They always exceed your direst fears. The Lady with the Black Dogs sent me this link to a story about how Tesco, the huge British supermarket chain that buys most of New Zealand’s lamb, will no longer allow shepherds to use herding dogs. You couldn’t make it up: “The supermarket chain has told its major …
Month: September 2009
Watchful
As we left the desert allotment yesterday, this badger ran into its burrow, but stopping to have a good long look first.
Working girls
On Tuesday, we started shipping our lambs to another desert allotment here in western Wyoming, to combine our lambs with that of a friend’s, into one large herd. By the time the sale takes place in 10 days, there will be over 2,000 lambs in this bunch. Right now, there are four livestock guardian dogs …
The art of setting a snare
First, you tie some sheep legs to a large tree, using heavy cable, burying the spring to the snare at the base of the tree. Then you gingerly set thin steel strips and wire mesh in the snare so the animal will feel some support as it puts its foot into the snare. Next, add …
Rose hips, bear lips
We run sheep out in the sagebrush desert of western Wyoming, but we’re along the New Fork River, a major corridor for wildlife. It’s no wonder, with the amount of berries and rosehips covering our riverbottom, that bears would want to live here. Here’s Jim walking through the brush, looking at the rosehips.Our local problem …
The ongoing saga
Things are really busy on the ranch, with this being the time of year we should be finished with haying, and starting our fall sorting and shipping. The predation issues we’ve been dealing with have taken far too much time and effort, really screwing up our haying schedule, with the result being the rather difficult …
Another Mauser
I had long given up on my quest for the perfect Mauser,as detailed in several posts here– my 7 X 57 was sufficient, despite its “59 Cadillac” styling and lack of iron sights– I am old fashioned about them. So when an old friend, dryland farmer and craftsman Daniel Howell came to see me recently …
Only One
There was not enough rain in our usual monsoon season (Late July and August) so we found no mushrooms. But for the last two weeks we have had monsoon- style storms, and Libby thought we should go to the mountains and look. I was skeptical, thinking there was an element of seasonality as well as …
Mini – Reviews
I have had a huge stack of books to review and it will take some time to get through them. The enormity of the task has rather unnerved me, and kept me procrastinating. Finally I thought I would mention each right here, with recommendations, a word or two on content, and a link if possible. …
Common Sense
England’s Alan Gates, master eagler and creator of this wonderful site of Asian falconry and more, sent me a little “obituary” he thought our readers would enjoy: Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he …