Summer of 2016

I haven't blogged since lambing, so I better try it again.  After all the rain in April it quit.  May and June were extremely dry.  By the end of June water quality and quantity were both becoming critical.  We tested water in the creek and dams and found TDS (total dissolved solids)  to be from 150 to 8500 with most of it falling in the 4200 to 4800 range.

Here Marshall is getting a water sample that tested 150!  It was a small water hole with red algae.  Our drinking water tests 1500.  We got tank out and turned on water to different pastures where livestock were.  The hard ones to water are the sheep.  600 ewes and 800 lambs are hard to water and keep them out of the tank.  Then clean the tank every other day, plus check it sometimes twice a day.

All this happening as we are trying to get the hay put up.  I square baled the hay to start with.  Bales were pretty far apart.  I said it would keep my bale count up.

The haying did get better.  Plus we have a good carry-over of hay from past years.

We got some lambs in and got the grand-kids started showing lambs.  They showed their lambs at the Meade County fair and did pretty good.  Then a few weeks later we went to the Central States Fair in Rapid City.  Competition was tougher, but they still did good.

The grand-daughter is in the middle,  there were like a dozen kids in the under 10 showmanship contest.

Tammy and I did something that we hadn't done for sixteen years.  We went on vacation.  We were gone for three days and went four wheeling in the Big Horns above Sheridan.

I tried a selfie.  It was really steep hill we came down, but is doesn't show very good in the picture.
We saw deer and elk and almost got run over by a bull moose.  By the time I got a picture he was just a speck.
Tammy though we need some registered sheep for the kids to show, so we acquired some registered Targhee ewes.  Then she bought a buck at the Newell Ram sale.

I went to Mitchell to get a four wheeler the other day so had to stop at Chamberlin to see the new statue called Dignity.

I think it is about fifty feet tall.  The day was cloudy and rainy, but still impressive.  I think it is supposed to sparkle in the sun.