Summer On the Ranch


Summer on the border

Here is the White cow/calf pair you saw earlier. The calf made it and is growing nicely. They are photographed here near an electric well in the Montana line pasture. Our ranch primarily has Black Angus but we do keep some Corriente (a variety of long horn) cattle around for roping practice. There are some oddball colors around so occasionally you will see a red angus or white face calf too.

Summer is easy for the cattle as long as rain falls in abundance. If grass doesn’t grow, then we have to supplemental feed which is expensive. If ranchers expect a dry year they will often sell off the extra cows to compensate. Without enough grass to feed, the cattle become too expensive to make money on.

We often have to haul water if the wind doesn’t blow. Windmills, solar wells, electric wells and flowing wells are all on our ranch to water the cattle. Below are some ways to get water on a dry land ranch.