OCR Text |
Show Ranch, and by January 1919 he had purchased and obtained title to the entire acreage. In combination with the 160- acre west part of the same ranch which he had purchased in 1910, John K felt that he would at last have a wonderful and very'functional home ranch. In the nine years between the two acquisitions, he had dreamed of some day owning the total complex of around five hundred and fifty acres. The major portion of it was pastureland. The terms "farm" and "ranch" were used interchangeably at all times when he referred to the ranch. Since a part of it was devoted to the raising of hay and grain crops, it was indeed a farm. Some of the land was brush and grass bearing, and there were lots of rocks scattered about on it. Ideally suited to pasturage, that portion could be termed a ranch. Both appellations were correct. A new barn was erected on the newly acquired ranch property and John K partitioned it into many pens where his best rams were assembled, sorted, and fed for either the show ring or the sales ring. A side room was termed the Beauty Shop where the fitter trimmed and shaped each show animal, in turn. With the new barn facilities of pens, plenty of corrals and new pastureland, his choice rams were adequately cared for. The ewe herd spent the spring weeks in Indianola on the hill country John K had acquired (Thistle Valley range), and in summer months they grazed in the mountains east of 184 |