December 2022
This month, the poets consider the vagaries of climate, crops, and living for the ‘next year’…putting forth the idea that hope, like cattle, is something you tend to and something you grow—it bears up a lot easier in good weather, but, with care and a little luck, it can survive the harshest.
"As you reflect on the past year and look forward to 2023, what are your hopes for the New Year? and do you have any resolutions or lessons learned or traditions that guide you this time of year?”
- Hopeful in Yellowstone
The panel moves from the page to the stage for a live Ask a Cowboy Poet show on Fri, Feb. 3, 2023 at the 38th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Submit your questions for consideration in the monthly column, and possibly the live show!
Yvonne Hollenbeck:
Dear Hopeful in Yellowstone:
Reflecting on the past year is what gives me hopes for the New Year, mainly in the matter of weather. We had the driest year of record in 2022 here in south central South Dakota and, until ten days ago (December 5), we were feeling quite depressed. Even the air was full of dirt and dust and the cattle stirred up a cloud of dust just walking across the ground. Then we got a beautiful, wet seven-inch snow that seemed to clean the air and made the ugly dry ground look beautiful once again. We then got a visit from “Winter Storm Diaz” bringing over 30 inches of snow accompanied by high winds that did not subside for four days. The biggest lesson learned is how thankful we are that we have good equipment; had sufficient feed; had the cattle close by secured by excellent fences; and even though the cost was high, had our fuel barrels (over 2,000 gallons) filled. Many others were not so lucky.
These lessons learned will certainly guide us through the next year and those to come, and as evidenced by the hard work of the next generation taking over the reins here, will continue. We are counting our blessings!
Dick Gibford:
To Hopeful in Yellowstone:
Us folks here in this part of the California landscape have been fairly preoccupied with staying in business through this persistent dry weather pattern these last several years. I am in the cowboy business end of the cattle business. I don't have cattle of my own, but I watch over the outside cattle a-horseback, and the better we take care of the cows through these droughts, the better the chances of our survival. Fred Reyes, the owner of the Walking R, and myself, are doing the best we can. The rest is up to mother nature. We are looking at three dry years in a row here, and it's not a pretty sight. So, my hope for the coming year is for a lot more rain to fall on this sun-baked ground. So far, our springs in the mountains are getting us by with enough water for the cattle, but it's gettin pretty dicey. One more dry year will just about finish us.
So that's where it stands, from where the sun now stands (a quote from Chief Joseph, famous leader of the Nez Perce). I wish I could paint you a more rosy picture and I reckon this is a self-centered answer to your question. Most people are hoping for a totally different answer concerning hopes for the new year, such as much less Covid, better economy and more stability in the world–all very important issues. I guess some of us ranchers and cowboys live in a bit of a different world out here in these isolated and wild mountains and deserts, a world almost without other people, doing our thing, taking care of cattle and riding horses and the like. It's a lifestyle we love and are totally at home with. We just need a lot more rain and snow than we have been getting and then things will look pretty good!
DW Groethe:
Anymore, I look back on the good points of the year, of which there were many, and don't let the negative bits drown out the fun...heck, every day has its ups and downs and when you get a year's worth together, it's better to dwell on the positive things in life.
As far as resolutions go, I aim to keep working on my poetry, put out a couple more books, and maybe pull back on performing shows.
Short answer, I know. Hope it helps answer your questions. Thanks for asking.
Bill Lowman:
Hi, Yellowstone, from the badlands of North Dakota.
Good questions. Here's my last year, starting three years ago. I resolve to get back up and fight on, to win the final round.
Hopefully I don't get too long winded here. After ranching here all my life I thought I'd seen it all, but the past three years eclipse all the others. The fall of 2020 it rained and rained all through September and October. I had to redig well pressure pits to higher ground due to high water tables.
2021 was by far the worst drought I've ever lived through and that's many, followed by an open dry winter until April of 2022 when two back-to-back massive "calf killing" blizzards took up most of the month right at the peak of calving. The spring of 1975 was the only other one that comes close and again there have been many others. But May, June, and early July came with beautiful slow soakers that healed our pastures and hay land beyond belief.
Then all hell broke loose and it wasn't atop a bronc. At midnight, July 9-10th, a tornado with 120mph winds and torrential rain came right down our Wanagan Creek and issued devastation to our ranch headquarters, damaging buildings and shops. The 84-foot-long quonset is gone. Large trees were jerked out of the ground by the dozens, roots and all, some traveling back into the oncoming storm. There were so many odd and peculiar things going on that if I hadn't taken photo ‘proof shots’ the next morning to back up my statements, I might be accused of being a politician. One of the oddities was that one of my six saddle horses was picked up and lifted several hundred feet and set down totally unharmed on the opposite side of a brand new high, tight four-wire fence. Remember the old Mobil Gas Station sign of the flying red horse? Now I finally relate to it. That's how my last year went. Some events I resolve to remember to forget.
