The 2009 Maytag Mountain Ranch Branding was a succcess for all involved, both human and animal.  The organization and effectiveness of our ranch team this year, including staff, owners, family, and friends, was outstanding.  This year’s event showcased the way that a ranching community like we have here can truly come together and work for the good of both the ranch and the animals.   Thank you to the King family for their outstanding photos. Above: Russ Maytag ropes a calf. Above: Jamie, an MMR owner, herds the cows and calves to the corrals. Above: Cattle manager Montana Canterbury hands out jobs and responsibilities during the pre-branding huddle. Above: Russ and Kenny, a neighboring ranch cowboy, sorting calves from cows.

Above: Friends and neighbors of the ranch donate their time to rope some calves.

Summer has been treating the ranch well with good amounts of moisture to grow lush grass, perfect weather for riding, fishing, and hiking, and lots of owners and guests out to enjoy summertime on the ranch.  The fat cattle are currently being shipped and delivered to our beef customers and the initial reviews of our first crop of USDA organic certified cattle have been excellent.

Our summer improvement projects that include staining the ranch amenity buildings and constructing new fence lines are nearing completion thanks to the efforts of staff and owners working together.  We have had many new horsemen and women out to learn the secrets of working with horses; helping a new rider transition from a timid passenger to a confident rider in a safe and secure setting is what our riding program is all about.

The MMR chicken flock is producing well, and all owners, guests and visitors are able to enjoy a breakfast made form our fresh, free-range eggs.  If you are out and about on the ranch and you’d like a fresh egg or six,  look no further than the far side of the horse arena where the chickens are on bug control duty for the central compound.        

The wildlife have been beyond plentiful lately and have taken up late summer grazing in our alfalfa field.  Each evening you can find herds of 20-50 deer and elk grazing across the lush feed of the alfalfa field.  Our easy winter and wetter summer have provided the wildlife with incredibly high-quality forage for the past year, and the quantity and quality of wildlife we are seeing thus far as a result of these weather patterns is outstanding.

The 2009 High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival was a huge success.  The festival earned a record-setting amount for the Wet Mountain Valley Health Clinic and Montana’s unparalleled salesmanship at our sponsor booth generated a lot of serious interest in our first crop of USDA certified organic cattle.  At the MMR booth we sold raffle tickets for a quarter of our grass-finished beef at $1 a chance; this year we collected over $230 to donate to the clinic.  Our winner was actually clinic director John Wallestad, pictured with cattle manager Montana Canterbury,  who will receive his

beef this August.  We did get some rain during the festival, but the weather could not take away from the spectacular scenery of the Sangres or the beautiful sunsets each evening. Even the performers, who have been traveling all over the U.S. this summer playing at various events, couldn’t help but comment on how the site for this event is truly a piece of heaven on Earth. 

Back on the ranch summer has reached full swing.  The daily temperature has been in the 80s-90s with those perfect cool evenings just perfect for sleeping.  Our first cutting of alfalfa is baled and stacked and the grass hay is already mowed and raked.  The cookhouse has been re-stained and looks beautiful; if the rain continues to just move through we will be able to complete the manager’s homes as well.

The garden is having its most productive year to date.  The annual bed is bursting with lettuce, radishes, spinach, potatoes, zucchini and more while the herb bed has crossed over its borders and filled itself and most of the paths with an incredible variety of cooking and medicinal herbs.  The hollyhocks are just now blooming, and their huge blossoms add a goregeous splash of color to the garden.  The strawberries have finished producing but have been replaced by the cherry trees.  We have three tart cherry trees that are producing gallons upon gallons of cherries ripe for the picking, and the numerous currant and goosberries bushes are doing their best to out-produce each other.   The grape arbor has turned into a dark green tunnel, a perfect entrance into the garden, and the neighboring raspberry bushes are already putting out their first few sun-ripened fruits.  It is a beautiful and tasty time to visit the MMR permaculture garden and take home some produce to share with friends and neighbors.

