rat's nest, although I have never seen one up in a tree. We will have to investigate in a few days.

Saturday - October 14
I went to the High School Rodeo in Greensburg. It was only 30 miles away. Cody rode his bull and got 3rd in the bull riding. He and a friend, Cody Hawes, team roped. Cody missed his dally as he headed the steer, that is, he roped the steer's horns and then didn't get the rope wrapped back down on the saddle horn soon enough and the rope was pulled out of his hands.
Joe took two of our best bucking bulls to a college rodeo in Pratt, Kansas. We are selling them. The best way to merchandise them is to show the potential buyer that they can buck the cowboys off. They bucked well, and he was asked to bring them back for the Short-Go tomorrow.
Joe's parent's brought Laramie home today. I was very glad to see him. He had been away for more than a week.
Joe was out late hauling water for the cattle.

Sunday - October 15
Cody rode his bull again in today's performance and took first place. Take a look at a clip of his ride here. The file is 334K, so give it a little while to download.
He had trouble in the team roping. As he came out of the heading box, the loop of his rope caught on the chute and got pulled out of his hand. We were all surprised. He got a nice rope burn, but that didn't seem to affect his bull riding any.
Once again, Joe had to haul another semi load of water for the cattle.

Monday - October 16
My back gets some better each day. I am busy finishing up the newsletters. Joe and I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. sorting them so I can haul them to the post office tomorrow.
Joe was busy today hauling water, checking cattle and hauling hay. He and J.L. split the cornstalk field in half in preparation for our experimental weaning project on Wednesday. Stay tuned for results!

Tuesday - October 17
Joe left early to go to a neighbor's place to help them sort calves, brand a few and haul some cattle to town. How I wish I wasn't laid up! It is always fun to go and help the neighbors. Laramie chose to stay home. I think he got homesick while he was at grandma's and the week before when I was in the hospital. He is determined to stay home and take care of me.
Laramie and I hauled the newsletters to town. We put out 6,641 of them this time. It is our largest mailing yet. On the way to town, we saw about 25 deer here and there and a tarantula crossing the road. About this time of year they migrate and we see quite a few of them. At other times of the year, I have never run across a tarantula. Going to town was a chore for me. We went to the library and got some books. I let Laramie play in the park for an hour and a half while I rested in the car.
Joe made points today as he got one of the skunks that have been consistently prowling under the house each night. We have had nice nights, and we have slept with the windows open. Whew! Peppy L'Pwew sure does make himself known when he is around.

Wednesday - October 18
Joe was up and out early. He and our partner J.L. tried something different today. We were introduced to a concept referred to as across the fence weaning last year by a rancher by the name of Kit Pharo. It sounded like a winning idea, so we are trying it out. They weaned the calves on cornstalks today. It is time to take the calves off of the cows. The cows have an easier time making it through the winter when the calves are weaned.
The cattle are on a cornstalk field with only an electric fence around it. The guys had split the pasture in half with another electric fence. Today they went out and gathered the cattle. They sorted off the calves on one side of the fence and the cows on the other. The reason this process seemed like it might be ticklish is that there are no corrals in this field. They set up a few panels and sorted the calves from the cows. Everything went well, and all the sorting was done in an hour and twenty minutes.
The field is a mile from the town cafe and is located right on the highway. Many locals were sure the process would be a failure and were talking about our crazy idea. We even had a few spectators come by and "watch for the rodeo". Lo and behold, there were no run aways and the calves and cows seem very content. All went very smoothly. The idea of this new method is to reduce the stress on the calves and cows instead of penning them up separate from each other and "getting the bawl" out of them. Under the traditional method, the calves usually just walk and don't eat as they bawl for their mamas for a few days. A small percentage of them become sick because of the stress. We are impressed so far. Sometimes crazy ideas do outweigh the traditional practices!

Thursday - October 19
The weaning was not fool proof! Some of the cows went through the fence, so Joe and J.L. had to sort them back horseback. One of the errors seems to be the water source for both the cows and calves is right next to each other on both sides of the fence. Moving the water sources away from each other might have prevented them being mixed again.
Joe roped a calf that was sick to doctor it. After the rope was on the calf, the calf veered one direction and the horse and Joe were not in the right position to handle the situation. The horse fell down and on top of Joe. Our luck horseback certainly has dropped off during the last month! He hurt his ribs and his hip and is hopping around badly. He still is not considering a trip to the doctor. Only time will tell how bad the injury is.

