Ranch Diaries: Early spring grass brings unexpected challenges

Credit: Laura Jean Schneider
Credit: Laura Jean Schneider
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Credit: Laura Jean Schneider
Credit: Julia Sumner
Credit: Laura Jean Schneider
Credit: Sasha Ryerson
A talk about the importance of biodiversity in a working landscape.
Getting out and on the landscape.
Reflection.
It was refreshing to meet more young, female ranchers and farmers.
Spotting tiny sprouts in a previously grazed field planted with no till equipment.
The group I was fortunate to be part of.
The landscape that fed me last weekend.
Workshops sessions were bisected with outdoor time, a must for outdoor-oriented women.
A Triangle P weened steer calf.
After the work day.
Although these cows are bawling for their calves, in a week they’ll be more concerned with grass.
An EID tag.
Cows on one side, calves on the other.
Here the crew has finished gathering about 200 animals and prepares to start sorting.
If you look closely, you can spot the EID tag in this heifer’s left ear.
Sorting in the new corrals.
The riders in the rear bring a small bunch to the rider in the front, who sorts off cows into one pen and places and calves into another.
We use this squeeze chute to tag and vaccinate the calves.
Weaned calves about to go out on pasture.
Weaned calves on pasture.
Weaning, as seen through the corral fence.
Branding cattle in Luna, New Mexico.
A recently branded calf at Triangle P.
The ground crew during branding at Triangle P.
Sam Ryerson helping neighbors brand their cattle last year in Bingham, New Mexico.
Irons getting hot before branding at Triangle P.
Sam Ryerson at Triangle P, roping cattle for branding.
The author gets ready to tag a calf at Triangle P.
Two young cowboys hold a calf at Triangle P for branding.
Ag people talk ranching.
Chicken networking.
Christmas caramels are underway.
Making time and place for family to visit is important too.
One of the perks of branding, a local way of ranch networking.
Sam and his nephew, Owen, who’s come out to help for the past two summers.
This year’s wreath, complete with solar lights!
A brave meadowlark in winter.
A fossil in a nearby arroyo.
Coconut thinks she’s a human, not an elk, after being raised by people.
Evidence of domestic livestock from times past.
Sandhill cranes fly over.
The tail end of a badger, digging away from Sam.
The Triangle P cattle and these wild horses get along harmoniously.
This thistle is a weed to us, a haven to this tiny beetle.
Getting married at the little brown house.
Inside our camper home.
Lamplight shines out from the non-electric cabin in Montana.
Laura Jean at the non-electric cabin in Montana.
Our current home, 23 miles from Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Our current home, 23 miles from Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Hoot as a three year old.
Hoot, five, and Sam after doctoring a sick steer in the corral.
Raven, 2008.
Roxy and Dot, broodmare and filly 2014.
Sam readies for a ranch rodeo with his horse Frog.
Swanky as a two-year-old.
The author and her husband on Tomato and Raven in Montana, 2008.
The day we brought the horses to the Triangle P 2014.
A watercolor lesson from a library book, by the author.
Della could be one of these new calves from 2015.
Della’s peers enjoying life.
In the beef world, heifers are usually the lucky ones, like Mayday was.
It takes a certain resilience to accommodate to this way of life.
The Triangle P cows live healthy, outdoor lives.
This giant weighed over 1800 pounds before he made it to the butcher.
This semester, the author is studying pastel painting.
Trump and Ennis are darling…and as Holstein steers, destined for beef.
Algarita berries.
Nightshade, not edible, is blooming now too.
Purslane up close and personal.
The silvery powder exclusive to lamb’s quarter.
Two of our chickens, the ultimate foragers.
Urban foraged rocket, lamb’s quarter and purslane.
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Author, far right, with Triangle P crew and Mescalero cowboys.
Cowgirl manicure.
Hanging out with the Triangle P cows.
Long day selfie.
Teaching Dot the foal to lead, 2014.
The author on New Year’s Day, 2013
The author with Fe in 2010. Fe had her leg amputated this year, following an accident on the ranch.
Wedding day multi-tasking.
Wedding shoes.
Day after Thanksgiving creme brulée by Sam.
The author’s sprained ankle in a splint.
In addition to Sam’s sister and niece, we had this visitor for our Thanksgiving celebration.
The author helping with pregnancy tests last week.
Raven, on the fated day.