At least we haven't had Covid–we haven't had time. My hopes for the New Year are always consistent. I look for a warm, open winter and a cool, wet summer and good cattle prices. The old joke is, ranching’s a good ‘next year’ business. Oh, for what it's worth, I've had total knee and shoulder joint replacements the last two winters from old injuries.
Here's a poem I wrote in the mid-90s after several dry years, as I was on my way up the Yellowstone River Valley to the Midland Bull Test Sale. We're always envious of the hay production of the “below the irrigation ditch" producers.
Waddie Mitchell:
My hopes for the new year would be to trade a newer old body for my even older old body.
My resolution for 2023 is probably going to be the same resolution I've used for the last 30-plus years. It sounds impressive, but it is unattainable and boring enough to turn people off, which means no follow-up questions, which means I am off the hook.
I do hope the four of you who will read this will enjoy your holiday season, love your family and appreciate where we get to live.
Virginia Bennett:
Dear Hopeful in Yellowstone,
Livestock producers, otherwise known as ‘ranch folks,’ are ‘next year’ people. They usually get paid only once a year, that being when they sell their primary product, their calves, which can be at various times of the year. It might be after they are weaned (at about six months) or it could be a year later, depending upon whether the rancher “backgrounds” his/her calves (feeds them the best hay and grain in order to put more weight on the calves and ensure they are entirely weaned from their mothers and therefore, are “on the gain” when it’s time to sell these precious babies) or not. There are other ways that ranchers deal with their calves after weaning them, such as holding onto them for a year if they are registered bull calves or potential maternal stock. There are a lot of decisions to make that affect the income that the ranch makes over the course of a year or two. But, in general, a rancher is always looking forward to what happens next in his/her operation and it’s almost a requirement that a good dose of ‘hope’ is mixed in with those decisions and actions.
There’s also planting hay or feed crops (such as corn or various types of grain) at whatever is the right time for the ranch land to grow and thrive after planting. There’s an incredible amount of “hope” tied up with feed production, for the farmer/rancher works the ground and plants the seed and applies water and fertilizer with the hope (the confidence) that it will be enough for the crop to grow and that weather conditions will be right when the time comes for harvest. There’s an incredible amount of skill, education, knowledge, understanding, and information that goes into making all these decisions so that the ranch, the ranch family, and the employees will all make enough income to live well and happily. There is nothing about this process that is haphazard. It is all organized in the correct, workable way so that all needs are met. The needs of the humans, the land, the animals, and whatever else is being influenced by the occupation of growing and selling livestock. Many ranch owners have grown up on that exact ranch and have inherited all the “tried and tested” procedures that make it all happen. Other ranch owners or managers went to college to study agricultural science and livestock production. However it is done, in the end, ‘hope’ is what keeps it all going.
I have noticed that many, if not most, ranch families have a strong element of faith in God that is settled down deep within their characters and personalities, and, as such, they naturally pray and ask for guidance as decisions are made. The word ‘hope’ doesn’t have a fairy tale “I wish, I wish” kind of meaning. One dictionary I’ve used describes ‘hope’ as “something upon which one has confidence.” These folks do the best they can, using the information they’ve absorbed over the years, and they pray, giving it all to God and trusting that He will make it all work out for the good of the ranch family. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t watching the weather and the growth of range grasses and forage or keeping a keen eye on the cattle market or sale prices on necessary equipment such as ranch pickups, haying equipment, stock trailers, and the list goes on and on.
Ranch managers who have spiritual faith or not, they all employ a lot of ‘hope’ in a business that operates amidst the fickleness of weather and the unpredictability of nature, the shaky value of the dollar and the favorability (or lack thereof) of cattle prices at the sale barn on the exact day the ranch manager has decided to sell. If there was no ‘hope,’ bulls wouldn’t be turned in with the cows roughly nine months from the date when the manager plans the calving times that are most favorable to his operation. And seed wouldn’t be planted and fertilized. Heifers wouldn’t be held back to help the ranch continue to raise and improve its primary product. Hope is at the center of it all!
May your Christmas be wonder-filled and your new year be inspired by the very hope that illuminates this amazing season.
