The next exciting news is we are bringing Tyler and Cassie Croft back to the ranch this season. Many of you already know them as they were with us two years ago. Tyler and Cassie will start by April 1, 2012.

I had forgotten how to do this. So I am learning all over again.

Hello to All. Hope you come and chat with us here on our blog. News for February 2012. We have been busy this month and are excited to share all of our news.

Will and Keshia got married February 4, and they will be moving to Hardin, Montana where Will has a cowboy job and Keshia manages the FSA office.

April 25-May 1, 2010 started our Cattle Drives out of Wyoming into Montana. We had an enthuastic group of all new guests to start the week out with, they were: Hans Lundgren, Gena Durette, Dennis Hedarp, Irene Barmettler, Fred Ferris and his daughter Kathryn, Bonnie Caswell and Steve DiNapoli. Getting to the Brad correls by 8:00 on a Monday morning was a challenge but we did a great job thanks to Jackie that made breakfast burritos each morning that we could eat on the drive out. The volcano made Irene's arrival a week late but we had lots to do to make up for the riding time. We trailed 237 mother cows and calves from Lovell to the Dryhead over a four day period and had three baby calves on the way. We were all glad to see the ranch. The grass is just turning green and getting a good start. As always we pray for rain which came on Friday so that we will have a good growing season and the calves were ready for a well earned rest.

April 18-24, 2010 started our second Horse Drive week. We were glad to be at the ranch for the whole week and on Monday we began looking for the mares that had spent the winter in Spring Creek with their now one year old colts. We had a group of all new to the ranch guests, Nivedita Chauhan, Gena Durette, Eamon and Maryanne O'Dowd, Barbara Kelley and our faithful helpers Pat Crociata and Lawrence Smoller. We had a great week of gathering horses and weaning colts and returning the mares to the south pasture to await the birth of 2010 colts. It was great to see that everything had made it through the winter with good flesh and good health.

We began our 2010 guest season on April 11-17, 2010 with our famous Horse Drive. This spring we trailed our horse cavvy from our homeplace in Lovell to the Dryhead Ranch in Montana. We had been feeding the geldings and getting the necessary coggins and health and brand inspections needed to trail between Montana and Wyoming.

It was an exciting three days and the horses were ready to be back at the ranch and out on open range. We had two returns back with us, Pat Crociata and Lawrence Smoller and two new guests, Mario Sclafani and Amy McElmurray. It was a great week and the two days at the ranch gave us time to look for the 9 horses that we could not find in February and get the electric fence fixed so we could put our horses on the best grass.

Dryhead Ranch 2010

With the sunshine lately and the snow melted here in Lovell it seems like we are about ready for spring. This picture will get everyone excited for green grass if the warmer weather hasn't already done the trick.

Here in Lovell we are having 8-10 baby calves a day. Will, Jake and Jessie are tagging everyday to keep up with the older cows as they have their calves. Here in the feedlot better than half of the heifers have had their calves and we have hauled them down into the pasture below the main house. We will continue to have calves all the month of March and they will grow big enough to be ready for the cattle drives the end of April and the first week in May. With the sunshine we hope that the ranch will look just like this when we get the cows there in May.

We were able to drive as far as the upper gate at the Dryhead Ranch on Saturday. There is about 8-10 inches of snow laying level everywhere at the reservation gate. We walked down to check on the cats and the buildings. All is well and quiet. We fed cake to about half of the horses and they are doing well for the amount of snow they have to dig through to get to grass. They don't have to go far for water as the snow is plentiful. I don't think we will be seeing the ground very soon.

Iris is taking bookings daily but we would like to offer a 10% discount to any return who will book before the 11th of April when our first horse drive begins. Because of the snow we will trail our cavvy horses to Lovell on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 where we will feed them for the next six weeks. For our first horse drive we are going to do all the vet work on the cavvy horses here in Lovell and then trail them back to the Dryhead Ranch for the beginning of the guest season. This first horse drive needs a few more people, if anyone out there is interested in a great adventure with us this spring. Give us a call.