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6A – Daily News – Saturday, October 30, 2010 Agriculture & farm The fall months of Octo- ber and November are ship- ping time for cattle owners who have spent the summer months in Oregon or the mountains. You will notice the loaded cattle trucks coming south on I-5, or going west on Walnut Street in Red Bluff. What people don’t real- ize are the hours that have been spent before the trucks are loaded. When we were a grazing permitee on federal lands, Bill and I spent hours on horseback gathering the cows and calves on an unfenced allotment at Eagle Lake in Lassen County. This permit was one that Earl McKenzie originally had, and there was the McKenzie corral near Wild- cat Point. The permit stretched from Spalding south and east to the Gal- latin House near Gallatin Beach. That was U.S.Forest Service land, and then there was the timber country owned by Sierra Pacific, Fruit Growers, Beatty & Associates near Martin Springs, Beartrap Springs, Sheep Camp Meadow, Lit- tle and Big Merrill Flats. The cows would not be in a large herd, but scattered in smaller bunches of five to ten head. These cattle would be docile and easy to round up and head toward the gath- ering pasture, when we had a group of family and friends on horseback to help us on the big gather. We would ranch Gathering cattle from the range Farmers swap old tractors, boost air quality FRESNO (AP) — California farmers and ranch- ers are helping lower air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley and other smog-laden regions by embracing a federal program that replaces old diesel tractors with cleaner-running farm equip- ment. In the last two years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Ser- vice has helped farmers replace 814 aging machines with more modern equipment. That has reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide, a Courtesy photo Gathering the Barton cattle in the fall of 1988, near Wildcat Point at Eagle Lake. jackets were also tied behind the cantle. A few cautious riders would also have a slicker on their sad- dle. Jean meet at the north end of our allotment near the Spalding dump on Eagle Lake. Either a pickup and trailer would be left at Papoose Meadow, or someone would drive one of the vehicles back from Spalding while the riders started southward gathering the cattle off the lakeshore, Brockman Flat and the inland lava beds. We tried to start shortly after sunrise, while the weather was cool because when it got hot in the after- noon, the cows didn‚t want to move. Everyone brought a lunch they tied onto their saddle, and some brought a canteen for water. This was before bottled water was so popular. Later in the day the Before recreation became so important, and cattle were banished from the lakeshore my father wanted the cattle to graze the shoreline. I remember one spring when we had a late snowstorm in May and a fisher- man was camp- ing at Pikes Cove. He told us how smart one of our bulls was, because he sought shelter by the trailer in the blowing snow and wind. Barton Fifty years ago and later, the campers enjoyed watching the cows and calves grazing on the lakeshore. The cows mowed the grasses and the seed heads didn’t scratch bare legs. Grazing kept the thistles in control, and the wild life liked the fresh green grass. As the more citified campers started to complain because they had not watched where they stepped, we could no longer graze the lakeshore from Wildcat to Gallatin. The campers were the genera- tion that was far removed from agriculture, and had never visited relatives on the farm. The paved bicycle trail was placed where the cattle had trailed for years. Cattle are creatures of habit, and that was where they had walked as calves. I noticed that some bicycle riders deliberately tried to hit the plops of manure, but others complained. We left the cattle to graze on Papoose Meadow for a couple weeks while Bill and I were looking for the miss- ing cattle. Some would drift over the mountain, and be grazing on Hog Flat Reser- voir or McCoy Flat Reser- voir by Highway 44. I would drop Bill and his horse off, and help get the cattle started up the logging trail. Then load my horse and drive the road back to Papoose. After the cattle were inside the meadow, it was a drive home and sup- per. Another day of looking for missing cows would be the next day agenda. When it was time to ship home or to rented fall feed we would gather and put the cattle in the corrals the night before. This would allow the animals to shrink in weight; 12 hours without water or feed. They travel better. The next morning we would arrive at the corrals an hour before the trucks were due, to separate the calves from the cows. There was a smaller corral where we put calves so they wouldn’t be stepped on, and then they were loaded in the smaller compartments on the truck and trailer. When we shipped, we used the Woolery Livestock Trucks of Cottonwood, and they were always clean. The drivers would arrive a half hour early while we were usually separating that last calf from the cows. We gave up the grazing permits the same time Woolery sold their trucks. We also had a permit for 40 cows on Willard Creek, where my father had grazed 1,000 ewes, plus their lambs. When it stormed, or people were exercising their hounds before hunting sea- son, we would have the cows come back to the home grounds. We would drive them back up the mountains to the grass on the higher meadows, and usually could gather them in a few days of riding the first of September. Then we would be searching for the missing four or five head. Some- times you could ride your horse past them if they were hiding under the low branches of a fir tree. They would stand quietly watch- ing you. Then you would notice your horse’s ears were alert because they had spotted a black cow and calf. When you started to move them in the direction you wanted them to go, the race was on because the cows took off on the run. You had to urge your horse into a fast trot, or if there wasn’t downfall of fallen trees then you were loping trying to not lose them. Arlo Stroing cattle were on the south side of Moon- light Peak. One year when he was gathering the cows started running, and he gave chase. A neighbor was helping him and didn’t keep up. Cows and Arlo were out of sight and sound, so she followed the creek down the mountain and ended up at our place. We gave Karen Foster and her horse a ride back to Stroings ranch. Jean Barton can be reached at jbarton@theskybeam.com. 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