Dry Fork Ranch is considered a "Cow-Calf" Operation.   What does this mean?   The cattle industry is not vertically integrated like other livestock industries.  A vertically integrated industry simply means that the animal is typically born, raised and finished on the same farm.  (Poultry and Pork are typically vertically integrated).   Because cattle take much longer to get to the point of harvest, they are often not finished on the same farm where they were born. 

 

Here is a typical year on the Dry Fork...

All calves are born in the spring, starting in mid-February through late April.   Calves are branded according to Colorado brand laws, and given 2 vaccines, which cover a wide range of diseases – mainly respiratory and diarrheal, which can be devastating to an entire herd if not controlled.   When the grass is ready in May or June, cows and calves go out on green pasture.    Our pastures are native grass, and some cows will go to a forest pasture in the late summer.   During this time, we are busy riding and checking cattle and herd health and growth.  At home we are irrigating and putting up hay from our meadows, which consist of native grasses and alfalfa.

   

Around the 1st of October, everything starts coming back to the home place.     For the month of October, and into November, calves are on fall pasture , or re-growth on the hay meadows.   We carefully analyze records and assess the cattle to select those that we will keep as breeders, then wean the calves from the cows and sell the the rest through a contract buyer.  These calves will go into a feedlot or to wheat pastures to be finished and ready for harvest.

 

Cows that are bred will remain on fall meadows until the snow flies, at which time we start feeding hay daily.   Through the winter they are supplemented with vitamins and minerals as needed.   In the spring, we start the whole process again! 

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