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Enjoy it vicariously through our photos
We had our cattle drive in July to take part of our herd up to the mountains for summer pasture. This year Mike recorded the whole day with his new little pocket sized digital camera.
The day starts at 3:00 AM with the guys catching and saddling the horses, and I get breakfast ready.
Breakfast consists of coffee, juice, fruit, bread and pastries, and of course our fabulous grass fed beef Steak and Egg Breakfast Burritos.
After breakfast we load up the horses and trailer to our State Lease pasture. There all the riders begin to gather the cattle. Mike and I trailer on ahead to the gate at the south end of the State Lease and wait for the riders to gather the cattle. When they are all gathered and moving, we open up the gate to let them on through.
Crossing varied landscapes
At that point we go along the Monte Vista Canal for a ways, then head up into the dry uplands of the BLM at the edge of the valley floor, which is some of the most arid ground in North America.
We head south about 6 miles across the desert, along the base of Greenie Mountain, until we turn up Cat Creek Canyon. From there it is about another 6 or 7 miles up the canyon until we come to the final destination for the day, called The Triangle, where the cattle arrive to find sweet, mountain spring water and lush, green pastures.
Eating lunch while the cattle mother up
The cattle and riders reached The Triangle around noon and the riders were met by our niece-in-law, Elizabeth, with a delicious lunch of roast beef and Au Jus dip sandwiches, Cole Slaw, tropical fruit salad, and pies.
The 6th generation
Elizabeth, married to our nephew, Michael, brought along their 2 youngest, our grandneice and grandnephew, the 6th generation on McNeil Ranch. The photo at the end ofthe gallery shows baby Ian on his first cattle drive.
The rest of the way up
From the Triangle most of the cattle migrate further up into the mountains on their own that evening after they have fed, watered, and rested. The riders go up the next day and begin to move the cattle that haven't yet started up.
Once they are up in the mountains, our rider, Gilbert, herds them and moves them most every day during the summer as they traverse throughout the different pastures.
The cattle continue up from The Triangle along and finally across the Alamosa River, and as the summer progresses, the go up onto Red Mountain, eventually dropping into the Conejos River. After a time on the Conejos below Platoro, they go up past Platoro and Platoro Reservoir high up into the San Juan Mountains, 70 miles from home, and to over 12,000' elevation.
At some point in the late summer they reverse their migration, turn around and begin the long descent towards home.
Check out the photos
The gallery from the cattle drive is posted below, please enjoy the photos:
Click on any image to see full size Displaying 1 thru 21 of 21 Found.
