Plight Of The Rancher

Often times ranchers are criticized for over grazing certain public lands, taking too much water out of the river and all that manure contributing to global warming. To be fair most of these guys work their butts off 24-7, 365 a year and on some years actually turn a profit. How ever they are at the mercy of mother nature at all times and she can be very cruel to say the least. I was born and raised on a dry land ranch so I know very well. One case in point are my neighbors just to the south who I will say are very good operators and extremely hard workers. This year things have not gone well for them at all. With little snow cover last winter and cold temps. many of their hay fields were basically killed out. This means retilling, reseeding and at considerable expense. Adding to this the air temps. this fall have been very warm during the day and very cold at night which caused pnumonia in the calves and the subsequent loss of several of them. To top this off a wolf pack has also come in the picture and added to their loss. The loss of these calves and having to buy hay to get through the winter makes for a tough time to say the least. But they will get through it as this is their life and as much as they bitch and moan about it, they love it.