By Blair Hunewill
December 29th marked the beginning of a new era here at the Hunewill Ranch. On that day we turned the first of our cows out on the Whiskey Flat grazing permit. This permit covers 239,000 acres (373 square miles) in Mineral County, Nevada and includes Whiskey Flat, Little Whiskey Flat, Garfield Flat, Rattlesnake and Douglas Valley. This is a beautiful and desolate area northeast of Mono Lake. We have been busy moving vehicles, trailers and equipment out to the camp in preparation for the big turn outs. Our cows have been out on grazing permits before, but never something of this size.
The first cows exit the truck on the morning of December 29. I had returned from Oregon's buckaroo country the night before and drove out early to be with my parents when the first cows arrived.
The first cows are held in a rodear while the second truck unloads. It may look barren to the untrained eye, but there is a lot of good forage. The cows will eat Rice Grass, White Sage (aka "Winter Fat"), Four Wing Salt Bush and other plants.
My mother and Riley let the cows drift south towards the water tanks. Temperatures were in the high teens with a slight icy breeze.
While a very handsome horse, Potter was very "spirited" and energetic after not being ridden much in the last few weeks. Eating a lot of wheat hay back at the corral made sure that he was full of energy and a handful.
The first day we were careful to drift all the cows to the water point and leave them only after the entire herd had settled. The ordinance disposal site to our south set off ten big explosions up on a mountain top about six miles from us. The booms and smoke were impressive but horses and cows didn't seem to notice. We were pretty pleased with everything and relieved at how well things were going. Sure we had a few surprises like the water pump going out on a truck and frozen pipes in the camp trailer but things were going okay. We decided to head into Hawthorne for dinner. We spotted the cows heading north at a brisk walk. They thought they were back on the cattle drive! We turned them back to water and went in to eat. The next morning they were gone! We found them bedded seven miles north of where we left them.
Out here water has to be hauled until we can improve some of the spring sites. This water truck is doing a fine job of getting the job done. I broke the handle off a frozen drain valve before getting smart and pouring hot water on the other frozen valve to loosen it up. We decided instead of trailing the cows back to the first water point we would haul tanks and water to a nearby place and show them where to drink.
Did I mention how darned cold it was? The temperatures stayed around 18 degrees all day with a frigid north wind of around 20mph. By afternoon our relief crew had showed up. Leslie, Dalton, Ashley and Sierra brought horses to take over for us and allow us to return home to showers and warmth. Leslie and I trailered about a mile and a half from the cows and an equal distance from the water troughs. Trotting into the wind was not fun but the wind helped the cows move south.
We crossed a steep ravine about a mile from the troughs. The cows ran down the hill and up the other side. There are few things colder than pushing cows at a slow walk and just sitting in the saddle. Trotting helps keep a rider warm but we didn't have a lot of chances for that. I took a glove off to answer the radio and it just made me cold. I had long underwear, two pairs of socks, five layers up top, jeans, armitas, silk wildrag and a warm hat and I didn't feel warm until I got home and into a hot shower hours later.
