diary: A weeklong electronic journal.

Tim Fitzgerald

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Posted Friday, Nov. 12, 1999, at 9:30 PM ET

Today we returned to the Pizotti place, gathering pairs into the corrals as the first sun glanced off the slope above us. We had a big crew of about eight people for the day's work of vaccinating calves and pregnancy-testing the cows. The vet does the checking, and he was scheduled to arrive at 10 a.m. We ran all the calves through before 9:30.

While we were standing around waiting for the vet to arrive, I cast a sidelong glance at the basketball hoop outside the shop. A quick survey inside revealed a mostly inflated ball. Soon we had a game going. I shouldn't even call it basketball because basketball has rules. In fact, this morning's game resembled my years as a kid in the Catholic Boys League. Grabbing, tackling, wrestling, tripping, and cross-body blocks were permitted; dribbling was encouraged, but by no means required. We bore little resemblance to the current generation of basketball stars in their baggy shorts and fancy shoes as we spun across the gravel court in chaps, spurs, and hats. One of the better defensive moves of the day was when someone stepped on my spur as I took my Iversonian crossover to the bucket. I was busy tasting the gravel as the ball rolled into a pen of curious cows.

The vet arrived to discover half of the crew out of breath and sweating, sprawled alongside the corral. However, we were quickly organized and managed to run about a hundred head through before lunch. Pregnancy-testing is intended to let a rancher know which of his cows are bred, and if so when he can expect them to calve. We finished the testing about 2 in the afternoon and moved the pairs to a new pasture.

Afterward, I drew the assignment of gathering a handful of Four Bar strays that were spotted last night. Mat and I rode up to find them bunched just above a major irrigation ditch. We tried to cross them in good order but ended up chasing them back and forth a couple times. The end result of this was cows below the ditch but Matt in it (through no fault of his own). After this inopportune soaking, we managed to bring the cattle home without further ado.

In days to come we will continue pregnancy-testing and riding for strays. However, during the course of this week we have gotten a bulk of the fall work done. The yearling cattle will soon be shipped off to the feedlot, giving ranchers their annual paycheck. I will go back up to Snowmass to winterize the ranch, do the books, and get my paycheck from the outfitting business. Then I start the long wait for warmer mornings and green grass along with everyone else.

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Posted Friday, Nov. 12, 1999, at 9:30 PM ET