Hunewill Ranch July Fun!

We have been having some great summer fun here at the ranch!

Here is a photo our our intermediate ride loping through the puddle last Friday!

Winding through the willows behind Robinson Creek.

Bradley, one of the babysitter buckaroos doing an art project!

Family bonding time in the ranch house swing.

Roping on Monday night under some great clouds.

Sky, Mountains, Riders, Puddle, Meadow- What more do you need?

Riding out on Friday afternoon.

A few outlaws, a refined gentleman, and a blizzard - photos from the archives

 Looks like a tough group to me...maybe a group of outlaws? Or maybe just some fishermen protecting their secret spot...
The guy on the gray horse has a bit of twine through the horse's mouth and that's it - and possibly the same on the horse to the right as well. The two horses probably pulled the wagon (behind the kneeling group) up to that spot.   Most all of the group is holding guns, but there are a few fishing rods in there as well.  Looks a little dry to be fishing...

  This photo has to be one of my favorites.  I can feel and hear the breeze blowing through those trees and rustling through the tall grass, the birds chirping, insects humming. It's not too hot yet, so a good time to go fishing and to be in a beautiful place.

I love this photo because the man on the far right looks like he is wearing his Sunday best.  A refined gentleman in his fancy hat out for a ride, accompanied by a group of friends and some ladies in their fine hats and big smiles.  

This is Alice Esther Hardy - daughter of Lucille Hunewill.  She is wearing a riding habit that belonged to her grandmother, Alice Hunewill - and looking rather dashing, don't you think?

And lastly, even though it is July, a little reminder that winter always comes and with it, the snow.  This picture is also one of my favorites because it shows what all of us who have livestock know: that there are always things to be done on the ranch and that the livestock need care (or other jobs need to be done) even in the worst of weather.  There are no 9 to 5 days here, we do what needs to get done, however long it takes, rain, snow, sleet, or shine.  

Hope you enjoyed the latest from the archives!

All photos in this post are copyrighted to Hunewill Land & Livestock, all rights reserved.

Many faces of both places... Bridgeport and Smith Valley Ranches.

Smith Valley opens with a sunrise.

Bridgeport counters with a sunset.

                                                                

                

Smith Valley goes for subtle.

                

Bridgeport answers.

                        

Smith Valley Pot O" Gold.

                 

Bridgeport bold.

                                

Smith Valley wears white.

                                            

                                          

Bridgeport puts on the green.

                                                          

    Either way it's a win because both places put on a great face!

      

The Cute, The Strange, and The Baffling - Old Photos from the Ranch Archives

When I'm organizing the hundreds of old photos of life around the ranch, sometimes I stumble upon some pictures that make me smile, get a bit puzzled, or furrow my brow.  Here are a few of those pictures.

 This picture could easily have been taken today--there's always someone who likes to pull off this little trick! 

 I have been trying to figure out what on earth is going on in this picture for about a year.  What is that contraption? The only thing I can think of is that the wheel is powering something, so maybe it's an early form of clippers.  You can see the man standing is cranking the wheel with his right hand.  The man on the ground is holding an object in his left hand and is holding the horse's tail out of the way with his right. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment!

 I love the expression this kid has.  He seems tired, or bored, or maybe he's just had enough of holding the horse for the camera.  The horse looks a little unsure of the whole operation.  I have found four or five pictures of this same scene with the little boy going from attentively holding the horse to this picture where he is just done!

 This picture puzzles me. There is a rough looking coyote in the foreground, but the only one paying any attention to it is the horse in the middle--the dog is ignoring it, and the other two horses as well as the people seem to be looking at the photographer.  Why were they taking a picture with this coyote?  It'll forever be a mystery.

 I have nicknamed this picture "Best Dressed" because I can't think of anyone I know who would go out into the corral wearing fancy shoes, pantyhose, and a skirt.  Now that's style!  Plus, I also love the head of the dog peeking over the corral boards.

 Now that's a heavy load!  I think this is some kind of mining equipment.  This picture was taken at the south end of Smith Valley, so I think they must be headed to Bridgeport or somewhere in that area, possibly Bodie, to deliver this piece of equipment.  