Rime frost frames Schwarzie, the ranch cat.
Sam and crew move cattle to Cow Camp 2 for pregnancy checking.
Shipping our culled cattle.
The author holding cows at the gate, resting her ankle, and giving Hoot a bite to eat.
The author and her husband take a day off from the ranch to explore a fire lookout on the reservation.
The author holds a calf during the last Triangle P branding of the year.
The lawnmower takes a break.
The other side of the rain.
Recent rains turned this road into a river.
Wildflowers in the camper.
Hoot grazes outside while Sam eats lunch in the camper.
My favorite part of spring is riding through the new calves.
My four chicks from last spring are all grown up, although they still think I’m their mother.
Spring flowers are showing up on the ranch.
This is the second calf for this Triangle P Cow.
A bull elk gets a drink.
A recent rain made pulling the horse trailer an adventure.
Fall flowers.
Miss Mayday is thriving!
Sam catching up a wrangle horse.
The author rescued this colorful beetle from a water tank.
The author was thrilled to see this cairn after she and Hoot checked several miles of fence straight up a mountain.
We narrowly missed this tarantula crossing the road.
Caking bulls.
Meet Trump, one of our new holstein nurse calves.
Our new nurse-milk cow, Tinnie, with her second charge, Ennis.
Sam rides Hoot and leads Clementine, a three-year old colt.
Sam’s view while shoeing.
The view trotting home after checking fence.
This lovely tea makes the author’s morning writing time most anticipated.
Triangle P cows digging into a protein supplement block.
Using the dogs to move a bunch of cows.
First saddling of Toad.
Toad, getting used to the cinch.
Showing my sister how to tie a rope halter.
Toad thinking things through.
Toad, working it out.
Yellowstone, my right-hand man.
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May Day gets a bouncy rescue from the author in the Suzuki.
May Day, a calf whose mother cow died.
May Day sits under her favorite juniper tree.
The author, left, and her sister, feed May Day.
Unlike these pairs, May Day will have a unique family — most likely paired with another mother cow, since hers has died.
Beachcombing Boston Harbor during my recent trip east.
Hoots holds a calf so Sam and Kiki can brand a straggler on the range.
Kiki moving heifers.
MFA in writing in hand at my recent graduation.
Our partner Albert ropes at the last Triangle P branding of the year.
Sam’s spade bit.
Sorting calves at the last branding.
An eye you can trust.
A new foal to gentle.
Our new intern brought homemade goods to share.
Solar panels provide all the power for the house.
End of a work day at Triangle P.
Steers that belong to the new cattle company, Triangle P.
Brand new calf at Triangle P, February 2015.
A frosty morning at the Triangle P ranch.
Sam Ryerson of Triangle P, cutting off a heifer.
A curious heifer stares Sophie down.
Amazing ecosystems near Triangle P.
An arroyo after rain.
An early prickly pear treat.
Antelope well, where we haul our drinking water from.
Ranch life, baking a tart at Triangle P.
Baked goods, fresh from the tiny kitchen.
The cozy cowboy tipi that Sophie stayed in.
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Nature’s detail at Triangle P.
Not bad, for a tipi.
Prickly pear cactus in bloom at Triangle P.
Sophie and the dogs exploring.
Sophie Geller, a friend of the author, recently visited Triangle P from the East Coast.
Sophie gets a taste of moving pairs.
Sophie holds first kale this year from the author’s tiny garden.
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A few summers ago, Sam doctored a calf that narrowly escaped a bear.
Black bear tracks.
Bulls, like these Triangle P fellows, aren’t generally targeted by predators.
Coconut the elk, whom we haven’t seen since last Thanksgiving, likely lost her 2015 calf to a predator.
Wolf tracks on a New Mexico ranch.
A great crop of blue grama.
A winged visitor.
Billie, a dogie calf I adopted from the neighbors.
Curious pairs.
Putting up Please Close the Gate signs.
Sam welding new pens for Cow Camp 2.
Sorting in the new corrals.
The author’s geldings.
Owen, son of one of our partners, throws a heel trap.
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Partner Brandon is excited about our branding lunch!
Putting the men to work and utilizing the branding fire coals.
Ribeyes, sautéed mushrooms and yellow squash, and garlic mashed potatoes to celebrate our first branding of the year.
Sam mans the irons.
Two tribal members, Gordon and Josh, working ground crew.
Bright, beautiful Indian Paintbrush.
Heels in the dirt, firmly grounded.
