With drought looming, the state of Oregon is preparing for the likelihood it will have to shut off irrigation access for many of the 200 cattle ranchers and hay farmers in the upper Klamath Basin as the Klamath Tribes…
Dried Up
by harneythefilm •
Mouth Watering Fried Calf Nuts? Any takers?
by harneythefilm •
In French it’s les écrous frits de veau, in German it’s Gebratene Kalbmuttern, in Swedish it’s suxna kalvnötter, in Italian it’s le noci di vitello fritte but no matter what language you say it in, they are simply fried calf nuts! The lil’ bulls…
Turning Out
by harneythefilm •
A Monday morning in Harney County unfolded nearly seamlessly with four cowdogs, three cowboys, a double load and one cattlewoman. Jake gets out just time for the last cow to get off the truck as a load of cattle was…
Branding The Drewsey Way
by harneythefilm •
With an array of methods of cattle branding either through chutes or holding an animal down, a ranch outside Drewsey, Oregon expedites the branding process to minimize the effects to the cow. A quick shave to remove hair followed by…
Poetic Composition of Animals
by harneythefilm •
Frequently we experience nature at its finest, an animal nurturing another of its genus, and sometimes learn about a rogue animal caring for another outside its type. “Tucker,” left, a ranch dog, who watched the skinning of a dead calf…
Down Time
by harneythefilm •
The headline isn’t really what it seems for I haven’t had any real down time since my arrival in Harney County. I work every single day, that is, unless I have a headache, and even then, I just pop a…
Ten At Night
by harneythefilm •
Ten at night is usually a bedtime or a time when some may watch a late night movie but at the Sword Ranch ten at night is one of the times throughout a day that laboring cows are observed with…
Etiology of Mothering Up
by harneythefilm •
Maternal behavior actually begins prior to calving. Cows do not prepare a birth site per se, but they demonstrate some tendencies to select a birth site. A common question is whether cows isolate themselves at calving? Some studies (and some…
Harney Branding
by harneythefilm •
Harney County Rodeo 2012
by harneythefilm •
Calving in Harney
by harneythefilm •
Calving Tales
by harneythefilm •
Whether it’s one, two or three new calves a day each birth is a mysterious experience for both the cattle rancher and the cow. Calving season is one of the busiest times for cattle ranchers. Mature cows come into season…
What God Needs
by harneythefilm •
Jack Rabbits Out Of Gas
by harneythefilm •
During my research on the history of Harney County I found quotes that are representative of life well over 100 years ago and forward. “they were paying the five-cent bounty on the jackrabbits” Grandma Gray raised chickens. One lady wanted…
Hibernating in Harney Oregon
by harneythefilm •
A recluse filmmaker former photojournalist typing stories about early settlers in Harney County, Oregon. I rise at 6:00 am and retire at 1:00 am the next day, and when I am not under a waterfall of hot chocolat with meandering…
Airplanes Over Cattle Ranches
by harneythefilm •
Harney County ranchers utilize airplanes in the management of cattle in the vast open spaces of eastern Oregon. Harney County is the largest county with the smallest population in Oregon. Some ranchers have tried everything from tractors, pickups, 4-wheelers, airplanes and…
Oregon Cattle Ranchers: Where Are They Today
by harneythefilm •
After 557,648 acres, the Long Draw Fire rewrote the record book, racing across rangelands of the high desert to become the largest blaze in Oregon in more than a century according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. Where are cattle ranchers now and how are…
Katie’s Tractor et Classical Conditioning
by harneythefilm •
From a mile away or more cows recognize both the sight and sounds of the tractor that delivers their feed, as if the tractor were the pied piper, the cows can be seen kicking up their heels and running towards…
Wild World Of Cattle Ranching
by harneythefilm •
Exploring the wild world of ranching is filled with many tools and one is known as a wild rag, an extra large silk scarf, for warmth and dust protection from driving cattle. I’ve seen these scarves in all colors and…
Claire McGill Luce And Harney History
by harneythefilm •
Homesteads and generations of families both alive and deceased were propelled forward by women like Claire McGill Luce (1923 – 1971). Born in Andrews, Oregon, now a ghost town, she lived out most of her childhood as a cowgirl, cooking…
