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3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch

@3calhounsistersranch

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Family owned ranch in Northern California where conservation is a priority. Grass fed and finished beef.

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As we’ve mentioned before, maintaining multiple trail cameras around the property has been a bit of a challenge for us. Between August 18th and 22nd, the trail cam at our pond took upwards of 5300 photos during daylight hours exclusively, capturing nothing but insects and ground squirrels before the SD card became completely full. The micro SD card in our watering trough trail cam decided it was not compatible with any adapters or computers, so we lost everything that was on that card. The trail cam at our creek reset its time stamp so all photos were stamped to be from the beginning of 2017. We were able to figure out the actual dates and times of the photos based on photos the cam had of us and our visitors to the creek.

Anyway, this was the first time we caught a wild pig on any of our cameras. The first and second photos were captured just two days apart, and these were the only sightings of this black swine. The camera at the creek also showed us the many comings and goings of a coyote, a striped skunk, a cutie patootie bobcat, several deer, turkeys, large birds (including a golden eagle), and a tree squirrel or two.

The last time we saw a wild pig on the property was in 2020, when we were prepping the property for Whitney’s wedding and an itty bitty piglet ran across the neighbor’s field and up across the road. Nancy recently spotted a drove of wild pigs on the Holm Ranch across the road, but generally, wild pigs sightings are rare in our hood. Though they are interesting animals, we prefer wild pig sightings to be more infrequent, as they can be quite destructive and dangerous, even carrying diseases that can be transmitted to humans and livestock.

Sadly, we have not seen a mountain lion on our cameras for several months. We suspect that the one we had been seeing could’ve been the same one that was hit and killed by a car on the road a few months back.

#trailcam #livermore #livermoreca #farming #ranching by @3calhounsistersranch

French American Film Photographer @clairemaen was at the ranch this morning taking photos and interviewing us for a photo series and documentary she is doing about the ranching and cowboy community around Livermore. Check out the beautiful 60 year old Rolleiflex film camera she was taking some of the photos with. #rolleiflex #angusbeef #cattle #ranching by @3calhounsistersranch

Yeehaw! The gang saddled up for a boot scootin’ evening @mcgrail_vineyards for Cattle, Cabernet & Country, part of the weekend long TASTE: The @livermorevalleywine Experience.🍇🍷🥳

Bold Livermore Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc was flowing from @arroyocellars @cellar13winery @darciekentwinery @jmccellars @mcgrail_vineyards @pruett.wine @thestevenkentwinery and @wente 🍷🍾

Our local ranchers came down from the hills providing ranch inspired beef bites from @shiningbcattleco_ @koopmann_family_beef @connollyranchbeef @birdhouseranch and @3calhounsistersranch 🐂🤠

Great curated wine and food pairings from @mychefdebbie and the Culinary students and teacher @natburbach from @del_valle_hs and served by @cattlewomenalamedacounty 🧑🏻‍🍳

They were dancing under the stars to @RuffStock and toasting to the agricultural roots that make Livermore Valley so unique.
🥂🐂🍇🍷🥩
#eatlocal #drinklocal #SupportLocal #knowyourfarmer
@ronessexphotography @lmbanke @natlilmoo @chappell2121 by @3calhounsistersranch

Here’s some more highlights from the Women of Rodeo Event. We noticed that there have been some major changes in the fitting of sheep for livestock shows from when we all showed lambs!

The Parade of Champions from the Junior Livestock Show.

One of the acts during the Rodeo.

The Diablo Ladies Rodeo Drill Team from Livermore.

Our new besties’s sticker. Follow her on IG @risingsunroost

The Halfway Club that was the location of the rodeo after party

The Halfway Club by @3calhounsistersranch

Last night, Merry and daughter Laina attended Women of Rodeo at @cowpalacesf and were honored as they walked the arena representing 3 Calhoun Sisters Ranch in celebration of the Year of the Woman Farmer. 👩‍🌾🩵🐮

It was especially a great privilege to walk alongside some absolute queens of farming, including @calicowgirl_riz and Kristen of @risingsunroost.
#yearofthewomanfarmer #womanfarmer #cowpalace #womenofrodeo by @3calhounsistersranch

More for California Biodiversity Week! by @3calhounsistersranch

California Biodiversity Week continues, some of the blooms @3calhounsistersranch by @3calhounsistersranch

In celebration of California Biodiversity Week, I wanted to share some of the fungi I have seen on the @3calhounsistersranch. by @3calhounsistersranch

As many of you know, our mom was an artist and historian, who often painted scenes of Livermore’s past. As our mom Tilli would have appreciated, we attended opening night at @thebankheadlva, which was a fundraiser to help support art initiatives in the Livermore Valley. @lyle_lovett was the main show, but before we get into that, we want to take a moment to touch on the Yesterday Once More: Scenes from the Past exhibit that is being shown for free at the Bankhead Theater and the City of Pleasanton’s Harrington Gallery through October 10th. Two of our mom’s paintings of her childhood home, the Fairview Farm, are currently being displayed at the Bankhead. Here’s a little info about the paintings. We encourage all art lovers and historians to visit the Bankhead and support the local art scene in any way they can, in honor of Tilli. 🎨🎭 by @3calhounsistersranch

Two years ago, we set trail cams around the ranch as part of our Conservation Stewardship Project with @alamedacountyrcd. In an attempt to capture the most animal movement possible, we placed each cam near water or where we knew there were already animals—an owl box.