Kiki, our first intern at Triangle P.
The new 12 x 14 wall tent Kiki will call home for 8 weeks.
We wished Maybell the best of luck returning to the herd and her mother after recovering from near hypothermia.
Working on making a photogravure print from a drawing by artist Mel Preston.
Demolition in progress.
Fenceline in Antelope Pasture.
Mooska surveys camp from Sam’s saddle, on Hoot’s back.
Possibilities in a building.
Sorting during weaning in the old pens.
Swanky is turning four, and has lived on five ranches already.
The author’s horse, Yellowstone, grazing.
A better year on the Gila lease
After a 3 foot snowfall at the Snowline.
After disappearing for three months, Coconut the elk has decided to move back in.
Detail of an oil painting the author is working on in class.
Drought makes for dusty corrals. Clay Tyree and Sam rope a cow.
Even ranch cats get to play.
Halloween at Cow Camp 2.
Celebrating a year managing Triangle P Cattle Company.
Checking cows on a foggy day.
Fall rain is welcomed but a challenge too.
Homemade fish soup for a chilly day.
Our beloved Sally, who’s been with us for five years.
The author works on a painting for class.
The pullets I raised from chicks have started laying.
Wild horses in the Number 5 pasture.
Arriving in my other world.
Belle caught in a candid moment inside the remodel project house.
Big Circle Beef tacos with baby beet greens from the garden.
Late morning coffee in New York.
The cholla has started to bloom.
We like it when the roads look like this!
A visit to the weaned calves on pasture.
Cold calf in the camper!
My New York minute.
One of the three abandeoned puppies the author rescued and found homes for.
Sam wrangling horses into the old corrals.
The author and her sister checking to make sure the distant pay phone works.
The newest equine, Clementine.
This year, we trimmed the tail switch from every cow that tested pregnant so they’re easy to ID from a distance.
Will this old house have another life?
Working cattle in the new, improved pens.
A daily staple.
Corn syrup-free pecan pie made with maple syrup.
Granola bars cooling.
Homemade pizza with pickled onions.
Quinoa and black bean tacos.
Raw pickles.
Salad with feta cheese I made from the Jersey cow.
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Potatoes fresh from the garden.
It’s starting to feel like home.
Kersone lamps until the solar is hooked up!
The new logo of our new beef company, Big Circle Beef.
Owen rides Hoot to move pairs to higher country.
The author roping at a Corona ranch branding.
The current state of our vehicles.
A few hours of foraging, clockwise from top-prickly pear cactus tunas, pinon nuts, wild black cherries, more tunas, and black walnuts.
A letterpress print from a drawing of the author’s.
A writer’s lunch, with bread by the author and lettuce from the tiny garden.
An old concho found in the corrals.
Early breakfast while I work on a literary magazine review.
Homemade pizza with herbs from the garden.
Sam and his brother working on The Unicorn, a sailboat we restored this July.
Sunrise on a sunflower.
This butterfly is taking advantage of the last flowers.
After a long morning checking cattle on federal lands.
Homestead on a federal permit in the Gila Wilderness.
The one constant.
The West and its water.
The West is more about power than any single thing.
The wire that changed everything.
Who does or does not thrive, and how is that decided?
Who stays? Who leaves?
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Elk antlers found on a mountaintop ride.
Even lady bugs, a common sight, are a delight.
Kitchen scraps, an interspecies attraction.
May Day, Mooska the cat and Coconut the Elk hanging out.
This rattler, from Corona, New Mexico, is similar to ones we encounter regularly on the reservation.
All the dogs love to cool off after a day of hard work.
Belle, Fe and Buster at the author’s wedding in 2011.
Fe is 100% dog.
Ida, the Kelpie who was adopted by a friend of the author’s, now lives the high life in Massachusetts.
Luna takes a break at Spur Lake Cattle Company in Luna, New Mexico.
Thad and Sam with their dogs, getting a near wreck under control 2007.
The author and Belle take a break.
The dogs get ready to turn this wayward cow back to the herd.
We used our dogs to manage this herd of over 1,000 goats for natural weed management in Montana in 2009. Here, they graze leafy spurge.
You never know when you might pass a cow that’s out.
The author holds the herd, while Sam sorts pairs at the gate.
Gathering unbranded pairs with our dog, Belle.
Moving pairs to a new pasture.
Sam doctors a calf with scours.

