From May through July, we focus on practical, hands-on work. May is lambing season, followed by steady days of setting up and running irrigation. We clear brush, build and repair fence, and begin cutting, baling, and stacking hay as summer progresses.
During the fall we begin to harvest and preserve apples and cherries. It is also the time to slaughter hogs for pork, and to cure and smoke the hams and bacon. In September, rutting elk bulls can be heard to bugle from mere yards away (I took the picture only 200 yards from the bunkhouse where interns stay) The brown trout fishing is at its finest, as it is the time when large fish come into the shallows of the river to breed on ranch property. Cattle are driven down from their mountain range horseback in October, and are stocked on their winter pastures.
November is when we begin "winterizing" the ranch; getting ready for winter. Hay is stacked and covered in stock piles. Firewood is cut and chopped. Irrigation systems are closed down. By December, the year's work has come to its culmination. The animals have reached their physical prime. The temperatures are consistently cool. These factors make early December the perfect time to harvest beef animals on the ranch. We slaughter, age, and cut the beef on site, giving interns an opportunity to learn every part of the process.