Lake Ranch, Hulett, Wyoming

Hulett, Wyoming

News from the Lake Ranch (last news: 12-22-2011)

Pictures say more than thousand words, therefore the news are brought as photographs.

December 22, 2011 - Winter in Wyoming
As always this time of the year - ranch work finally slows down and I get the chance to update pictures - I hope they are worth the long wait! :-)

Happy Holidays
and a
Wonderful New Year!

I hope to see the one or the other next year again!
°<:o)

December 2011 - Waiting for a neigbor to move his cattle - the "customers" are waiting too ...
November 2011 - Heifers on their way to preg check

November 2011 - neighbor rancher Will has a good view on his cattle .	... so does Ferdi ... :-) .
	November 2011: And even more cattle drives. We did a lot of cattle work this late fall, usually it's not that busy this time of the year but due to the dry weather we could keep the lifestock on grass, while we had already way too much snow in former years.
November 2011: Horses on their way to the ranch - de-worming day is planned.
	November 2011: Ferdi's favourite broodmare, Tee Bar Jeep, doesn't know yet what to expect ...

November 2011 - Ame Go Red Glo aka "Tempesta" is caught by surprise .	Also Catalena Freckles didn't see it coming :-) .

November 2011 - after de-worming it goes out to the winter pasture .

October 2011 - the cows and calves come back to the ranch from their summer pastures.	Modern Cowboy - neighbor rancher Will carries a cell phone phhh .
October 2011 - Ferdi with his stallion Dorky Frosty Spark aka "Frosty" Stupid or brave - I can not tell. We were riding out to get Frosty and his mares back to the ranch after they spent all summer on pasture. Frosty is 18 years old and hasn't been ridden for 8 years, just used as a breeding stud. However - Ferdi unsaddled his horse, put the saddle on Frosty and got on. No ground work, no warming up, he just went off to chase the very uncooperative mares back home. Frosty didn't even offer the slightest buck but galopped over rocks and brush like a seasoned ranch horse. This horse stays broke! We moved with the help of Angelo and Twister a lot of horses around in the following days.


October 2011 - Fall roundup at a neighbor in Alzada - here with Angelo and Twister .	... and here Rancher Will .

October 2011 - Angelo found his friend - ranch horse Twister is his favorite. .	... sure works hard for him, too ... .
	October 2011: Preparations for shipping day. The yearlings are gathered from their summer pastures.
October 2011: Shippingday at the Lake Ranch. The yearlings are driven to the ranch, loaded and shipped to a feedlot where they are fattened with grain before we meet them again in a steak house. No, never in the next burger joint - hamburger meat comes from older stock, like dry cows or tired bulls. Only yearlings make tender steaks and great tasting roasts.

	September 2011 - just a romantic country pic :)

September 2011 - we are sooo proud: our new Pickup, a "Dually" .	August 2011 - Cowboy Patrick and Rancher Ferdi visit the young horses .
September 2011: while Patrick's mare is bored, he tries out a few new cutting horses.


September 2011 - dog love .	my "colored horses" :-).

.	August 2011 - Frosty (gray stud) and his mares and daughters .

July 2011 - Checking cows and calves on our new pasture named "Bentonite", which the Ranch added to their land last winter. .	Bentonite is a kind of clay that was mined there for many decades. Old machinery is witness of the work that was done there years ago. .

July 2011 - some of the ranch horses are send on a short vacation .	After the horses are moved we enjoy a ride through "Sweet Clover" or "Yellow Mustard". .
July 2011: Visiting the Indian Ponies. A neighbor has a herd of Paint Ponies that roams around 2000 acres. They are wild but also curious and check us out when we come visit.


June: Barlow Canyon Road ist still closed .	Not without reason ... .

	June 06, 2011: a bit late, our first branding this year, but the wet weather didn't give us a chance. Pictures from left to right / top to bottom: - the horses are waiting after they gathered the cows - Rancher Ferdi heats the branding iron while Luca and Robby show the guests how to wrestle a calf - Luca ropes, Robby brands and the guests work ... - Luca with "Buckskin" (that is the horses name, obviously not his color) roping calves.

. Doctoring yearlings wih Pink Eye:
	Left: guest Tina (on Pablo) and Luca (on Seabiscuit) synchron-checking steers ;-) below: a new technique - instead of roping the yearling and tip him over, we tied him to a tree to give him his shots.

My Appaloosa Payday rather doesn't look but hides behind a tree :-)

	May 2011 - the horses are gathered from all ends of the ranch, sorted, and the riding horses kept close for the upcoming ranch work, while the breeding stock and young horses go out on their summer pastures.

