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Land & Grazing
The Grass You Have in June Is All You Get, and the Cow You Sell Early Beats the Ten You Feed Through a Dry August
In a dry year the range gives you most of its growth by early July. Counting that grass now, before the country…
Montana Ranching
Push Pairs Too Hard Up the Trail to Summer Range and the Calf That Loses Its Mother Is the One You Pack Home
Trailing cow-calf pairs to summer country in June is where mismothering and dust-borne pneumonia start. Move at the calf's pace, let pairs…
Cattle
Pinkeye Blinds a Calf in a Week, and the Face Fly That Spreads It Feeds on Tears at the Edge of the Eye
Pinkeye moves fast through a summer calf crop, and by the time you spot the white spot in the eye the fly…
Cattle
A Cow Too Thin at Breeding Won’t Cycle Back, and the Open Cow You Ship in Fall Was Made the Week You Turned the Bull Out
Body condition at breeding decides more of next year's calf crop than the bull does. Here's how to read your cows in…
Cattle
A Modified-Live Vaccine Cooks in the Cooler You Left in the Sun, and the Shots You Gave at Branding Never Took
Summer heat and daylight break down vaccines faster than most people think. A little care with your cooler, your syringes, and your…
Land & Grazing
Leafy Spurge Runs Ten Feet a Year From a Patch You Drive Past, and the June Bloom Is the Window to Hit It
Spotted knapweed and leafy spurge take rangeland one season at a time. June is when the plants show themselves and when herbicide…
Horses
A Ranch Horse Sweats Out More Than Water on a Long June Gather, and the One That Won’t Drink at the Trough Is Already Behind
Branding's done and the real riding starts. Here's how to keep a saddle horse sound, hydrated, and working through a Montana summer…
Hay & Feed
Bale First Cutting a Point Too Wet and the Stack Heats in the Dark, and the Fire You Smell Weeks Later Started the Day You Put It Up
Hay put up a little green feeds microbes that cook the middle of a stack, and a tight barn of first cutting…
Farm Equipment
The Sickle Section You Don’t Change Before First Cutting Is the Plug That Costs You a Day in the Field
First-cutting weather in Montana comes in short windows. An afternoon spent going over the swather before it rolls out beats a breakdown…
Montana Ranching
The Cheatgrass Along the County Road Carries a Fire to Your Corrals, and the Break You Mow in June Is the One That Stops It
Fire season starts drier and earlier across much of Montana than a lot of us plan for. A little work in June…
Water & Irrigation
The Stock Pond That Turns Pea-Soup Green in July Can Kill a Cow Inside an Hour
Blue-green algae blooms bloom fast on warm, still stock ponds, and the toxins they throw can drop cattle before you ever see…
Montana Ranching
A Grizzly Works the Edges of Summer Range, and the Dead Calf You Leave in the Draw Brings the Next One Back
Predator losses on summer grass are hard to prove and harder to prevent, but carcass management, riding the country, and documenting a…