Much like the entire summer, August has been busy! It all started in June with calving which continued through the end of July. The first part of August was occupied with EXPO Esperanza which was quickly followed by round up at the big ranch, Rancho Ojo de Agua. (Unfortunately, photos of this were lost due to a phone mishap in the river.) :( Sixteen weaned calves were brought down to the headquarters, 8 heifers and 8 bulls, which were subsequently sold in various places. Some were sold to private buyers, some were sold to Casa Vida y Esperanza's farm project, and the rest were sold to a local exporter. Next up on the ranch schedule is preparing to AI (artificially inseminate) the heifers.
Another job which has circulated from the front burner to the back burner to the front burner again at RAV headquarters was fixing the secondary well. The primary well is absolutely essential for all irrigation operations at headquarters; the secondary well is not. However, it provides additional support that can double the number of sprinkler heads running at one time. As mentioned in last month's update, we were abundantly blessed with rain this year and the secondary well visibly rose by about 12 feet. After the rains stopped, work resumed to dig the well deeper and get it up and running. We are happy to report all was finished mid August and we are now watering at full capacity.
Installing the shaft for the secondary well.
The ranch employees worked for several days to drive the shaft deeper, thus increasing water available for use.