I guess one way to keep the boys out of trouble is to have them drive a team of donkeys around while they're afoot.  The kid on the left looks like he's seen his dad stand like that and is doing his best to imitate him.  There are multiple pictures of these boys driving these donkeys with a hay cart, a spring wagon, and a buggy.  

Hope you enjoyed these pics from the ranch archives!

All photos in this post are copyrighted to Hunewill Land & Livestock, all rights reserved.

Sorting cows from calves - Hunewill Ranch

At the time of this posting, guests on our "Spring Cattle Work Week" are doing sorting just like this.  Watch this video in HD for best quality.

Raising Kids in the Beef Business

Raising our kids so they understand the beef industry is part of what we do here on the Hunewill Ranch.

Aspen, Rhiannon, and Dalton - November 2013 when they first started working with their steers.  At this point Aspen's weighed 670, Rhiannon's weighed  820, and Dalton's weighed 760.  They were about 7 months old.

The Hunewill Ranch is in the beef business as well as the guest business and so the children who grow up on ranch experience raising steers and heifers through 4-H and FFA as a part of our identity as beef producers.  What this experience teaches our kids is how to humanely raise and produce beef on a small personal scale. How to look for good bulls and cows to get the best product that a consumer will want to  buy and how to have fun with it along the way.  

We start in November by picking out what animals will go and then we feed them and work with them for the next five and half months.  Some of the animals have gone before like Rhiannon’s cow Pumpkin had gone as a heifer last year and this year she was shown as a cow/calf pair with her new calf, Sweet Potato- next year Sweet Potato will go as a heifer.  Dalton’s heifer this year, Lulu, was part of his cow/calf pair last year. 

Kids learn that even on a cold winter morning the animals have to eat.

This year Dalton, Rhiannon, and Aspen competed with their animals at the Nevada Junior Livestock Show in Reno last week. But looking back through the years this is a family tradition.  Jeff, Betsy, and I  (Megan) competed throughout our youth. Then Jeff and Denise’s kids Blair and Leslie, then Jon and Betsy’s son, Tyler, and now my three kids are carry on the tradition.  So every decade since the 1960’s there have been members of our family showing out in Reno in May. 

The kids go to work outs with other kids and get the animals used to being hauled, weighed, and handled.

 

Rhiannon working with her cow/calf pair and Dalton's heifer looking on-May the week before the show.

When we pick the steers we pick the best looking steers with the gentlest dispositions that we can find in our herd.  Good dispositions are very important since a stressed out or high strung animal doesn’t gain well and isn’t easy to handle.  Jeff, Betsy and I learned this the hard way in our younger days we took some beautiful animals that kicked judges, drug us all over heck and gone, or ran us up fences.  As a rule when we started managing our large cattle herd we really tried to breed for disposition, among other traits, and we culled any animals that might pass on wild or dangerous disposition traits.  

By the time April and May arrive the animals, both heifers and steers, have gained and grown and are ready to show.  

Dalton and his steer at Nevada Junior Livestock Show- this steer weighed 1201 at this time and won the rate of gain contest for the show.  This means he put on more pounds than any other steer that competed. 

Rhiannon and her steer at the sale. He was a beauty and weighed 1313 and was the Champion Home Grown steer.

Aspen with her heifer Daisy.  This heifer was a twin( of two heifers)born in 2013 that we raised on a bottle till we grafted her on a cow that lost her calf.  She was Reserve Champion Home Grown at the show.

The heifers and the cow/calf pair come home with us to go back in the herd and spend the summer in Bridgeport on grass. For the steers this is the end of a very good life that we have shared with them. They were raised humanely, with good handling and great feed and we are proud to be in the beef business.  Aspen is a little sad to sell Ketchup, her steer, but she says he had a great life with us that he wouldn't have had otherwise. 

Lulu and Daisy back from their trip to the big city of Reno. They are getting turned out in Bridgeport and telling their heifer friends about the sites they saw. 

May 21,2014- Megan Hunewill