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Hot. No moves today. Traveled to Blaine’s to check out yearlings and talk about long-term management plan. Our Krein bulls and Blaine’s Van Dyke bulls are running together for a 42 day breeding season. Yearlings at Wolf Point.  Yearlings at Wolf Point, 2015.
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Getting warmer but mornings are staying cool, which is good for breeding. I moved all the older cows into first strip in EL 5. BLM attended our second day of monitoring. Dusty suggested we graze the 100 acre pasture cocktail in EL 7&8 sometime in September. BLM plans to seed the same acreage back in October this fall.
Some winds and a warming trend. Cows are starting to move out of WL 2 into EL 5. Roland, Max, and a large contingent of ranchers arrived to begin this year’s grass monitoring. Nice discussion at lunch on the possible next steps for expanding monitoring in Petroleum County. While eating, a remarkable nighthawk feeding frenzy occurred in the yard. Possibly 20 to 30 nighthawks just showed up for some time and fed continuously in the yard just north of the house. Then, adding to that wildlife experience, a family of 19 Hungarian partridges marched-fed through the yard and between the two houses.  Hungarian partridge Cool, breezy, and cloudy. The road to Lackey was actually slippery-no complaints. I moved the cows onto WL 2 with first split. FWPs/NRCS Sage Grouse Initiative had some technicians doing random vegetation samples on the ranch.
Normal summer day yields to a fast moving cold front bringing strong winds and .45 inches of welcome rain to the ranch. We lost power for part of the evening. Both Ryan and I moved both cow groups to the new splits.
Another modest day. A mid-afternoon thunder and lightning storm blew through quickly. The cows broke out into East Lackey 5. I pushed them back into West Lackey 6. Ryan moved the young cows into the first split in West Griffith 4. A lone prairie falcon is back hanging out along county road to Lackey mixing with red tails and kestrals. A small group of six antelope are hanging in the pasture cocktail. I collected another Nutbol sample from the young cows to re-test the protein they are getting from the forage.  Prairie Falcon More of the same but warmer today. I moved the cows into West Lackey 7 west half-similar pressure from the Prairie Dogs. The pasture cocktail on BLM is doing surprisingly well for so little moisture. While checking the pasture cocktail, a pair of upland sandpipers circled in West Lackey 2. I was surprised to see them, as the curlews have already left. The whole kestrel family was out today near the creek crossing-observed seven birds all feeding together. Surface water levels are dropping fast. I am seeing a small butterfly-1 inch across-with sky blue wings common in most paddocks. Maybe a Lupine-Blue.  Lupine Blue Butterfly Partly cloudy and warm today. I moved the cows into west half of West Lackey 8. The day before, the cows broke out to the west of West Lackey 5, and thus were hard to leave fresh feed to head back east. Once on fresh feed in the new paddock everyone relaxed. The prairie dogs have expanded west into paddock 8. I moved the young cows (143) into a thin temporary paddock along bottoms West Griffith 2. I am trying to put some grazing and herd effect on the thistle. NRCS supported Nutbol report (analysis of fecals) showed the young cows were low in protein necessary for adequate weight gains for breeding. I started just feeding protein blocks anticipating we might have this problem. I will retest again next week to see if blocks are helping.
Dana said 2 tenths of moisture fell this morning. The same storm passed earlier in Helena, where I was still in meetings. No moves today.
I facilitated a ranch family session in the Blackfoot all day. Ryan moved young cows to next split.
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Bill Milton
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