That time of the year when we start getting ready and irrigating for the rancher.
Last year we made no hay, drought took our water in late May, the year before we produced 1,200 square bales.

Took a walk along the creek looking for surviving fish, wasn't a good walk. saw no fish but a decent number of mule deer doe and last years fawns-probably about 35 deer total.

Cattle did a number by the water trough so we'll probably have to reseed some there.

I'll update as things start growing and the elk hit the meadows, trail cam going up next weekend.

Got it all done before rain overnight and snow today !!

How do you irrigate?

Flood irrigation from a series of ditches. They have some pretty senior water rights from the creek through the meadows.

I was wondering as I did not see any pivot or other type. How many times do you do it?

We irrigate areas for about 3 days or so then move the water down the ditch to another area.

What type of hay? Orchard grass/timothy, alfalfa, something else? When you say squares, what size square?

Looks like an awesome place

One meadow has timothy the others are orchard grass/ fescue types of grass.

They were small square bales 2 years back, he used to do round bales but the LO wants small squares for his roping horses.

Should have elk and more mule deer hitting the meadows soon, WTs should show up later this month as well.
The bighorn sheep stay just above the meadows when they come around that part of the ranch.

That's pretty cool!

Glad you got some moisture, hoping for more!

We're getting snow showers all week.
Hoping the creek comes up enough to irrigate !!

Close to iron mountain?

Middle Sybille Creek and North Sybille Creek Hunter307.

Ahhh other side of the hill. Very cool.

Yep, along Highway 34 and to the South.

We're in the too many elk area but don't have too many elk on the ranch. We get herds for a bit then they go to Dilts' or Garson's place .

I assume the hay outgrows the wildlife's attempts to keep it grazed off?

I'll get a trail cam up some time soon in the timothy meadow but generally they don't graze it off. The elk are mainly cows and calves until mid summer or so then they go up into the hills.
Hopefully we'll get more mule deer, they really don't affect it much at all but do graze some.
Usually after it gets cut elk come back in the Fall.

WTs should show up soon, they hang around until about late Sept then they head down the creek towards Wheatland, we're trying to get some food plots and clovers established for them so they might stick around longer.

It's the dang cattle that get in do a number on them when it is a dry year, the fences are about 100 years old, lol.

Yes, it's just grass hay so only very rough years do we get too many elk down.

Got the North waterer drug again and seeded with pasture grass then took a ride around the upper pastures.
Saw good number of doe groups and a nice little band of rams watching us from up high.

Cool pics

Spouse took a day off from work and rode the West end, saw some rams and a few elk still packing antlers.
Found a nice 6 pt and a couple of small 5 &6 pts and some ready made dog chews- broken tines.

So when I said the meadows were all grass hay I kind of misspoke.

We have over seeded a few areas with clover and various legumes to help keep the wildlife around.
Food plots we've tried have been a disaster so far, not enough moisture to get any going really but this year we hope to get some seeds down earlier to catch the little bit of rain we should get early in Summer.

Anyway the mule deer seem to utilize the meadows throughout the year and we have some trace mineral blocks out for the horses where they graze. Deer and elk like them too and we don't hunt the areas they are in so they're comfortable coming in to them.
Cattle are kept put the meadows except for round up and then they get a day or so to graze and then they get pushed out in mid October.