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Mostly clear and warmer. Florin fixed leak but I am still relying on west wells. Lack of support pressure due to drained pit, reduces re-charge from well at Ryan’s. Following the pipeline and checking well pressures, has allowed me to see more ground. The oft repeated observation this spring is the significant production of winter annuals. Last October heavy October moisture and mild temperatures triggered near perfect germination conditions. We are paying the price for their abundance, as they steal moisture from the more palatable perennial cover. This occurrence is cyclic, and not permanent, yet the seed is always there to respond when conditions are right. The key species with the most impact are: Bromus japonicas, Bromus tectorum, Tragopogon dubius, Alyssum desertorum, and Filago arvensis. Moved cows to SBW8.
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Cool and strong winds making things a little uncomfortable for branding, yet that was the only hiccup with branding. Pretty much everything went flawlessly from sorting cows and calves at 6:30, to breaking out the vaccinating cows and branding calves teams at 8:00, and finishing at about 1:00. People hung around enjoying a great meal prepared by Dana and conversing until after 5:00-all very relaxing. And, even the water worked perfectly!! Following branding I place pairs in a shelterbelt paddock surrounding the house (see photo).  Very comfortable most of today turning to local thunderstorms. Fire and hail just to our north. Pairs moved easily into corrals tonight-least stress pre-branding ever. Scythed down spurge in NG5.
Much warmer and clear. Ryan and I trailed pairs across county road to corrals before sunrise. We all stayed calm. Cows will graze SNG6. I traveled to Circle for a CRM working group meeting. The group agreed to start a conversation with all interested parties about bison.
Warm and clear. Cows broke out early morning when wire broke. We got them turned around before they drifted too far and move to lane to corrals (SBW1). Goats also broke out into garden.
Mild but turning to strong warming winds. I traveled to purposed old schools and recently built food pantry. Very inspiring. Evening meeting at Conservation district to review water quality monitoring data for Signal Peak Coal mine.
Summer solstice. Water storage continues to improve.
Mild and breezy and clear. The grasslands are drying.
Clear and mild. I found leak on the pipeline running south from the pit to the water center in SBW1, where the pairs are now watering. The leak drained the entire pit storage. Fortunately 3 wells to the west-the two wells at the house and the solar well (with storage) farther west-are meeting the cows’ needs. Florin can fix the break tomorrow, and will need to run a generator all night to build the storage for the solar well. Wade Rungen, our neighbor, with a horse cut 8 culls out of main herd. Nice plant island of Atriplex gardneri found (saltbush-see photo) in SBW7. Saltbush, like winterfat, is an excellent year round forage, and we need to explore how to expand its range on the ranch.  Partly cloudy and breezy and modest temps. Highlight of cow check was finding an upland sandpiper nest (see photo). I want to highlight a special plant for our area that I found in the sandstone outcrop along county road south of house. Potentilla fruticosa or shrubby cinquefoil (see photo) is a common native shrub, but usually occurs in large stands in moist draws at much higher elevation. I must have walked by this plant many times, but probably when it was not flowering and showy.
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Bill Milton
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