All Mornin Checkin Cattle On The Caprock

[Dee]

The rain has been off and on all summer and cattle are scattered on good grass. Friend Michael came over and we checked grass and cattle on the Caprock. Good morning to be on a horse where pickups and four wheelers can't go.

Michaels' big sorrel got his ear in the bottom right of the picture. 

[Ranger99]

Always liked that part of the
world. I'd like to go to Palo Duro
once more before I go away.
Dang, so much of the state has
been ruined by yuppies I would
hate to go there and see a
starbutts coffee place in the
middle of it, but one part of me
wouldn't be surprised.
Last of last year I drove down to
north of SA for a wedding, and I
couldn't believe all the old ranches
that were split up and all the
yuppie bistros and wine bars and
such that were all over what used
to be the middle of nowhere.
Places I've hunted years ago with
rows of condos and high end
apartments and houses.
Took an extra hour and a half to
negotiate the traffic. Some of those
roads used to see maybe 10 cars a day

Enjoy it while you can

[nw_hunter]

Looks like you can see forever up there.

[phalanx]

You can but the top of the Caprock is a very high up place you can see the entire valley below from there. All the way to Artesia. You wont survive the the fall. But im talking about up by loco hills. You drive up to it from there.I did a lot of work out there with leaco and PVT. Antelope were out there along with cattle. But this is the NM side not Texas.

[Dee]

Looks like you can see forever up there.

It does. No roads, just trails, rock and gravel. No cars, no people, no houses. Just cattle, coyotes, mule deer and turkey.

Start up a canyon, and all you hear is horse shoes on rock and gravel, and a squeaky leather saddle. Up on top of the Caprock it's really quite.

To be able to do this again is a privilege. I'd almost do it for nuthin.

[oldandslow2]

Considering it's a ranch job you probably are. 

I grew up on the east side of the cap and spent a lot of time on foot where technically speaking I wasn't supposed to be as a kid and enjoyed every minute of exploring I did. Over here on the west side it's a thousand feet higher in elevation and the vistas below the cap are considerably different and the access is also. It is mostly sand but it's accessable because it's almost all BLM or state land and there are a lot of oilfield roads. From the cap I can see the "Point" which is where the Guadulupe mountains end southwest of Carlsbad. Sierra Blanca or Baldy as the oldtimers called it at Ruidoso was easily visible and especially in winter when it was covered by snow. Even Sacramento Peak, AKA "Sac Peak" peak showed up but those days are gone except when the wind switches to the north and blows the pollution from a couple of electrical generating plants in Mexico away. You could go out on Lookout Point north of Maljamar at night and see the lights of cars , probably mostly Texans returning home, coming down the mountain from Ruidoso. Now it suffers from the pollution plus it is covered up with electrical generating windmills now. The smog from those plants follows the Pecos valley and obscures anything to the west on most days.

I have traveled many a mile on foot either hunting or looking for arrowheads in those dunes before the feds put a stop to removing artifacts. Sure, just let them lay there where hardly anyone will see and appreciate the tools of that early culture.

[phalanx]

My mom searched for arrowheads out  there and found a lot of them. I still have a few she gave me. Or should i not say that?

[oldandslow2]

Arrowhead hunting in the sandhills between the river and the cap was a favorite pass time for a lot of people before the feds stepped in with their "wisdom". I don't think anything found before the ban is affected and you can still hunt on private land.

An example of federal wisdom was when US 380 was rebuilt between Carrizozo and  I-25 several years ago. The road was first built in the 1920's with a different number. It wasn't widened, just rebuilt on the old roadbed, and construction was held up for two years while UNM checked for artifacts out in the right of way. Total waste of time and resources, asa known as taxpayer dollars.

[Lloyd Smale]

why dont you do a cattle drive to up here. Im looking for a whole beef right now to fill the freezer.

[Dee]

why dont you do a cattle drive to up here. Im looking for a whole beef right now to fill the freezer.

LOL. The horse could make it that far, they'd likely have to bury me along the trail. 3 or 4 hours in this rough country wears me out.

[ironglow]

  Great photo, Dee !  That looks like some interesting country, but rather dry.
     How big is your canteen...and are there tanks where you horse can drink?

  From a guy in more moisture laden country..what do the cattle feed on?  To me, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of browse there, but likely I just don't recognize it !

  I see Texas has received some rain at last.  ..But of course, it would have been a greater blessing, had it come
  a bit more gently, over a few weeks.

  I was stationed at San Antonio in 1957, When we had quite a flood there, and the troops were called out.
  THat happened in the month of May...while I was away on leave.
 
     Curiously, I had been with a buddy at his home in Robert Lee, near San Angelo, just weeks before...and the ranchers were selling off stock, due to drouth. Striking, how similar that seems in relation to today..

   Anyway..you're looking good on the job !

[Dee]

The grass doesn't get very tall here, and grows slower than in wetter climates. They say that makes the grass better. I quit putting hay out when spring rains came, and the momma cows are fat and slick. I've got two ponds on a damed up draw that have held water all summer, plus two big steel water tanks on a well that have a pump on a timer.
There are electric lines out here because of the oil well pump jacks, and windmills aren't that reliable in canyon country.
I do have to haul water for horses, and feeder steers, but 300 gallon tanks last awhile.

[ironglow]

  Thanks for the information Dee..  One has to appreciate the early settlers there, who fought through drouth, sand
 and snow storms.to scratch out a ranch and a living..  Tough hombres !

  I'm presuming that is the panhandle, where the snow comes across in blizzard fashion, and barb wire does nothing to stop it !    

[phalanx]

  Thanks for the information Dee..  One has to appreciate the early settlers there, who fought through drouth, sand
 and snow storms.to scratch out a ranch and a living..  Tough hombres !

  I'm presuming that is the panhandle, where the snow comes across in blizzard fashion, and barb wire does nothing to stop it !    

There's an old saying about Amarillo. The only difference between Amarillo and the Arctic is a barb wire fence.

[ironglow]

" The grass doesn't get very tall here, and grows slower than in wetter climates. They say that makes the grass better.

  Yeah..my buddy from Robert Lee used to tell me that, saying it was richer than that green, "water grass"..

  Still, we figure 1 acre grazing per cow.  ...But of course, the big dairy operators around here don't graze their cattle, but haul the fodder to them.

 

[Dee]

One acre here will feed a jack rabbit.

[ulav8r]

Dad had a neighbor that retired from a forest service job in New Mexico, he and dad were discussing cattle one time and he said that in NM ranchers would talk about how many acres they needed per cow and in Arkansas they talked about how many cows they could run per acre.

[Dee]

Dad had a neighbor that retired from a forest service job in New Mexico, he and dad were discussing cattle one time and he said that in NM ranchers would talk about how many acres they needed per cow and in Arkansas they talked about how many cows they could run per acre.

And it was a legitimate discussion given the two locations discussed.