Bears and crops

Heading home from swathing hay in one of the fields above the railroad tracks last night and came across a yearling black bear crossing the road.  Of course, no camera around.  Black bears are fairly common this time of the year as the yearlings start gaining independence.  Less often we'll see a mama black bear and her cub/s.   Usually they stay well away from the house and facilities and there is seldom a report of cattle being bothered by a black bear.  Most of the bear attacks have been either provoked or have occurred in higher populated areas.   

As we wind up the first round of silage and move into haying, it's obvious it's going to be a leaner year this year.  Crops are down 50% this year over the last few years' harvests.  It's been a very dry spring/summer with lots of wind, which is unusual for this area.  Last year we put in enough hay and silage that we had 1/4 of one of the silo's still full at the end of the season and we sold 100 tonne of round bales.  Won't happen this year.  Even the barley's looking dry instead of ripening to a golden color.

Most years we can easily feed 1000 head of cattle off the silage, hay and barley grown on the ranch.  We've never had to buy either silage or hay, though we sometimes bring in barley from the Peace River for helping with winter rate of gain.
 

Fishing

Have had grandkids visiting for the past couple of weeks. It's great to see them and they look forward to their month in Canada each year.

We often spend some time fishing when we have out-of-town guests and my grandson got to try his hand at smoking the trout he caught. Smoked trout has been a staple of some of the local First Nations tribes for centuries (along with saskatoon berries, moose, and venison).  My grandson was extremely pleased with how his smoked fish turned out and they canned some jars for him to take home to share with his friends.

In addition to the many "official" recreation lakes that are in the area (BC Rec Sites), there are many lakes that are "off the beaten path" that were opened up by the Forest Service over the years.  These are pristine, clear lakes with very few people on them (two boats or vehicles at the same time is a crowded lake!).  The lakes can be found from BC Forest Service recreation maps available at tourism offices throughout the area.  We often see moose, deer and bear as we head out to fish.  One year we even competed with a bald eagle for the trout.

This photo shows the view of some of the lakes in the area from the top of Fraser Mountain (1053 m/3,455 ft). The big lake to the left is Fraser Lake.

Summer in Fort Fraser

It's the beginning of July, well into silage-making season part 1 (part 2 takes place in early August). Each year we start off filling 3 of the 4 pit silos with grass/alfalfa silage. The key is to figure out the peak protein levels in the alfalfa to bring on the biggest gain in the cattle this winter.

Silage making is an intense time. It really pushes every one and every piece of equipment to its limit. On a good day, we can put 40 6-ton loads into the silo with 3 full-time and 1 part-time person. That's assuming we have no breakdowns and everything's clicking away as planned. Of course, things seldom work that way!

One of the challenges of living so far off the beaten path is how to get everyday needs met. Life's gotten much easier with cell phones and Internet for tracking down parts. With no easy FedEx or UPS service, and only limited DHL, our best bet for shipping parts is via Greyhound Bus's courier service. Twice a day, the bus stops in nearby Fort Fraser, dropping off parcels for everyone in the area.

Yesterday, the heat pump went out on one of the tractors. We phoned a parts place in Saskatchewan at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. It arrived in Fort Fraser at 11:00 this morning. Up and running again!