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Recent Photos From the ranch…

The beeves seemed to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner!

Daughter Melanie snapped this photo a few days ago of the mares Jenny and Sally out on pasture as evening hit the ranch. As the days get shorter, we are compensated a little by a longer and beautiful golden hour each day.

This is a complex topic that we debated about discussing here, but we feel it’s right to share every aspect of what we do with you, our customers! So read on for the details of what’s happening in this photo!

This is ranch hand Jed earlier this week, freeze branding (also known as cold-branding) a mama cow that we purchased from a neighbor last week. She’ll become part of our cow herd from now on and will have a calf this spring that will be born and raised on Alderspring.

But when we get a new cow, we need to brand her. Branding is the only legally binding means of identifying our cow as ours here in Idaho. This means that if someone steals our cow, having a brand is our only legal means to prove ownership. Cattle prices right now are at an all time high, and “cattle rustling” is actually still very common…we’d be stupid and at great financial risk not to brand our cattle, but our goal is to make it as painless and low stress for the animal as we possibly can.

Hence the “freeze branding.” There are two types of branding out there: hot branding with a red-hot iron, or freeze branding with a very cold iron. With freeze branding, the hair in that spot will grow back white instead of black, leaving a clear mark.

We’ve found freeze branding to be much, much lower in stress and pain for the cow. Here, Jed and the crew have walked the cow into a metal box that holds her in place during branding. The box (also known as a head catch or squeeze chute) restrains the cow but causes no pain for her, and if we work quietly and smoothly the stress of being in the chute is very minimal for the cow. Then there’s the branding. With a hot brand, cattle flinch, bawl, struggle and show other signs of obvious distress. The freeze brand is nearly painless. The brand is so cold that the spot where the cold brand touches skin goes numb almost instantly–the cow occasionally twitches a little when it first touches her, but more often she doesn’t even move or flinch at all.

But it’s the moment that we open the gates to let her out that tells us the most.

The cow walks out. With hot branding, a cow will rush out of there as quickly as possible. But with the freeze branding, she simply steps out of the chute, unbothered and in no hurry, and walks off to join the other cattle.

Her behavior in that moment tells us all we need to know.

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Thanksgiving on the ranch…what we’re thankful for this year!

It’s been a great year on the ranch. Sure, not every part has been easy or without challenges, but looking back, we have a lot to be grateful for. We thought we’d share a few photos of those many gifts below.

First up is people. We had an incredible crew of young people intern with us this year from all over the U.S. We’re so grateful for their hard work, great attitudes, desire to learn, and most of all, friendship! There are a few others that we never managed to get a group shot with, but we put what we could above!

Horses! These are just a couple of the many that carried us many miles on the range this summer. We’re so grateful we get to work with these guys every day.

We grazed the cattle across far reaches of our range that we’ve never herded cattle through before. It’s because for years, this country seemed too steep, rocky, timbered, and inaccessible to herd cattle through. It’s not an easy thing to herd 400 head of cattle through thick timber you can’t see further than 5 feet in. But remember that incredible riding crew mentioned earlier? We grazed country this year that we’ve never grazed before. Here’s a shot, taken by Melanie, of just one of those locations. It helped that the view was incredible.

Weddings. We had 2 daughters get married this summer/fall, both to great young men we’re so glad to have in the family.

Regeneration…and our role in it. This photo was taken by Range Rider Bryce as the crew herded the cattle on a hillside far above these beaver ponds. We have many networks of these ponds on our rangeland now, spread out over the 55 miles of streams that are up here. We’ve been blessed this year more than ever to see results as we control our grazing to restore wildlife habitat like this. We are so grateful to play a small part in this wild country.

And we’re so grateful for all of you, customers who support what we do and were part of all of the successes of this year! This is the Alderspring crew outside of our beef shipping warehouse a couple months back. Glenn there is holding the last pound of ground beef we had in the entire freezer that day. We had completely sold out (much to the sadness of the border collie Stew, who is begging there for a taste of that last ground beef pound). We so appreciate all of you who trust us to raise your protein for you! It’s a responsibility we certainly don’t take lightly.

Want to follow along more day-to-day? Find us on Instagram and Facebook.

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It’s Thanksgiving week, and each fall, this week more than any other marks a transition from summer in high gear to a downshift to the low range of winter. This one holiday Thursday is the first day we offer a collective ‘stop’ to work. The ranch hands, family and friends all descend quietly to the ‘big house’ where we share an afternoon dinner. There, we join hands and give thanks for the year that’s passed before us. 

And as it turns out, it’s always appropriate to be grateful. This year, there’s been no major tragedies; the beeves have done well, and the grass was ‘rained’ into an unusual persistent green for much of the summer. We’ve had a remarkable crew, over 20 strong, that pitched a hand to the rein of horse, fencepost, shovel and pitchfork. Our best horse string ever partnered with us over 500 miles of grass to nearly 9000 feet elevation this year (the highest and most remote country we’ve ever grazed in). 

Fifteen years ago, I wrote a thanksgiving memoir about a backcountry horseback ride we did as the wiles of winter threatened; we were missing some cattle, and needed to find them before blizzard. I added a bit to it in 2018, and after reading it, I thought we’d republish it today. It captures so much of the country that has become part of us, as well as the people and the animals we live and work with. I’ll share it with you again today, dear readers. May you have a blessed weekend with friends and family. 

Happy Trails.

Continue reading the story on our blog by clicking below!

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And that’s it for this week!

Thanks again for partnering in what we do!

Glenn, Caryl, cowgirls and cowboys at Alderspring.

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We’ve been crafting our pastured protein here in Idaho’s Rocky Mountains for nearly 30 years and delivering it direct to our partners for nearly as long. This is wild wellness, delivered from our ranch to your door.

Your partnership with alderspring directly supports our mission to improve soil health, wildlife habitat, and animal and human wellness through regenerative ranching practices.

Here’s what we’ve accomplished with your help & support in just the last 12 years!