They had to be smarter than cattle, because they had to make cattle do what they wanted without forcing them.”ĪT HOME IN DOWNTOWN DES MOINES, population 149, Harvey runs a tire shop out of his garage. That was a different era and they knew more about cattle than today’s cowboys do, because they didn’t have trailers. “My dad went on one of the last cattle drives from Clayton to Springfield, Colorado, around 1914, at age 16. But son, once you start taking that rope down to rope that cow, you have admitted that she’s smarter than you are.’ My dad told me when I was a kid, ‘A cow will do anything you want her to do as long as you convince her it’s her idea. It’s easier to say they didn’t do something because they’re dumb than to say they outsmarted you. He continues, “Most people think cows are dumb but they’re actually smarter than a lot of people. We can’t do it the way we planned but we can do it the way they want to and still get the same job done.” Harvey pauses, then adds with the hint of a grin, “Indecision is the key to versatility.” Reaching the mesa at the top, he and his hands spend two hours gathering the herd. “I KNEW THOSE COWS WOULDN'T STAY in that canyon, but I had no place else to put ‘em.” Riding up canyon, Harvey follows a trail of cow patties up a steep trail that looks more appropriate for mountain goats. “But,” he says, “it was ingrained into my soul to be a cattleman.” During slow times, he hired on to do highway construction. He worked as a Colorado brand inspector, a bucellosis technician, and he vaccinated calves. “I tried to retire, for about six months.”īack in his early days, Harvey had enlisted in the Navy, then used the GI bill to go to horseshoeing school he was the only horseshoer in southeastern Colorado for years. “I was younger and more adventurous,” Harvey reminisces. His parents had split the family ranch south of Kim, Colorado, along the New Mexico border. “I owned a ranch at one time,” Harvey says. The leases vary over time from 10,000 to 80,000 acres, carrying 700 to 3000 cattle. HARVEY HAS BOUGHT AND SOLD CATTLE annually for 35 years, raising them on far-flung pastures that he leases. When Harvey rides in to bring them out at dawn the next morning, every last cow has disappeared. It has a stream, grass, and steep canyon walls. Instead he arranges with Sunny Hill, the rancher whose land they’ve just reached, to leave the herd up a box canyon behind her headquarters. ![]() ![]() Harvey already knows they’re not going to make today’s goal, a “hotel pasture” just this side of Folsom. For that matter, neither do the men, though there’s another full day’s ride ahead tomorrow, to winter pasture at Des Moines, New Mexico. Horses and cattle show no interest in taking another step. Finally reaching the Dry Cimarron River, the men take their only break of the day, sprawling on the grass under a highway sign demarking the line between Colfax and Union counties. They are predicting the wind all day today all night and all day tomorrow, that's a long time for our firefighters to work in those conditions,” said Todd Abel operations section chief.Įven with the winds coming from the south and the west, fire crews say they have been able to contain the fire line around Mora, and they are confident of their work protecting the community of Las Vegas, NM.Īs the fire now spreads to the north, fire officials are urging everyone in the new evacuation zones to get out because the fire is on the way, and if you wait too long, the blowing smoke will make it very difficult to evacuate.HARVEY SHANNON AND HIS RIDERS have pushed 550 head of cattle along a remote New Mexico two-lane for fourteen miles, descending 1500 feet in elevation and making a ten-hour day. The wind is incredible, it's precedent setting - the amount of wind we are going to have and the duration we are going to have it. ![]() “Our firefighters are fighting a battle against the amount of fire on the ground, along with the amount of wind. ![]() On Sunday the communities of Holman and Chacon, Ojo Feliz, Apache Lake, Los Hueros, Los Lefebres, Ocate and Narajos were to be evacuated. The fire was reported 43% contained on Sunday. The winds are not expected to diminish until Tuesday. Officials said the high winds grounded their tanker airplanes after only about an hour of activity on Sunday. Sunday saw temperatures near 80 degrees with winds 20 to 30 mph and gusts to 40 mph. High winds in the region have crippled the ability of firefighters as they race to contain the blaze. New Mexico officials continue to battle the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire that as of Sunday had already scorched nearly 180,000 acres east of Santa Fe.
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