Meet an Idaho Cattlewoman ~ LB

floatinghorsesteeth

Floating means to smooth or shape horse’s teeth with a file (called a “float”). Unlike human teeth, horse’s teeth keep growing and cane become sharp. We do this so horses don’t have discomfort when eating.

4thofjuly_bauchman

Stephen and Lyndella. We’re leaving our dream of cattle ranching.

dutchovencooking

Enjoying dutch oven dinner with family during the 4th of July weekend.

Hi, my name is Lyndella and I live in beautiful Round Valley in Challis. My husband and I are first generation ranchers, learning and living a new life every day. We have been ranching now for more than 20 years in this valley. Ranching was a dream both of us had and were able to make come true. We are always open to inviting friends to our ranch to experience what we have grown to love…amidst the hard work, long hours and satisfaction of accomplishment.

In July, our daughter, a large animal veterinarian practicing in California, came to visit with her first child, Lochlan, who’s six month old. While she was here, I bribed her to come help vaccinate horses, shear llamas, check on pigs and take a quick run out to Copper Basin where our cattle range.

Getting to the ranch is always a challenge. Alicia and Lochlan arrived in Idaho Falls, then still had a 2 ½ hour drive to the ranch. Since Nana (that’s me) has a full week planned for them… we had steaks for dinner!!

First stop was Island Park, where we lease ground for heifers. We are hauling salt and mineral up for them. We also had horses and hay to leave at the cabin for family coming in that week. Alicia vacinated horses for me there. She loves doing dentistry on horses so she also floated several of the horses teeth the next morning. Nana took care of Lochlan and Alicia and Dad went for a horse back ride. I watched Lochlan scoot across the floor trying very hard to crawl.

The next stop was our ranch where we spent Monday relaxing.  Well, most of it!! We decided to shear the old llama once it cooled off a little. Very interesting trying to get Tractor, our old male, into a head catch in the cow barn!! But, we succeeded and sheared his very heavy fur coat.

Tuesday afternoon promised to be warm, so we got up early to vaccinate the horses and work on their teeth.

It’s always great having the kids and grandkids home to our ranch, as we love having visitors. The visits never really seem long enough though.

~ Lyndella

Categories: Blogging, Idaho Cattlewomen