Forest Cattle

What few cattle we do have are out on Taylor Grazing or on a Forest Service Permit. The last we had seen them was early last summer or late spring. They were down on an allotment called the Lower Bench.

The Lower Bench is not an easy place in and out of. The road is one of the few on the Prairie that you would call a jeep trail. It is sort of straight down over the South Fork Canyon rim. There is no dirt left on the road all. So you are sort of ricocheting off of rocks and boulders concentrating on that going down into a seeming primeval canyon that very few have ever been to. Conveniently about half way down you have to stop, kick the rattlesnakes out of the way, open a gate and that is sort of suspended over thin air. Ninety percent of the time the gate is fool locked. Most people see this huge padlock. They have flipped rocks up and dented their pick up and had a flat tire or two and are glad to use it as an excuse to turn around and go back up. This a good thing to do because it does get worse. So they shimmy their rig around and return the way they came. Cussing the padlock out loud and praying silently under their breath thank you Lord for an excuse for bit of saneness in my life.

Once you are past the gate you continue your free fall to the bottom. It is diffidently the hardest ride Ellen had ever tried. Going up is not so much better. Other than you don't have to see the rocks you are falling in to if the machine flips over with you.

When we arrived at the bottom the cattle looked good, but the grass was about gone as was the water. There is water there all the time, but the watering holes at the far end dry up early and they have a long walk to water. It was time to move them. They were all bunched at the proverbial coffee pot (the watering hole) gossiping with each other. We could almost hear them complaining and carrying on. Anyone would know we deserve better than this... I am telling you they have forgotten about us... We are going to die down here.... How the heck do we get out of here anyway....

I sort of sensed a prison break. I almost feared for our very lives. Knowing that they might force us off our four-wheelers and storm the gates. I then knew they did not know the secret of the padlock....

Ellen and I the other day when we had the four wheelers up at the ranch decided that we would take the opportunity to see how the cattle looked. We rode through our place up into the Woods place. Part of the allotment they are on now. The Woods Place is now owned by the US Forest Service. This allotment is quite large and they will be there until they are gathered or they decide to come into the Prairie. This happens when the feed starts getting sort as do the days. The temps start to fall as do the leaves and the old cows lead them home.



I came back feeling very good. The grass was superb. The cattle looked great and the calves now coming fall are near eight and nine moths old and fatter than I think I have ever seen them.



Lord I know we have have to take the bad with the good. But this is goooood!!!