Ranch Day 2023
Bar D Ranch Owners, we had a fantastic day of running fence yet again as we did last year.
Our goal within the Ranch is to establish snow fencing and snow traps to protect our roads and ensure that control what snow ends up on our roads to ensure we provide as much access to owners as possible.
Snow traps are widely known from an engineering perspective for years and the County leverages that effort as well across many roads. We have 7 traps and Bill will ensure we have the final one completed prior to the next major snow fall.
We didn't purchase additional treated post and metal tpost but leveraged existing post from other areas on the ranch that Bill Hooper had recovered from pasture clean up from 3 years ago; additionally we didn't purchase new fence but leveraged offerings on facebook marketplace at less than half the new price. We employed the same effort as we did last year per the pics above.
This year Bill Hooper had an established ranching relationship with our neighboring Bar Star Ranch and based on the numerous hours of days/hours in support he'd given them for their cattle management on horseback they offered to help us. Nick Brailes (Bar Star Cowboy) offered to help us run fence-no charge. The no-charge aspect of ranching is something that we believe is important as community efforts are critical to operating a ranch. We now have their machinery support as well going forward for a potentially snowy winter. Cowboys and Ranchers are a breed of folks that believe in a community of work. Sometimes that work is very demanding but very rewarding - this is a synergy that Bar D Ranch believes in.
Bill Hooper prepared for ranch day by firstly acquiring the materials; which included purchasing well ahead of time (months): the t-post (brand new for $8+) purchased at auction for $1.5, snow fence (new roll at $100) purchased for $40 per role, 12 gauge smooth and barbed wire (new at $100 per roll) for $50/roll. Then punched the holes and concreted them in a week ahead of time (using his gear - gooseneck, mixer, generator and then braced the work to prevent cattle from rubbing and moving them out of place. It's important to reflect on cost as it's our collective responsibility to minimize our financial footprint with every effort. Being self sufficient is key to our ranch success.