Rattlesnakes And Stovepipes
by harneythefilm •
Out here in Harney County we have creatures that like to bite, like the horse that bit my backside while I photographed the Sitz homestead, or the cow that wrapped its mouth around my camera lens, and there was the…
Beautiful Wagontire Oregon
by harneythefilm •
Beautiful Wagontire Mountain in the distance is a privately owned piece of land in eastern Oregon and is filled with homesteads, sparkly rocks, views of other states, miles of cattle, horses and American history. At 6,510 feet stands the Wagontire…
Cattle Ranchers And Environmentalists
by harneythefilm •
No need to be Cowboys and Indians when it comes to cattle ranchers and environmentalists, both are after a common goal: to be stewards of land. Though unnoticed today in the midst of so many tourist attractions and rapidly growing communities, Florida’s…
Wired In The West
by harneythefilm •
Life in the American West was reshaped by a series of patents for a simple tool that helped ranchers tame the land: barbed wire. Nine patents for improvements to wire fencing were granted by the U.S. Patent Office to American…
Breakfast In Harney
by harneythefilm •
Breakfast in Harney from Harney-TheFilm on Vimeo. Morning sun flourishing with a slight cast of mist in Harney County, Oregon as Katie eases from her kitchen, down a few stairs, navigating uneven gravel where three cowdogs and silent tractor wait…
Mission Impossible Cow Ultrasound
by harneythefilm •
Mission Impossible Cow Ultrasound from Harney-TheFilm on Vimeo. Harney is a documentary film in production about cattle women in ranching by way of the womb, the tomb, or the altar inside Harney County, Oregon. On the agenda today was pregnancy…
Is She Pregnant
by harneythefilm •
Is she or isn’t she? Knowing if a cow or heifer is pregnant can determine your bottom line, and thus is important to your breeding operation. Open cows, or non-pregnant cows, are considered free-loaders because they get away with eating…
Ranching and Survival in Harney County
by harneythefilm •
During the 1910′s, hundreds of families streamed into the high desert of Harney County, Oregon seeking new homes. In 1909, the U.S. Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead Act in order to encourage the settlement of arid lands. The act…
Branding – A Family Event
by harneythefilm •
2012 Harney County Fair Roping
by harneythefilm •
Back in the Saddle with the Alexander Technique
by harneythefilm •
My son is a banjo playing cellist and I am a photographer who have utilized the Alexander Technique. Horses are such honest mirrors for us, the minute we do something differently they change. How we use our bodies makes all…
Lizzy The Cow Dog
by harneythefilm •
From a long line of working cow dog’s, Lizzy is the newest edition to a Harney County cattle ranch. Cow dog’s work in hot and rugged country such as the high-desert of Oregon where the assistance of a cow dog can…
Young Buckaroos
by harneythefilm •
For over a century-and-a-half, buckaroos have done the work on the ranches and rangeland of southeastern Oregon. They are a distinctive brand of the legendary American cowboy who evolved from the vaqueros (a Spanish word similar to cowboy) of early California.
Drag Rider
by harneythefilm •
Riding drag takes humility: Someone else is setting the direction and in most cases, will get the credit when all is said and done. Only those who believe in the cause to the point that they are willing to subliminate…
Harney County Memories
by harneythefilm •
Between filming and editing I managed to squeeze in time to photograph the rodeo at the 2012 Harney County Fair in Burns, Oregon. Only two months ago I rolled into Harney County not knowing one single person and after…
Bomb Proof Horse
by harneythefilm •
Bomb Proof Horse, the advertisement reads: he is absolutely bomb-proof (and I don’t use that term lightly!) ANYONE can ride him, my kids have been riding by themselves since they were 4 years old. He will go anywhere, do anything…
Checking Cows
by harneythefilm •
Unshucked
by harneythefilm •
A day of filming started out almost as planned except I couldn’t find my underwear (it was dark, no lights, no flashlight) so without hesitation I pulled on my jeans, slipped into my boots and graced my head with a…
More Than One Hundred And Sixty
by harneythefilm •
Most ranchers know that more than 160 acres is needed to turn a profit in the cattle industry as market prices are not set by ranchers but by external factors like weather, politics and media.