On Our Way Home - Fall Work on the Green River Drift

Back in June and July I wrote a blog series about "My Time on the Drift," that spanned the twelve days it took my family and I to push our cattle to summer allotments on The Green River Drift. If you haven't read those yet, please do as it will give you a bit of insight to how we operate as a multi-generational family ranching operation and how we will also bring our cattle home.

From the beginning of October to the end of November, we dedicate that time to fall work. You'll hear me say this over the course of my blog, but this refers to trailing the cattle home off of the Drift, preconditioning calves, preg (pregnancy) checking our cows, culling old/crippled cattle, selling and shipping our calves and finally getting the cows to their home winter pasture. It takes everybody from the Upper Green River Valley Association to make this system work, but it is a fine tuned machine.

On September 28, most of the gates were opened for cattle to start their journey home. Prior to this, my husband and Mom rode to push our cattle back to the Lower Gyp Allotment as they were already starting to move down to the gates. The cattle move early for several reasons, one being weather and the other is predators in the area. We believe that the latter is to blame. This isn't uncommon in the Upper Green and I'll be sure to talk about it more as this series continues.

As the cattle drift home, they are captured at what we call the "upper drift fence." This area is near Trappers Point along the East Green River Road and it is a large sorting grounds that all of the cattle go to. They are sorted by brand and moved accordingly to their home ranches. The cattle that move to the "lower drift fence" include Wardell's, Wapika Ranch (J-X), Miller Ranch and then ours, Murdock Land and Livestock. These cattle are sorted at the upper end and then left to move down the East Green River Road and the Mesa to the lower end. Once to our sorting grounds (Lower Drift Fence), we sort by brand and take our cattle home.

About two weeks ago, my husband and I rode near our Moose/Gypsum Allotment looking for any cattle that may have been on the wrong side of the fence and a new bull of ours that decided the subdivision looked liked a nice place to stay. Between the bull's inexperience and bad fences, we were notified of his unwanted presence. Luckily he moved easily and even loaded in the trailer to haul him home. This is a small blessing and I believe he got the easiest trip of all! We moved on and found about 10-15 head of our neighbors cattle and an open gate into an allotment we aren't permitted to use. This is common and unfortunately something we cannot control that easily. What tends to happen this time of the year is that a gate is left open by someone enjoying Public Lands, leaving many opportunities for cattle to travel where they shouldn't. Luckily, it isn't a big problem but it does add to the workload of an already busy fall. We ended the day by moving about 200 head from the Tyler Water Hole that is just south of the upper drift fence. The fence had been damaged in this area so we gathered the cattle and pushed them down the road for several miles. This group moved on to the Luman water tank and eventually on to the lower drift fence.

October 11th was the first day that we gathered and sorted at the lower drift fence with our neighbors. The weather was unsettled and cold, but the cattle worked really well from what I was told. Unfortunately, I was sick so Avery and I stayed home to cook lunch and be ready in case they needed anything. While I love to ride and sort cattle, I didn't miss the cold weather at all! It was a good reminder for me that everyone plays an important role, no matter what task they are given. I felt like my day was wasted, but I did feed a hungry crew who was very happy to warm up. It's all about perspective I suppose.

Avery checking on our barn cat, “Peaches.”

At the lower drift fence they sorted four ways dropping the J-X cattle before the sorting trap (lower drift fence) if possible, then sorted ours from the group into a smaller pen by pairs (cows with their calves) and finally Miller yearlings off of Wardell's cow-calf pairs and yearlings. As we sort, J-X gather and push their cattle to their hay meadows just below into the valley and are done. France and Mom took our cattle home by way of the highway and into our closest hay meadow where we sort pairs and record tag numbers. Any cattle that do not come home with their calves are what we call 'dry.' Their calves may have died of unknown/natural causes or by predators. The range rider will record a tag number, if found, with any other identifying markers such as a brand or ear notch. All of this information gets recorded on a "Livestock Damage Affidavit" that the Game and Fish fills out to confirm a predator kill on livestock and without it, we do not get compensated in any way.

We will continue this cycle of moving cattle from the Cora-Y towards our lower drift fence for about a week or more depending on how the cattle move each day. As I write this on the 19th, we are getting ready to do a big gather and push all the way down the East Green River Road. This is a long, hard day for everyone but necessary. We will preg check our cattle next Sunday and we need to have them home and the calves preconditioned (vaccinated).