Late bloomin' rabbitbrush – wads of swaying ochre – stud the roadsides and steep eroded-basalt buttes rising up from the basin floor outside of Hines, Oregon.
asserted
rabbitbrush → bloomin → Hines
In a broad open field, horses munch standing hay as Katie Baltzor watches her black angus cattle on this fall day.
asserted
Baltzor → munch → day
We've ridden out here in a side-by-side vehicle – it's like an overgrown golf cart with a pickup bed in the back made for rough ranch work.
asserted
it → ride → work
With their heads down grazing.
asserted
heads → graze → ?
"You see that horse, how he's got speckled colors?" said Baltzor with a smile in her voice.
asserted
Baltzor → see → voice
"Looks like country gravy, I guess that's why they called him Gravy.
asserted
they → look → him
"
Diesel prices remain near record highs, despite recent actions by President Trump as the mid-term elections get closer.
asserted
elections → remain → Trump
The high prices are adding to pain for cattle ranchers in western states, who were already struggling with persistent drought.
asserted
who → add → drought
And in Harney County, where bovines outnumber the people – by a lot - there's many mouths to feed.
asserted
bovines → outnumber → lot
'Everything has gone up'
asserted
Everything → go → ?
"Fuel costs, parts costs, everything has gone up," Baltzor said.
asserted
Baltzor → go → ?
"People say that prices have gone up, but calf prices (paid to ranchers) have (too).
"
asserted
prices → say → ranchers
But calf prices still have not kept up with inflation – and so that's what makes it tough for ranchers to keep in business.
asserted
ranchers → keep → business
If everything else goes up and cattle prices don't, you're just spinning your wheels a bit – you better like what you do."
asserted
you → go → what
Baltzor's face shows a life spent working in the desert sun.
asserted
face → show → sun
Her long ponytail glints a bit reddish in the afternoon light.
asserted
ponytail → glint → light
Baltzor and her husband Keith, had just finished riding a bunch of about 150 hundred head of their cattle down Highway 205 on horseback from another pasture.
asserted
Baltzor → finish → pasture
"Sometimes it is dicey," she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
"There were cars starting to come through our bunch of cows … unfortunately a woman opened up her door and jumped out.
asserted
woman → be → door
And those cows would not go near her.
asserted
cows → go → her
It scared them, they wanted to come back anyway.
asserted
they → scar → them
Then she got out again and still was stopped.
asserted
she → get → ?
People just don't understand, they don't know.
asserted
they → understand → ?
When you see a herd of cows and they're coming towards you, don't stop, just keep coming through them.
asserted
they → see → them
Baltzor was moving the cattle so they could work them closer to home.
uncertain
they → move → home
They are going preg-check the mother cows to make sure they're carrying new babies, and give all the cattle and calves vaccinations and dewormer.
asserted
they → go → vaccinations
Wildfires brought them home
But for Baltzor, this year is already addin' up tough.
asserted
year → bring → Baltzor
The places where Baltzor typically ranges her cattle in the mountains were ravaged by record-size wildfires this summer, robbing them of the grass the herds usually eat.
asserted
herds → range → grass
Baltzor, and hired riders, had to hoof it through heavy smoke into the mountains to extract their cattle from the path of the fires.
asserted
Baltzor → hire → fires
"So all our cows, instead of coming home the second week of September, we had to bring them home the third week in July," Baltzor said.
asserted
Baltzor → come → July
"Other folks had to do the same.
asserted
folks → have → same
And some people had to start feeding – we didn't, we had the rakebrunch.
asserted
we → have → rakebrunch
"
Rakebunching means just raking pasture hay into piles, and leaving it in the field for animals.
asserted
Rakebunching → mean → animals
Now, it's gonna take time 'til the mountain grass comes back.
asserted
grass → go → time
In some areas where her neighbors' ground has been burned over, it's taken years for them to be able to return their animals to graze, Baltzor said.
asserted
Baltzor → burn → animals
"Where are we gonna run cows?" she said.
asserted
she → go → cows
"Some of those fields that burned, the allotments you can't go back on them for a couple of years.
asserted
you → burn → years
And because so many acres burned in Harney County, it's not just my husband and myself that have this issue."
asserted
that → burn → issue
With no grass, ranchers need hay to feed their cattle.
asserted
ranchers → need → cattle
But the drought that set the stage for the fires has dried up Baltzor's hay meadows, too.
asserted
that → set → meadows
…and 43 more, not listed.
The Aporia
