Spring here is brief but busy. Fruit trees seem to bud and blossom in a single day and immediately begin to hum with bees. As the green grass begins to grow, we move the cows and their new calves off the river bottom and prepare these meadows to grow the hay and alfalfa that will feed our herd through the next winter. The cattle are stepped through a series of spring pastures as they move toward higher elevations. The cows enjoy the new, green grass while much of the ranch work turns to fixing fences.

The runoff from melting snows in the Sierra Madre Range will irrigate our hay meadows, but the cattle will not cross into the high country until the river recedes, usually around the end of June.