Effects of Winter on Ranching

The fast approaching winter has many ranchers worried about how they will make it through without having to sell out. The winter weather combined with the current drought conditions will make for a disastrous season on most ranches. The farmers almanac calls for a mild winter with average moisture, giving some hope to the ranchers. A mild winter will make it easier to keep weight on cattle and horses and allowing them to graze a small amount on what grass is left will also help.

Calves are being sold earlier than usual this year to sustain grass and hay. It is hard to make the decision on the best time to sell because calves that weigh more will bring more equating more money to buy hay. Selling calves earlier will keep more grass for the cows throughout the winter. This week was the time many chose to sell calves, which requires a lot of time and work into getting everything planned. The ranchers help each other with the day, and in return receive help when they sell calves.

Horse Magazines

There are a large variety of horse magazines, some focused more on ranching and others with a focus on the  performance horse. Working Ranch Magazine reports on all news dealing with a ranch  including animal nutrition, pasture management, cattle breeds, fencing, livestock equipment, tractors and much more. Working Ranch Magazine is by far the best informative ranching magazine out there that delivers news about the industry. Western Horseman has some of this news, but has a lot of articles about ranches throughout the country. The worst part of the Western Horseman is all of the advertisements they have.

There are a lot of great informative magazines about performace horses which may have been raised on ranches. Speedhorse and Track Magazine are both magazines focused on Quarter Horse racing. Barrel Horse News reports on the barrel horse industry, which is the largest growing equine sport in the world. Quarter Horse News publicizes information about the cutting, reining and cowhorses. This magazine has the largest connection between ranching and the performance horse because these events involve both. Quarter Horse Journal covers all of these, but in less detail, and it is decreasing in popularity among ranchers and Quarter Horse breeders raising the performance horse.

Branding

Every spring, ranchers brand their calves. Nearly all of the ranchers go to their neighbor's branding, and in return they have a big group of help when their branding rolls around. Most ranchers in this part of the country set the branding dates towards the end of May when most of the cows have calved. Some brandings are earlier or later because the rancher may choose to calve earlier, depending on their individual situations.

The process starts at about 7:30 in the morning gathering cows and calves and penning them in the corral. The next step is separating the mothers and calves. After, the calves are caught, branded, vaccinated, ear marked and the bull calves are castrated. Each rancher has specific things they do, but those are pretty general procedures at a branding. The best part of a branding is the home cooked meal after the work is done.

Halter Training and Weaning Foals

The time of year is upon the horse community to halter train their foals, if they have not already. There is no single way to do it, but the Crago Ranch has a pretty solid process that works year after year. The mares and foals are brought in from the pasture, foals untouched, except for the occasional curious one who wanders up and finds that they like the attention. After the colts and mothers are run into an alley together, so they are easier to catch, the colts find themselves wearing a halter and lead rope for a few days, learning to give by themselves when they step on their leap rope. Following this the colts are handled and taught to lead with the help of the mom and eventually learn to lead by themselves. The colts must also learn the task of having their feet trimmed.

The whole process involves a feeding program so the foals adapt more easily once weaning time comes. They receive alfalfa hay and special grain that helps them maintain weight once they are separated from their mothers. Once they are ready to be weaned, a few mares at a time are hauled back out to pasture, and are relieved within a short time. The colts also have an easier time adjusting because only a few of the other foals are worried versus the whole group being upset. Once all the mothers are hauled out, the foals are used to being on their own and are ready to go to their new homes when the right buyer comes along.

How the Drought is Effecting Ranching

The drought throughout this year, combined with the heat, has had a terrible effect on the ranches in this area. Many ranchers have already began selling livestock because they know they will be unable to support them throughout the winter. Others are planning on when to sell their cattle or horses. During the drought, both grass quality and water quality has decreased. Also, the lack of hay from the drought is the biggest factor in selling the livestock. Many ranchers are able to support their cattle throughout the summer from grass still left from the previous year, but are unable to buy the expensive hay used to feed cattle during the winters in this region. Hay is no exception to the rule of supply and demand. With a small hay crop throughout the country, the price of hay has skyrocketed!

Many pastures with decent grass are unusable due to no water or boggy water in the dams. Animals often get stuck in boggy watering holes and would die if not pulled out of the dam. Pastures with these type of watering holes are normally checked everyday to avoid losing livestock. Ranchers often fence dams like these out so the animals are made to go to another dam in the pasture, which is not dangerous. Some ranchers may haul tankers full of water to these watering holes if they have no other options. This can be very expensive and is an everyday task, especially on scalding hot days.

About This Blog

This blog is going to describe all of the ins and outs of Ranch Life. It is going to include raising horses and cattle and the jobs that take place involving them.