Caribou Gear

Do you own a ranch?

We have nearly 50 acres in the Back Country bordering Stanislaus County. I never called it nor considered it a "ranch". It's a great place to raise kids and be insulated from THEM! It's also a great place to walk around with your favorite rifle and pop the occasional piggy when the freezer runs low. View attachment 214668
I like armed walks in the foothills.
 
I have 160 acres and 74 acres about 100 miles apart. Don't call either one a ranch because I don't raise any livestock. I do have a tractor and plant crops for the wildlife but I never harvest them so I don't call either place a farm either. (except for property tax purposes! ;) ) Closest I get to ranching or farming is being a bee keeper but they sometimes have a mind of their own and just leave for no good reason so not sure I get to claim ranching or farming them either.
 
I know a bunch of people that call their places ranches...even have the hat to go with it. All hat no cattle ranchers.

I can't say much I have .25 acres of city lot although I have considered doing a bit of farming and hops growing but my soils is a bit too gravelly for scratching in. I suppose I'll give it a try when I can get some planters built.

My real concern is why is this gal "dragging her pasture"? This tells me the place is already peeled off and they have horse shit stacking up already OR it's been grazed to piss and all that's left is rabbitbrush and broom snakeweed. I bet when we get winds over 5mph she's making a bunch of dust. They say soil loss a dime thick is approximately 5 tons of soil. Over there, she's working with an A horizon generally 4-6" if she's not on a steeper west facing slope. I imagine within 5 years she'll be working with more lime coated gravel than she'll know what to do with.
 
Cant these people just attach a rope and tire to their horse to drag the pasture 24/7? Problem solved.
 
SIL leases just over 1000 acres...year before last he had to move 80 head to another spot. With normal moisture it'll feed em.

Weather is the wild card for ranchers, and farmers. A working cattle ranch, at least in past years, were always discussed in cow/calf terms, not just cow.

It has been awhile but in the not too distant past, people would ask me about "how many" and "type" they should/could run, but had a blank look on their face when I ask them,----how many acres are they setting aside for holding pens, weaning, castration , breeding or were they going to line breed ? What type of squeeze chutes, grain storage, hay storage, hay fields, tractor, tractor equipment, backhoe, spray, fertilize, equipment shed, irrigation equipment, water tanks, salt blocks, fencing, cross fencing, horses, tack, branding or ear and of course----a hat---little things like that ???

Ken you are very close to Waggoner, do you know them or does your SIL know them ?

Hank, how close are you to Ladder ? Is it still considered a grey wolf sanctuary ?
The right year I can raise 4 head,or eat sh!t.
Hank, let me know the next time you have another "right" year . I will bring the wine, or whatever adult beverage you prefer (-;
 
I'll be 70 in a few days and haven't grown up yet and have no plans to do so. As far as the wisdom part, there's many people who will disagree.
I never said I was wise, I said I was “gaining wisdom”. When you start at 0 there’s only 1 way to go.
 
Weather is the wild card for ranchers, and farmers. A working cattle ranch, at least in past years, were always discussed in cow/calf terms, not just cow.

It has been awhile but in the not too distant past, people would ask me about "how many" and "type" they should/could run, but had a blank look on their face when I ask them,----how many acres are they setting aside for holding pens, weaning, castration , breeding or were they going to line breed ? What type of squeeze chutes, grain storage, hay storage, hay fields, tractor, tractor equipment, backhoe, spray, fertilize, equipment shed, irrigation equipment, water tanks, salt blocks, fencing, cross fencing, horses, tack, branding or ear and of course----a hat---little things like that ???

Ken you are very close to Waggoner, do you know them or does your SIL know them ?

Hank, how close are you to Ladder ? Is it still considered a grey wolf sanctuary ?

Hank, let me know the next time you have another "right" year . I will bring the wine, or whatever adult beverage you prefer (-;
The Waggoner pretty much owned the small town where I was born and raised. Over a half million acres. The owner of the Super Bowl champ LA Rams, Stan Kroenke bought it in 2016, built new digs. Whole new "ballgame" now.
 
We do have a couple of the largest ranches in the state near us. Near as within 25 miles. The N3 cattle company I think is around 100,000 acres and recently sold to someone that wants to keep it as a cattle ranch. The other is a family owned and operated ranch. The patriarch of the family says they are not in the cattle business but the grass business. The cows are just a way to get rid of the grass.
I'll add that the family owned and operated ranch has been in this country for over 100 years.
 
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As a flatlander newly intrigued by whitetail habitat work - I've found it funny that so many with similar interests and in the associated industry always call their hunting property a "farm". nonsense. Planting food plots and killing a couple whitetails a year on your 40-100 acres doesn't make it a farm.
 
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