The trail cams have been a learning experience for us. The cam placed near an owl box picked up more movement from the neighbor’s driveway than the box itself, capturing the comings and goings of FedEx trucks and regular traffic, and even Bob mowing the grass. The creek cam caught every tiny leaf blowing in the wind and the cam’s own strap flailing about. Inevitably, we captured a lot of pics of our Circle H cattle. We moved the owl box cam to a watering trough and secured the creek cam’s straps to it with wire. We’ve also learned to anticipate when each cam’s batteries need to be replaced and when the SD cards are full.

Since the addition of the trail cams, Laina has been responsible for sorting through the thousands of photos captured and compiling our CSP reports. These are some of her favorite photos.

Scroll left for:
1. A great blue heron selfie w/ a wading buck and doe photobombing
2. The proudest turkey vulture EVER
3. A doe touting her beautiful fawns
4. A v fluffy mountain lion making us ask, “can I pet that dog?”
5. A duo of turkeys giving us the answer to the age-old question “why did the turkeys cross the creek?”
6. Because there was a coyote right behind ‘em
7. A starling stealing the spotlight from a family of mallards
8. Jimothy’s cousin Jiminy having a 4am sip of quality H2O
9. Wile E. Coyote’s cousin Wilma having a 4am squirrel snack
10. Three deer and Pepé Le Pew having a 4am pow wow
11. An acorn woodpecker that just scored a really big nut
12. A bobcat j strollin’
13. The singular photo of the owl at its box
14. The back of a v spooky bobcat or coyote’s head—let us know which you think it is
15. A mischief of magpies hangin’ ‘round the water trough (if you didn’t know that’s what they’re called, now you know—you’re welcome)
16. DEER BUTT
17. A gorgina GBH
18. A pretty lil buck that we watched grow up 🥹
19. Turkey selfie!
20. @_oshayy being goofy 🤪 by @3calhounsistersranch

This will go into our collection of weird things found on the ranch. It is a small bone and attached to it is small leather strap with a metal grommet punched through it. It was found near the creek while we were switching out batteries on a game camera. Our guess as to what it is: A bird of prey that was held in captivity had a tether attached through the grommet and the bird escaped then later passed away peacefully down by the creek. Anyone actually know what it is or want to venture a guess? by @3calhounsistersranch

Part #2 🦌🦌🦌 Black-tail deer in our backyard…

Each winter the buck sheds his antlers, after mating season, known as the rut, only to grow a new set the next spring. They drop their antlers between January and March. Two year old bucks have small, two point antlers. Bucks that are three years old may have two, three, or four points on each antler. Older bucks have four, five, or more points. During the early summer, new antlers are covered with a fuzzy skin or “velvet”. While in velvet, the antlers grow externally through a build-up of calcium at the tip of each point. In this way, antlers differ from horns which grow internally and are permanent.

Black-tailed deer are sociable only within their own sex. Therefore, upon reaching a mature age, around 16 or 18 months, a young buck leaves the family group where he was raised and sets out to find a male bachelor group. When he arrives in this bachelor group, he must prove himself and establish his status among his peers through sparring. Dominance is very important to bucks. If challenged by a lesser buck the dominant buck will engage in a bout of sparring with the challenger.
The mating or ‘rutting’ season occurs during November and early December.

Fawns are born in late May and into June. Twins are the rule, although young does often have only single fawns. Immediately after birth, mothers hide their fawns. The fawns remain in these hiding places until they are able to run well. Their spotted coloration and minimal scent helps hide them from predators. As they grow stronger their spots fade away.

Fawns weigh 6 to 8.8 lb and have no scent for the first week or so. This enables the mother to leave the fawn hidden while she goes off to browse and replenish her body after giving birth. Although does are excellent mothers, fawn mortality rate is 45–70%. Does are very protective of their young, humans are viewed as predators.

Deer communicate with the aid of scents and pheromones from several glands in their lower legs, they have excellent sight and smell. Their large ears can move independently and pick up unusual sounds that may signal danger. #californiarangeland #conservationranching by @3calhounsistersranch