Hello Everyone! 

     All is well here at Rancho La Bellota.  We have been working full swing since February and only until now have we been able to take a much needed breather.  Of course Raul says there is no time for breathers, work must continue, and so it does.  As some of you well know there is always something happening at the ranch.

     Right now we are building cabin number 5.  This is a family size cabin for 6 occupants (4 bunk beds and 1 matrimonial) which will be finished and ready by the end of this winter.

     Back in May we took a group to the Gold Mines in Real Del Castillo which was an absolute success, once again.  This time everyone had fun panning for gold, an added activity for this particular ride.  I secretly hoped we would find a hidden vein somewhere.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  Our camp site was next to a beautiful lagoon, we rode horses, explored the mines and ate great food, cooked by me of course.  Another memorable experience shared with a wonderful group of people.  Thank you all! 

                  More exciting news from the ranch! 

     For those of you who like hunting or know someone who does, Rancho La Bellota has just received it’s UMA Registration for Quail Hunting.

     We are now a certified Land Managed Unit for Wildlife Conservation.  The law and regulations of hunting activities in Mexico show that hunting can only be allowed in Certified UMA properties that are registered with the Baja California Secretary of Environmental Protection Agency.  We are now certified and open for hunting.

     For further hunting information go to our website menu and click on “Quail Hunting” for all the information regarding our packages, costs and reservation information.

     Our oat harvest was another success this year with only one minor glitch.  A month ago, the tractor (not Old Blue!) that was used to bale our oats somehow caught on fire and within minutes the entire upper field was burning.  Raul said he could see the smoke all the way from the highway near the town of Guadalupe (some of you can visualize the distance from that location).  I’m sure it is not hard to imagine the panic that set in when one of our wranglers called his cel phone and told him the oat field was burning.

    Fortunately no one was hurt.  Our neighbors helped us put it out before too much damage was done.  We lost most of our crops in that field but thanks to all rainfall this year we were able to get around 600 bales in before the fire hit.  We still have our other two fields with plenty of food for the horses the rest of this year and into the spring of 2012.  That was a scary time.

     Our sheep herd is growing rapidly.  Four lambs were born in February, one of which was rejected by its mother.  The lamb almost died but our daughter Christine volunteered to raise it until she could be reintroduced to the flock.  Her name is Nube, “Cloud” who now has a permanent  SAFE Card for the rest of her life.  No one will ever eat little Nube!

     One of the ewes had a prolapsed uterus after giving birth and Ricky performed his first surgical procedure to repair the problem. I was his assistant and a very proud one (proud Mom too) at that.  He certainly showed how much he is learning at vet school and it was obvious everyone that someday he is going to make an excellent vet.   

    We hope all of you are enjoying the summer and we hope to see you someday soon.  From all of us at Rancho La Bellota, we wish you happy days ahead and whenever you are ready for a relaxing, sometimes exciting riding adventure, you know where to find us! 

See you on the trail,  Raul, Ricky and Caroline

"We have Blue Heeler Puppies For Sale, if anyone is interested please send us an email."

Rancho La Bellota 

www.bajarancho.com