Ship-shape sheep and checking cattle...

 

 It's shipping day for the lambs.  We gathered them all up and sorted the wethers (sheep steers) from the ewes.  The wethers were shipped to town via horse trailers today.  When the guys unloaded them they were weighed at the sale barn averaging a hefty 123 lbs. per lamb which was really terrific.  They were beautiful, and the sorter at the sheep barn was impressed.  He said they were the prettiest sheep he had seen so far this year.  We decided not to ship the ewe lambs, but instead, we will wait on them for a few weeks and decide how many to sell and how many to keep and add into the herd.

 We de-wormed the remaining lambs and then weaned the May lambs from their mothers. 

 

Hubs is counting sheep.

 

  

We sorted the bucks (above) and sold the undesirable fellows along with a few cull ewes.

 It's a good day when we can evaluate our herd and spend some time appreciating the lamb crop which has grown and flourished so well despite the hot, dry conditions this summer. 

 

After we had the wethers loaded, the guys left for the sale barn in horse trailers while I stayed home and checked the cows.  This is buggy is what we drive out in the pastures -- a Polaris Ranger.  It's easy on the grass and it can go anywhere.  We check cows every day and make sure that their water tanks are flowing and that the herd bulls are healthy and doing their job.  We also look for bogged cows or calves or for any problems that might happen on the range.

There's the bully right in the middle of this photo.  He's not too busy on this cool, cloudy day and most of the cows and calves are lying around while some of them quietly graze.  We had a lovely rain over the weekend.  On Saturday night we tallied up 5/10 inch of rain and then on Monday night we measured 6/10 inch of rain.  The amount may seem small to some of you, but to us, it is a big blessing.  The grass is washed clean and it's a little softer to eat, there are puddles of fresh water to drink, and the dust isn't blowing in the pastures.  It's so refreshing.

The range has a lot of healthy sagebrush growing, but there's a lot of good grass in between and in the low places.  There is just something about the smell of sagebrush that I love.  I think it's because I like it out on the range watching contented cows and calves.

Isn't she a beaut?