For the second year Maytag Mountain Ranch Grass-Fed beef is sponsoring the High Mountain Hayfever Bluegrass Festival held in nearby Westcliffe.  Proceeds from the festival go towards supporting the Custer County Medical Clinic. This year the festival runs from July 9-12 and will host a number of national and local acts including:

Host band Dry Branch Fire Squad with very special guest, the legendary George Shuffler (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Host band Sons and Brothers (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Leroy Troy (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers (Fri-Sat)
The Sullivan Family (Fri-Sat-Sun)
The Larry Gillis Hard Driving Bluegrass Band (Fri-Sat-Sun)
The Moron Brothers (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Jett’s Creek (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Heidi Clare & Lonesome Cowboy Hobo Wyoming Slim (Sat-Sun)
Blue Canyon Boys (Thu + a set over the weekend)
Loose Cannon Bluegrass Band (Thu)
Steel Pennies (Thu)
Finders & Youngberg (Thu)

From the festival website at http://www.highmountainhayfever.org: “The festival site is at the west end of Main Street in Westcliffe, on a bluff directly overlooking the spectacular Wet Mountain Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We think you won’t find a more inspiring site for a festival.” Visit their site for a complete festival schedule, ticket information, and performer times and dates. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information on the ranch’s local area and events visit http://www.cliffhangersguide.com

The fourth was a fun-filled holiday on the ranch, with BBQs, fantastic lunches, and roping practice.  Montana and Sarah hosted a huge holiday BBQ for friends and family of the ranch with incredible food (even homemade ice cream), and Deanne fixed a beautiful celebratory lunch earlier in the week for ranch staff to enjoy.  Our roping cattle arrived last week, so the Maytag and Martin families were able to spend a sunny holiday afternoon enjoying some team roping practice with Jimmy and Quincy the Quarter Horses.

We currently have 88 calves on the ground, with only a few more due later this week.  The cows and calves are looking very well; watching them graze and play out in the lush grass we have been blessed with this year is a picture-perfect scene.   Our 2009 organic inspection of the ranch, cattle, and garden will be in the next couple of weeks.  The managers put a lot of time and effort into obtaining and maintaining the ranch’s USDA Certified Organic status, so a good inspection and being awarded certification for another year will be a fulfilling reward after so much hard work.

Our first crop of USDA organic-certified grass-fat cattle are finishing quickly on the lush pasture and will begin shipping this week.  Beef sales are in full swing so call the office at 719-942-4860 or email Montana at canterbury@maytagmountainranch.com to get your order in as soon as possible.  The garden is doing very well; items available right now include cherries, currants, gooseberries, a variety of lettuce and salad green mixes, radishes, and many herbs including dill, fennel, rosemary, coriander, cilantro, and much more.

The weather has been perfect lately and the arrival of afternoon clouds had made for for breath-taking sunsets lately.  The moon has been particularly gorgeous as it reaches full - watching it rise over the wet mountains is a show in itself every evening.  The yucca have reached full bloom and trail rides across the ranch reveal the changes in the wildflower species throughout the season.  Mowing began in the alfalfa field Monday and will continue for the next two weeks until all of the alfalfa and grass hay is cut, dried, and baled.

As calving moves forward we already have 70 new calves on the ground.  They are all looking good, and the weather has grown us some fantastic grass.  Our fat cattle are looking incredible and the first will be headed for processing on June 26th; get your orders for friends and family in as soon as possible to ensure availability as our sales are going well.  Our grass and alfalfa hay should be ready to cut and bale by the beginning to middle of July - with continual good weather we should be in excellent shape to carry a growing herd through the winter this year.

The garden is beautiful to walk through right now and the strawberry plants have been yielding bucketfuls of fruit.  The asparagus has still been producing well, and the herbs that have returned from last year are already full grown.  We have plenty of comfrey available for everyone to use and the currants and gooseberries will be available for picking within the next week or two.  When out at the ranch feel free to stop by and ask our resident gardener Joe for a tour.

With summer entering full swing we have had many owners and guests taking advantage of the ranch’s fly fishing, riding and driving horses, and trails.  Our Percheron horses, Steve and Stetson, have been working hard giving wagon rides across the ranch - being able to visit with such large horses gives many kids and adults a new sense of respect for our four legged friends.

Guests have had a lot of luck fishing the private waters of the Ranch around the community buildings and out in the creeks and ponds.  The rainbow trout are giant right now!  There are always a lot of activities to keep everyone from the oldest to the youngest busy, and it is never too early to start learning how to rope.  Our new roping cattle for 2009 should arrive soon, and learning how to work, rope, and pen these cattle in the arena will help every aspiring cowboy and cowgirl to perfect their horsemanship and stockmanship skills.

Calving has continued with no problems, and the 51 calves we now have are all looking well.  The rain has continued a bit each day, and the moisture has turned our land into a flower-filled sea of emerald grass.  Our flood irrigation is going extremely well and we will be turning the pivot back on the alfalfa for the third time this week.