May 2011 - the first foals are born - here MB Pines Sabrette with her 3 weeks old stud colt. .	Gold Lacy Poco took her time - her filly is only one day old on this picture. It will turn gray like her daddy. .

	May 2011: Many of our yearlings have Pink Eye this year. We either rope them out on pasture to doctor them or move them to the corrals where we can give them their shots more convinient in a chute.

Luca inspects the young horses. .	Monia (with Four Socks) and Lele (with Martin) drive a few strayed young horses back home ..

Luca checks the winter pasture with some of the cows and calves .	Monia (with Four Socks) with a faithful fan :) .

This is "Palomino" - yes, we put a lot of guesswork in the names for our riding horses ... ;-) .	Luca (with Seabiscuit) likes to show around ... Lele (with Martin) learns about the little trail that goes up the Butte. .

Luca catches some of the riding horses after they spent a long winter on pasture. .	Melanie (with Martin) takes care of my new gelding Sidney. .


May 2011: Luca roping a yearling .	May 2011: The steer will get a shot after Luca caught it .

April 2011: Luca with his new hat :) .	April 2011: Luca and Silvio check the young horses. They look shaggy and dirty but very healthy. .

April 2011: calving season started. Not all is going easy, first picture is of a calf that didn't want to suck, thus we had to bring the cow in and melk her. Afterwards we rode out to tag newborn calves and sort pairs off.




	April 2011 - first cattle drive, moving yearlings for a neighbor.

March 18, 2011: The road to the Lake Ranch is still snowed in. I needed to check the cows, deliver a part for the tractor and try out a young horse, therefore I invited some friends to come ride with me up to the ranch. The snow was up to 6 feet deep - the cowboy on the pictures is riding a 17hand horse - my horse couldn't even get through this. But we had bare spots too where the wind blew the snow off.

March 13, 2011: Tractor or horses - these are the choices to get up to the Lake Ranch this time of the year. Since I don't have my own tractor I took a horse and good old Mac went with me to check the cows and horses. The cows are scheduled to start calving April 1st, but we found already one calf on the ground - fit and healthy.

Februar 26, 2011: The snow mobil is not meant as a recreational vehicle here - it's the only way to get around and check cows, horses and ranch.

24. December 2010 - Merry Christmas!
Since November 9th we are under snow. This is even for Wyoming uncommon since the snow usually comes and goes until it stays sometimes from January until April. This winter we haven't seen bare ground since November 9th and feeding cows and horses with hay as ther eis no grass to get through for feed any more. This is very expensive and we hope for early spring since the hay stacks are shrinking fast.
151 cows and 64 horses stay at the Lake Ranch this winter, and ranchhand Will feeds app. 4600 lbs hay per day to them - quite a bit work for him!

	7. December 2010 This cow is very mad - Will and his stallion "Edge" try to get away!
	5. December 2010 Horse Drive.

	December 2010 Also in Wyoming - Shetland Pony "Snickers" - here with "Flash" who had to get used to his new neighbor - he never saw a pony before.
	November 2010 The deer are very hungry and get pretty bold when they can steal hay from the horses.
	27. November 2010 Neighbors Nick and Doerte help finding two stray horses
	21. November 2010 Horse Drive

	18. November 2010 Shipping Day. The calves and cows are sortetd and the calves move on to feedlots while the cows will stay at the ranch through a long winter.
	11. November 2010 Luca and Smoke (or "Buckskin turning gray") checking the cows.
	7. November 2010 Luca buying a horse - this is my personal favorit Plenty Paddys Olena - whom Luca bought before I could get him.
	6. November 2010 This is me - with one of my pretty Paint Horses ;-)

**1. October 2010: Shipping-Day**. The yearling steers are rounded up and moved to the corrals where they are sorted and loaded onto trailers to be shipped to feedlots.

	October 2010 This is proud Tatanka
	October 2010 We have also cute animals - lik "Lucky" who was rescued from a big intersetion in Rapid CIty as a 2 week old kitten.
	October 2010 Luca with Seabiscuit in Oshoto searching for six stray steers.
	October 2010 A mustang herd we found instead of the six strays.
	October 2010 Finally - the strays, at least two of them.
	October 2010 Moving cattle through a river - Wyoming is just beautiful.
	October 2010 The point on the white horse in front of the butte is Martin with a guest :-)

Want to see more? Here are more pictures:

Pictures of the Lake Ranch until 2010

E-mail:heike@waywest.de

Last Update: 12/2011