Ranch Diaries is an hcn.org series highlighting the experiences of Laura Jean Schneider, who gives us a peek into daily life during the first year of Triangle P Cattle Company, a new LLC in southcentral New Mexico. Installments are every other Tuesday.

As Sam and I saddled our horses early one morning last week, we decided we’d each ride a small circle instead of starting out together. We could cover more country, and hopefully, gather more cows with branded calves. At our hold-up point, a central water trough, we put our cattle together and pointed them west toward a new pasture.

Our job as riders was to keep the herd together, going the same direction at a slow, even pace. These cows are all first-time mothers and moving four miles with their young calves was a new experience for them. With fifty pairs intermingled, it was easy for them to lose track of each other and get confused. Some of the calves tried to leave the herd and run back to where they last saw their mother. Some of the cows tried to do the same, not realizing their calves were moving with the herd. Eventually, most of the cows and calves were a match.

Once the cattle paired up, it was quiet, with the occasional bawl of a calf looking for reassurance or a cow worried that her calf had gotten out of range. Cottontail rabbits were everywhere, zigzagging for new cover or huddling motionless on the ground. Meadowlarks flew up from the tall grass as I spotted tiny wildflowers in lavender and pink, Indian paintbrush, and cactus blooming after a recent three inches of rain.

We also spotted several sick calves, something we hadn’t anticipated. We were thankful for the new green grass, but we hadn’t figured on our calves getting milk scours — diarrhea caused by a sudden change in the mother cow’s diet or overconsumption of rich milk by the calf. We planned to treat the sick animals in the new pasture. At the gate, we cut back whatever animals weren’t paired up so they could go back and find their other half. We moved the pairs into the new pasture and settled them on the nearest water trough. The natural draw of water invited the cattle to stop moving and take a drink, rest and bed down. And, this trough just happened to be in a flat meadow — a convenient place for Sam to rope.

Once he caught a calf, I got off my horse and flanked the little steer, or caught it off balance, and held it on the ground. Then I slipped Sam’s rope from the calf’s neck to its hind feet, and tied its front legs together with a piggin’ string, a small length of rope used for just such doings. I was anxious to see how Hoot, the bay colt Sam was riding, would do holding the rope by himself once Sam got off. He’d been roped on at two brandings in the corrals, but roping outside was a less controlled environment. If he wanted to take off, calf in tow, he could. If he didn’t keep the rope taut, the calf could kick free of the loop and I’d be left scrambling to get it back on the ground.

I was so proud of Hoot — a colt we raised and trained — as he stood there like a pro, facing the rope, doing his job. Sam slipped a few pills in the bolus gun, (a plastic tube designed to get pills into the calf’s throat easily), doctored the calf, untied it and helped him up. The bewildered calf wobbled back to his mother while Sam coiled his rope and stowed the medicine in his saddlebag. As I retrieved my horse, I saw the rest of the cattle had settled around the water, chewing their cud, their calves sprawled out in the spring sunshine, sleeping.

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