We were lucky enough to have the King family visit for the last week with their friends, children, and grandchildren.  Shakes the horse showed much patience as he hauled around children and adults in the arena, teaching them the finer points of riding in figure eights at the walk and jog, the posting trot, and even flying lead changes.  The ranch horses covered a lot of trail miles and moved the yearling cattle across the ranch to better grass.  After much hard work on their riding skills, the Kings were able to make their first trip up to the Rainbow Trail for their introduction to off-ranch trail riding in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.  Everyone had a beautiful time and the ranch horses conquered the water, log, stream, and bridge crossings with excellent manners.  We finished off their week with a dinner and bonfire, where many marshmallows were consumed and stories were shared.

The rain has continued for over 6 days now, a rare bit of continued moisture not often seen in this part of the country that has given us over 1.5 inches of much-needed water.  The clouds have been gorgeous to watch and riding out during the sunny parts of the day has yielded incredible views of the Seven Sisters shrouded in mist and rainbows falling across the valley.   The grass and flowers are growing at a tremendous rate and even the cacti are preparing for a bloom this year.  It is the perfect week for the start of our calving.  The 16 calves we already have on the ground are looking fantastic.  Montana expects another 30 to hit the ground this week as the weather warms back up and the sunshine hits full stride again.

Our pivot was able to run across the alfalfa for a few days so we have now turned to irrigating some of the fields with the water we have running in our ditches.   The grass-fat cattle are looking good and we should have the first of them ready to go by July 1.  Beef sales are going well; we’ve had a good response to our beef newsletter as well as ads placed in the surrounding county visitor’s guides.  Let your friends and family know that they should reserve their selection soon!

Saturday brought a rare bit of rain to us here on the ranch and the misty morning gave our plants and grass an extra burst of energy to grow.  Everywhere  you look you see various shades of green, from the bright almost-yellow of newly forming leaves just popping out on the oak brush to the dark emerald green of the established grass in the wetter areas.  The songs of the bluebirds and the buzz of the hummingbirds fill the air - life doesn’t get much better than this.

Our first few calves have hit the ground without any trouble thanks to Montana’s careful management and we look forward to the rest of our 93 cows calving in the next month.  Pictured above is our first calf of 2009!  Wednesday is the official starting date for our calving this year, so by the middle of this week we should be in full swing.  The horses have almost finished shedding out and are now the smooth, sleek animals of summer instead of the woolly mammoths of winter.  The snow in the mountains is melting fast in the warm weather we’ve been having so hopefully we will be able to run our pivot over the alfalfa field soon to give it some much needed water.

The garden is incredible to walk through right now; the irises are up and blooming, the raspberry bushes are growing tall, the herb garden is spilling over its borders and onto the paths, and the grape vines are just sprouting their first leaves.  The owners and guests of the ranch have already been enjoying the asparagus and chives that were the first edible plants to come up, and the cammomile has already flowered and been cut to dry for use in tea later.  The first vegetable and annual seeds have been sown by Joe our gardener; our organic tomato seedlings will be planted next week.

Our Permaculture Workshop was a great success.  We had over 40 attendees, and our speaker Becky Elder gave everyone a good introduction to the principles of permaculture.  The MMR garden tour was the highlight of the afternoon, and all participants went home with new, innovative ideas for their own home garden designs and plants that will work well in our high altitude environment.

We have had the immense pleasure of having many owners and guests visit with us so far this May.  The MMR staff have enjoyed having extra help with building fence, tending to the pregnant cows and growing yearlings, and grazing the horses.  Everyone has been working hard, but there is always time out for a trail ride in the beautiful Colorado sunshine.

Even though it feels like summer has already arrived the spring cleaning still continues here at MMR.  Joe has been hard at work in the garden cleaning out last year’s hollyhock, taming the herb bed, and tending to the already sprouting plants.  Many of the fruit trees are already flowering, which has made our bees very happy. We have brought in loads of new mulch for both the garden and the surrounding flower beds; this mulch will help to conserve water and keep away unwanted weeds.    The tack room is finished and looks fantastic, with new stained saddle racks, horseshoe hangers, and new bridle racks.

As the weather continues to warm the elk and cattle are getting ready to give birth.  The elk are due to start in the first week of May, and the MMR cattle will begin May 20th.  Our chicks are growing up quickly and have moved from the brooder to a stall in the barn until they are big enough to join the rest of the chickens outside.