We started ranching on the original 1200 acres in 1976. It was mostly unimproved pasture with considerable brush, stumps and old decaying logs. There were virtually no improvements besides marginal perimeter fencing, no houses, no barns, dirt roads, no utilities on the original parcel. The acres have increased to about 2700 over the years and the unimproved property has become a functioning ranch. Barns, houses and corrals have been built. Electricity and phone service have been extended over 1.5 miles and close to 20 miles of fence has been constructed. Overall production has probably tripled since 1976.

We are believers in multiple specie grazing and have been a sheep-cattle combination from the beginning. Mixing the specie allows for better forage utilization and increases the total stock units the ranch can handle. The ratio of cows versus sheep has fluctuated over the years favoring one specie over the other depending on market prices, predators and other feed resources.

Nobody actually works on the ranch full time. The insecurity of livestock markets have made it necessary in our view to develop off farm income. We can't see how the family could afford to keep the ranch unless there is some diversification outside the agricultural sector. This is based on our debt load, size of operation and what we envision would create the most sustainable and secure future for our family. Consequently it becomes quite a balancing act to match the differing responsibilities with the day to day management requirements. Diversification is difficult but it has provided extra resources for ranch improvement and development.

Fence and road systems are designed to conform to the topography of the land. The horseshoe shaped lane was necessary to avoid trying to build permanent roads and fences on unsuitable, wet and overly steep slopes. The lane is located on ridges with relatively stable soils that allow year round livestock traffic as well as use of vehicles. Most pastures feed directly off the lane or are within one pasture off the lane. Spur lanes are being designed as pastures are being further subdivided. The lane system allows animals to be be moved directly to corrals or sheds without going through a series of pastures. Saves allot of gate opening and one person can move large numbers of animals a good distance without help. This reduces stress on animal and cowboy alike. It also allows us to leave cripples and stragglers behind without having a second gather. We simply take the main bunch to their destination and then gather up the problem cases and put them directly in a hospital or shipping pasture.

Our fences are built to fit land and the habits of the livestock. We try to separate north and south slopes, ridges and basins as well as soil types. We also try to avoid building on slides and hard rock because of maintenance issues. Fences are built where they are most likely to survive and fit livestock travel patterns. This does create some interesting pasture configurations. We will probably try some portable electric fencing as our pastures get smaller and our management more intense. To date, the topography and wind has made this tool impractical.

Fencing technologies are mixed, electric fences don't stop coyotes and netted fences don't hold bulls. All new fences are constructed with class 3 galvanized wire and pressure treated posts. Traditional Red Brand wire and cedar posts show exceptional deterioration within 5 years. We want nothing less than a 20 year fence.

Our fences must keep livestock and livestock protection dogs in and coyotes out as much as possible. Overbuilding fences seem to extend their lifetime in excess of the additional cost of construction.

These dogs are a fundamental part of our sheep and goat program. We refer to them as protection dogs rather than guard dogs to differentiate them from German Shepherds and Doberman. It is important that the public not confuse their role and understand the risks when they are used as pets. Our dogs are trained to stay in fences rather than roam at large where they are likely to get hurt or lost. Not all neighbors are keen on 120 lb. dogs camping in their yards or protecting their flocks unasked.

The dogs are raised with sheep and goats but they must be content to stay in empty pastures as well. Many times we leave dogs along the perimeter of the ranch to keep the predators from entering any of our pastures at the same time other dogs are actually with the sheep or goats. The most successful strategy has been to establish our ranch as canine territory for our dogs with the hope that the predators will honor that area. This seems to work until the predator numbers get too big then they seem more willing to challenge the dogs and cross the fences. The best approach is lethal control with traps and snares when the population pressure becomes excessive. The dogs have worked well on this ranch for eight years, reducing our losses dramatically. This was the first year that we suffered losses in fields where the dogs were present. We attributed this to high coyote population living next to our perimeter. They just overwhelmed the dogs is our best guess. The success has not been as dramatic on lease land where the fences weren't as tall and the pastures had considerable brush and tree cover. Protection dogs are expensive to buy and maintain but we estimate that they save hundreds of sheep and goats each year.

Most of the dogs on our place are predominately a Maremma Anatolian cross. This cross keeps the hair fairly short and the dogs seem to be very healthy. There are quite a number of breeds of this type of dog originating around the Mediterranean Sea. Different breeds and strains are better suited to particular operations. We have to use extra mellow dogs because of so much human interaction around our pastures while they very likely would use a more aggressive dog on the desert around Burns. These are very primitive dogs and relate to humans very differently than most stock dogs or pet dogs. They are decievingley fast and leave our stock dogs in the dust.

The first pasture managing we did was to save feed in a sheltered area to lamb on. Next we set aside areas to grow lambs and put gain on yearling cattle. Now we rotate our pastures to stretch winter feed and improve the quality and duration of spring and summer forages. We set stock through lambing and calving and then try to consolidate the groups and start rotating through the late spring and summer. We send the sheep off the ranch in the winter while keeping the cattle home on a fairly rigid rotation. Most of the pastures are still too large to graze scientifically and we must simplify our sorts so we have enough pastures available to move to without returning too soon. Currently we have about 35 pastures but with 7 to 8 livestock sorts it is not enough. The goal is to reduce sorts while adding additional pastures. 80 would probably be ideal but along time coming, so we subdivide where we can manage best, trying to add 2 to 3 pastures a year.

Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) is probably the least expensive way to increase productivity and stocking rates but it isn't as easy as most think. Each step in the process of intensifying our grazing has brought benefits even though our system is still crude and unfinished. We are able to calve and lamb in more sheltered areas with less labor and better feed. The added pastures provide better predator protection and allow the livestock protection dogs to work more efficiently. Gathering and moving is easier and faster and much less stressful to the livestock. The ability to save or stockpile feed for winter or drought is important but so is the improvement in forage quality and makeup that can come with better managed pastures.

The cow herd is predominantly an Angus Saler cross, mostly black with mature cows weighing 1000 to 1100 lbs.. The cows are being bred to moderate Angus bulls and the heifers are being bred to Galloway and Angus Galloway cross bulls. We are experimenting with the Galloway as heifer bulls and so far we are pleased. We are contemplating keeping some of the Galloway cross heifers and putting them in the cow herd. The Goal is to have the smallest and toughest cow possible to fit the environment and still produce an 800 lb. plus yearling at 14 to 16 months of age. Currently the plan would be to breed this composite of Angus, Saler and Galloway to Charolais bulls. Calving ease and salability of the terminal offspring are the greatest concern as to whether this is a practical goal. If we can get a small tough cow to raise a solid 450 lb. calf the first year we can get to our yearling goal the next season. Our experience is a thick compact animal does best in these exposed hills. The smaller the cow the more we can winter, and winter is definitely the limiting factor. Feeding cattle on this ranch just doesn't work, too much mud too much wind. The cow has to make it on carryover dead grass and a green understudy until after the first of the year and then they have to make it on short washy green grass till spring. Cell grazing through the winter is helping us with our cattle management and we expect it will allow us the option of reasonably increasing the amount of cattle we can winter. MORE

This has been a ranch that used sheep as the primary grazing animal with the other species used to clean up the forages not attractive to sheep. It appears that this is not the plan for the future. Terrible wool prices that are often less than the cost of shearing and unlimited imports of New Zealand and Australian lamb is going to relegate our sheep program to a subsidiary using forages not available to cattle and to utilization of spring and summer surplus forages. This way sheep will continue to be a functioning part of our grazing program and will allow us to be positioned to take advantage of any positive changes in the lamb market. The biggest factor destroying the lamb market is the currency exchange rate between the US and our trading partners. $.42 a lb. for American lamb returns a $1.00 a lb. to the New Zealand producer, he gets rich, we go broke. Currently US monetary and trade policies keep us at a distinct market disadvantage that has nothing to do with how good we produce lamb, beef or any agricultural product.

The strategy we will pursue will be one of low imputs of labor, capital and energy. We have been breeding the wool off our sheep for several years and will continue in that direction. This leaves us out of the wool business but drastically reduces imputs. Dorper sheep from South Africa is the breed of choice since they are exceptionally thick with high quality meat and shed their fleeces in the spring. Dorpers bred to a wool sheep should leave enough wool on the slaughter lamb so there wouldn't be a discount on the pelt at the packing house. The sheep would be wintered in the Willamette Valley on grass seed fields and summered behind cattle on the ranch. Lambs would continue to be marketed as old croppers at about 130 lbs. in May the year following their birth. Numbers will be significantly reduced to allow easier predator control and less feed competition with cattle. Emphasis will be placed on good feet, easy keeping and twinning. Culling will be ruthless as we try to get higher returns from fewer animals. Management will focus on the flock not the individual, problems will be sold not treated. We want a sheep flock that a cowboy could comfortably manage. MORE

We started with Cashmere goats and have experimented with Boer goats and various dairy breeds trying to develop a tough low labor meat goat. We make our goats clean up behind the other species and push them for brush control. This is hard on the goats and requires a tougher goat than most producers want. We introduced a feral strain of Angora this last year to enhance viability and improve feet. These Angoras had little to no care for the last 30 years so we hope this infusion will further acclimate our breeding program. Our cool wet environment with very little rocky ground to walk on creates special problems not dealt with by most American meat goat producers. Kiko goats developed in New Zealand is probably the next addition to our breeding program.

The most difficult aspect of goat grazing for us is proper evaluation of available forage. When is the brush nutritious, what brush will they eat and what will they not eat? How much forage is in the pasture? This has been a problem because our brush is quite different from what most goat grazers deal with so availability of advice is limited. We have found that fattening goats and heavy brush control are two separate programs. When some of our goats strayed to the neighbors and had unlimited range and feed they gained twice as much weight as those limited to the brush control and pasture clean up.

Goats offer too many opportunities not to keep them incorporated in our grazing plans. They don't compete with other species for the majority of their forage needs as well as controlling certain varieties of brush and weeds. Gorse control alone is enough reason for our goat herd but the meat market offers real potential for a cash return to the ranch as well. MORE

The Quarter Horse breeding program is in its infancy. We don't have time for an off farm hobby and all the family has interests in horses. It was difficult to buy horses that were adapted to this type of terrain and conditions so initially we just were going to raise a couple of ranch geldings but one thing led to another and we are on our second stud. The basic goal is to produce moderate size horses with good temperaments that can travel all day over rough terrain without hurting you or themselves. We are partial to a running style horse that travels easy without wearing the rider out. Our base breeding is heavy to Three Barrs and Moon Deck with some successful out crossing to Twoeyed Jack and Otoe. We recently purchased "Rightfully" a successful runner and breeder. Speed index of 108 and good sized feet. This is a horse that ran a lot of races and is still sound at 22 years of age. We are hopeful that he will nick well with our mares and add class and soundness to a line of good ranch horses that should work and compete well in a variety of venues.

This is a sketch of a windswept sheep ranch sitting above the pacific ocean that is trying to blend the values of yesterday with the technology of tomorrow.

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