Hi, I’m Mike and this is Our Wyoming Life
I’m asked all the time about the tools that
I use while ranching, and there are a lot of them.
From tractors to balers and hammers and wrenches but last week I got a question in our mailbox
asking me what the coolest tool is that I get to use here on the ranch.
The answer to that question was simple to answer and I think it will really surprise
you.
In October of 2013 a freak blizzard hit Northeast Wyoming and South Dakota during the record
setting winter storm Atlas.
After days in the 70s and 80s the storm slammed in and caught a lot of ranchers, including
me unprepared.
The October 3rd storm brought 3 to 4 feet of snow following 2 inches of rain and cows
had yet to grow their winter coats that protect them from the wet snow that attacked their
bodies already chilled by freezing rain.
Cows went into survival mode, putting their head down and heading downwind, this caused
cows to walk over embankments or into creeks and ponds one after another, others were suffocated
by piling snow and some perished from hypothermia.
By the end of the storm the death toll topped 100,000 cows.
We lost a few also, our cows were still a few miles from home on their summer pasture
and rain softened the soil in some areas that the cows and calves couldn’t get out of
it, many actually drowned as they were stuck in the mud and the snow buried them , crushing
them and pushing them into the wet soil underneath.
The cattle community came together and fundraisers were started, some ranchers lost their whole
herd with no way to get compensated or start over.
Luckily coming up on 4 years later, things have built back up and a lot of ranchers affected
by winter storm Atlas are still rebuilding, but just like us it seems like a never ending
project.
But, what does all this have to do with cool tools, well one tool in our tool box is there
to help us in a situation just like winter storm Atlas, and hopefully nothing like that
happens again soon, but we do get storms and snow and rain and that’s where this comes
in.
It’s a Flir thermal imager.
I had my first experience with thermal imaging in the military and after the storm of October
2013 I started thinking about how the technology could help ranchers, trust me, I didn’t
have to think long.
It seemed like every time I turned around I found an application for thermal imaging.
Calving season is the big one.
With this I can pick out a calf laying in the grass from over a half of a mile away,
ascertain if the calves mom is around and see if the calf is moving or down.
I can scan our 400 acre calving pasture from multiple vantage points and reunite lost moms
with their calves.
Snow, Rain or shine, day or night and with an optical zoom I can get right up in a cows
business, literally.
So Travis from Yuma Arizona, you now have your answer, The coolest tool in my toolbox
is a Flir thermal imager.
I honestly don’t know if they market these to ranchers, but they should because it gives
you the ability to see your herd like you never could before.
In order for ranching to continue to succeed it needs to embrace technology, my dad used
to keep track of herds of cattle with a notebook and a pencil, now we do it on computers with
cameras, but like with most family business sometimes technology takes a while to catch
on and that’s ok.
I’ll take my little wins but when flying cars come into production and are for sale
to the public, I will kick and scream like a 4 year old until I get one.
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Have a great week, keep those questions coming and thanks for joining us in Our Wyoming Life.