1985 Feeding cattle with draft horses on the San Isabel Ranch

Cowboys at Kettle’s San Isabel Ranch west of Westcliffe have been using a horse-drawn wagon each day this past month to haul hay to the outfit’s 300 head of Herefords. The wagon was rigged up by ranch worker Kevin Mitchell, standing atop the hay bales, with the help of Jim Reid. The team of Belgium-mix horses is owned by Mitchell; they stand 18 hands high at the withers and weigh in at 1,600 pounds each. Helping Mitchell with the feeding chores earlier this week were ranch hand Luke Granger and Bill Lockhart of Westcliffe, who went along for the ride. Bet Kettle of San Isabel Ranch says the Valley’s native cattle have had no difficulty surviving the recent severe weather; official temperatures this past week have plunged to a bitterly-cold 27 degrees below zero, although unoffi­cial reports have taken it to the minus-40 mark.

– Tribune photo by Mary Jo Gretz