After spending a quiet New Year’s Eve dinner with Dan and Jill, an early to bed and not so early to rise, and after taking care of my morning chores, I am welcoming this new year by watching a light, misty rain turn slowly and gently into a thin layer of ice covered by a snowfall that actually looks like it could amount to something worthwhile. By that I mean the precipitation might put some much-needed moisture in the ground.
Today is developing into a really lazy day for all of us. We have worked hard for the last few days. Jill has been inventorying and moving boxes of meat. Dan and Erney and I have been building a stretch of fence up at the north place where, unlike here, there are several inches of snow on the ground. In the late afternoon of New Year’s Eve day we “got ‘er done,” and packed up to head home-wet and tired. There was not the usual amount of conversation in the truck amongst us. I guess we were conserving what was left of our energy for the eighty-mile drive home, but mostly we made some half-hearted jokes about “gettin’ to old for this stuff.” So on New Year’s Day we all are making up for it-staying pretty much in our respective abodes: reading, writing, and watching TV or movies.
Our New Year kind of belly-crawled into place, which allowed us to contemplate and inventory what we have done and to attempt to look toward what there is yet to be accomplished. We are always building something: fences, corrals, living quarters, falcon chambers, or ideas. We are constantly trying to figure out how to maintain a quality buffalo herd during this 4-5 year period of drought, which is no simple task. That is why winter grazing on the Forest Service land is critical. Pastures need relief as much as they need moisture. To keep everything in balance we sometimes have to transport some of the herd to the north ranch where there is more moisture and better grazing-the end result is a consistently high quality of meat, for which we expend energy and in which we take a great deal of pride.
So here we are in the ranchers’ perennial dilemma of wanting at least sufficient moisture enabling us to maintain a quality herd without having to reduce its ability to produce a viable supply of quality, harvestable animals. So here we are, looking with some uncertainty and lots of optimism (and no real knowledge) at what this new year will afford. So here’s to you, folks, partners in our common endeavor. Happy New Year.