Spring 2010 working pen

That's a lot of bull

Checkin' teeth

Spring 2010 Working pen

Spring 2010










All the rain we've had this spring has grown some awesome feed for the desert so far. The cattle are fat as butter and so are their calves. Grazing with livestock has it's advantages of keeping what is now green but will be volatile fuel in a mere few weeks. Here's a picture of a controlled burn before the burn bans go into effect.

We will be working our herd for spring vaccinations, parasite management and branding April 24th.

The winter flood took out some of the irrigation mains for the ranch.  We've got them repaired but are still out the lower parts of the perimeter fence.

Update for January 2010

The huge winter storm of January 20-22 dumped over 5" of rain to different regions of Arizona.  Tonto Basin sits on the banks of the Tonto Creek, and she went into a rage with the rainfall and is still running from the snow melt coming from the upper elevations.  Bottom line is most of our lower perimeter fence was taken out in the storm. Thank goodness our cattle were moved to our upper mesquite thicket pasture where water did not touch those fences. Most of the grass that was coming on has either been taken away in the flood or is now buried under 4-5" of silt left from the running creek waters.  We've had to cull our steers and heifers hard, and are having to feed hay.

We're not sure what lies ahead for our herd. If this truly is an El Nino spring, this may not be the last of the massive rains.  Our cows have started calving, we have 3 on the ground already.  Below are some photos taken of the devastation the waters had on the ranch.

Corner post taken up and deposited in a mesquite tree

Silt deposit in Hidden Pasture

Snow laden back side of 4 Peaks

We will be working our herd for the fall roundup on the weekend of Sept 12. Fall vaccinations, parasite management, branding, and palpation for our replacement heifers and mother cows is scheduled.

TM Ranches takes the stewardship of the land, water and resources for their cattle as first priority.  Mother cows are Angus/Maine/Anjou cross, and the bulls are black angus. TM Ranches follow the "natural" beef guidelines by raising  cattle without the use of steroids, growth implants, or constant antibiotics. Cattle are allowed to free graze grass and are supplemented with alfalfa hay and nutritional supplement salt blocks. 

*   Cattle free graze and are supplemented with grass hay, and are never fed anything other than vegetative feeds. This minimizes the herd's susceptibility to Mad Cow Disease.

*   TM Ranches is dedicated to high quality beef and as responsible stewards to the herd utilize the Beef Industries Quality Assurance Program.

*   Cattle fed grass hay typically have higher lean muscle yield, and higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids high in CLA (conjugated linoleic fatty acids), and responsible fat marbling.

 

New calf crop

Movin' the bull

Records ready

Cow bosses