Friday - October 20
There was no school today, so Cody helped his crippled up dad. They went back over to the cornstalks and the weaning experiment. It appears the cattle are settling down some. Some cows did cross the fence again, but only a few. J.L. and Joe roped a cow. It was another rodeo day for Joe. He was riding his yellow horse and managed to get the rope under the horse's tail. This is a sure way to fire any horse up. I would have to assure you that if I were equipped with a tail, a rope sliding under my tail would have the same effect. He stayed on board and J.L. heeled the cow to get the rope off of her.
The guys also moved the water tanks to opposite sides of the field to keep the cattle separated.
Cody had a football game in the evening. I went in and watched. It was a shut out of 52 to 0. We were the winning team. Cody and his roping partner Cody Hawse came home at 10:30 that evening. Cody Hawes mentioned that he thought his horse might have been walking a bit stiffly. We went out to inspect him and doctored him with some penicillin.
Laramie was sick and was up most of the night.

Saturday - October 21
Joe took the two Codys to the High School rodeo in Mound City, which is near the Missouri line. They left at 7:00 this morning. On the way they stopped at the cornstalks. They helped J.L. cake the cows and then the calves. They pushed the cows to one side of the field and held them horseback while J.L. caked them. They then did the same for the calves. If they had not done this, the calves would have seen the cake truck and might have torn down the separation fence trying to get a treat.
Laramie is at a friend's house today. The escapade to the football game was a little much for me yesterday. I feel as though I am an elderly lady.

Sunday - October 22
Cody had bad luck with his bull yesterday. He got bucked off and then the bull got him down. The two bullfighters were unable to get the bull off of him. When Joe saw that Cody seemed a little dazed, he jumped over the fence and grabbed Cody and stuffed him through the fence. He ended up in the hospital with an injury to his trachea. He was then taken to KU Medical Center in Kansas City. Once again, God has been gracious to us. He was released today with just a lot of pain. The hole in the trachea has closed back up. They all got home from the rodeo late in the evening, very tired from the whole ordeal.
We are very grateful to have received a nice rain of 1.65". It has been several months since we received any precipitation at all. Although the grass has stopped growing and we won't benefit from the moisture immediately, it will help out next spring. We are short of pasture this fall. Since there was nearly no rain all summer, our winter pastures don't have enough forage to winter our cows there. We have located some corn and milo stalk fields to pasture, but even some of them are unavailable this year as everyone is short of feed. One large factor in our area is that none of the winter wheat could be planted in September and early October. By this time of year, the wheat fields are almost ready to pasture. This year, there are no fields with any wheat that has sprouted. In fact nearly none of the fields are even planted yet.

Monday - October 23
I am trying to take it easy since my back is still on the mend. Joe left early to go to J.L. Spurgeon's to help him gather, sort and load his cattle to take to market. From there, Joe went to check the cattle on stalks and then home. After the trailer was unhooked and the horse unsaddled, he was off again to get a load of hay. He came back and I drove for him as he fed off of the back of the pickup. The Longhorn cows had their paddock fence torn down, so we spent an hour finding the break and picking up insulators and stretching the wire. Tonight Joe fell asleep in the living room chair. He is still exhausted from the hospital episode with Cody.
Cody went to school for half a day, and then came home to rest and take it easy. Laramie, who is four years old, thinks he has a tough job taking care of three injured adults.
I spent the day playing with Laramie, attempting to wash clothes, and quilting a cowboy hanging for Christmas.

Friday - October 27
We went to Owen's birthday party in the evening. Casee and Laramie had a Bible Story with me while Kristi was making the cake. He turned two years old today. It was good to visit with friends. Joe and Bob Lepper watched the Professional Bull Riding Finals. We have a few friends who were riding in the finals. None of them had any luck tonight.

Sunday - October 29
Joe and Cody went to Kiowa County to weld a few gates in the corrals there. I had a busy day. It was one of my first really active days. Laramie and I went to church and then stayed at the Williams' house until evening. We had our annual meeting at church for A.A.L. We had a supper and watched a video about Dietrick Bonhoeffer, a pastor in Germany during the Nazi regime. I am the chair person for A.A.L. which does many benevolent things for the community and church.

Monday - October 30
It was time to make the big trail drive back to the working corrals with the partnership cattle. Joe, J.L. , Karen and a few neighbors moved the cows horseback, 11 miles from the cornstalks to the working corrals. The cattle moved well. The calves we had weaned earlier were left at the cornstalk field. The windmill broke down, so Karen, was given the job to haul water. The brakes on J.L.'s pickup, used to haul the water, froze up. This put quite a hitch in the day. It was late day for Joe by the time water got hauled for the calves and he loaded Windy Spurgeon's trailer with hay to be hauled to the partnership cows in Oklahoma.
I went to the mailbox and was lucky to see 22 turkeys on the alfalfa field. It not only looks like spring, the turkeys were acting like it was spring also. A few of the toms were fanning a bit. It was quite unusual.