Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What are the odds......

The first nasty chitstorm of the year is headed straight for the exact spot where we have been unloading pairs for the last week. Last load was around noon today.



It's 60-70 miles away from home but the radar shows an evil little pink/red center. Warning on the TV, etc., came home popped a beer and WTF......



Hopefully they stay mothered up and don't get pounded by hail.




And modern Doppler radar combined with the google earth type maps is an uber combination

Just hit, pink had turned to orange/red.



Hopefully it had unloaded before it got to the cows, luckily that pasture has decent junipers and pine trees.

Sam, about 10 years ago at our ranch we had a huge hail storm that killed 21 head of our cows. City folk don't realize the danger of hail to livestock.

Chl, that would be terrible. Thankfully we don't get much hail but you never know.

Well hope your cows do ok. I unloaded 3 loads last night (98 pair) in a spring snowstorm, temp dropped from 46 to 31 in about an hour. These cows came up from the coast range where it has been in the high 80's. Quite a shock on them. I rode them today, so far all is well. I won't complain though we need the moisture and this was a wet snow. Hope everything turns out alright for you Sam. Ed

Ed, damn sounds like the opposite of here!

Hit 90 the other day when we were branding but hasn't snowed in over a week.....grin

I had 3 more trucks coming this Sunday, I canceled them. Got about 5 miles of dirt road and I hate it when one of those trucks sink lol. 6 more loads and that ranch will be filled. This storm is supposed to last thru Wednesday. Ed

Damn Sammo! Hope all goes well....that country can dole out some surprises once in awhile, including tornadoes...

hopin for the best for the livestock Sammo


one thing farmin and ranchin do have in common


there's always some damned thing to be worried about

You are a busy man!

Pairing off loads is a pain in the ass...


Dump 'em in a corral for an hour or two and turn 'em out?

We have been hauling out loads of 42 pair(and one full load of yearling heifers). Rain held us up for 2-3 weeks, very lucky to get them out because it looks like this last one was substantial.




Stock dams are full and the grass is growing like crazy.

Sam,

Someone should be paying you $100/hr for the chitt you manage. Ya, I know...

We took our yearlings up to the mesa yesterday and today (~8000 + elevation) Grass about 5" tall - maybe we'll miss snow - We'll see how many lightning gets this year

Ed, we actually paid a young guy $50/hour to help brand the other day!
(worth every penny...)



Mark, you have us beat by about 6000'!

Here's to no lightning fires...

How many pairs do y'all run.

When I was on the farm, we run about 120, that was in the 80's-90's. Now my brother and his 3 boys run about 500, give or take.

I only run 20 pair but my folks have about 300 and keep 75-80 head of replacements.


Just dad and I, between farming and the cows we stay fairly busy.....grin


Gonna go road a couple tractors home here in a minute. Sunday morning is the perfect time for moving down the highway.

A'men.

Yeah, that's enough to keep y'all busy for sure. Hang in there. I miss those days for sure.

We are at about 4600 ft at the Lakeview, OR ranch and about 5500 at the Fandango ranch. Have corrals at both ranches Sam but getting the trucks to them can be tough when the weather turns to chit lol. Have the Lakeview ranch filled ( 300 pair) so only have to worry about getting trucks into one. Then I get to play cowboy for the rest of the summer, roping and doctoring sicks. Life is good lol. Hope to see your country some day before I cash in, lol love to see cows eating grass. Take care Sam. Ed

and just how big was this hail ? There is this thing called lighting that comes with most hail storms

That's hail freezing over kinda hail.

They had a few pictures of golfball size hail in Billings MT Friday, messed up a bunch of cars and roofs.