COLD FROSTY MORNING ON THE DIAMOND A CORRIENTE CATTLE RANCH

Ranch Notes from Diamond A Corriente Cattle Ranch, Pukwana SD

December 14, 2025

Life at Diamond A runs on weather, cattle, neighbors, and a dog who thinks barking is a full-time career. This is where I write it down.

Cold Frosty Morning on the Diamond A Corriente Cattle Ranch

December 14, 2025.
I’m writing my first blog post, and it’s colder than snot outside. The kind of cold where your snot freezes solid in about a minute.

It was nine degrees below zero last night. Right now, at 8:30 a.m., it’s zero, and with the wind chill it feels like fifteen below. Our furnace went out overnight, and the house cooled down to 48 degrees. Fortunately, our neighbor is a furnace guy. He was here and had it fixed within thirty minutes. He’d already had three furnace calls before breakfast.

Tucker is out feeding cows. Our youngest daughter, Carson, whose family also lives on the property, is helping him with chores. Fred the Dog is supposed to help guard gates, but sometimes Fred the Dog has more important work to attend to. He frequently needs to chase cats or bark at coyotes. He doesn’t get paid much, which seems fair. If he were paid what he’s worth, he’d probably owe us money.

Fred the Dog in the side-by-side, trying to become the driver/boss of the outfit

Our Diamond A Corriente Cattle Ranch sits along I-90 between Pukwana and Kimball, South Dakota. The ranch has been in the Ashley family since 1906. We still have the original Ashley homestead shanty on the place. It’s furnished with three original furniture pieces, along with other items appropriate to the time period. The homestead shanty was more than a building, it was a beginning.

Original Ashley Family Homestead Shanty.

Imagine how cold this shanty would hqve been in the winter of 1906

We raise Corriente cattle used for roping, bulldogging, and sometimes bull riding. We have two rodeo arenas. The indoor arena has bucking chutes and is used mostly in the winter, when neighbors bring their horses over to practice team roping, team penning, and barrel racing. We have had a few bull ridings in the arena also. The outdoor arena is used in the summertime for competition barrel racing and Cowboy Mounted Shooting events.

In 2024, Tucker, at 80 years old, tore out the old bucking chutes at the outdoor arena and put in nine heavy-duty horse pens. Those pens, along with the outdoor arena, are now used to accommodate interstate travelers who need an overnight stop for their horses.

Next to the outdoor rodeo arena is our campground. We have eight electric hookups for RV campers and horse trailers. A 1940s tourist cabin with two bedrooms is available for rent, along with a new tiny house that has a queen bed. One of our newest rentals is the Cowboy Camper, which was once used as a winter retreat in Arizona for friends and their horses.

We also have a very welcome two-bathroom shower house for our guests. In 2024, a group of ladies stayed here after ten days of horse packing in Yellowstone without showers. One of them looked at me with huge round eyes, rubbed her head, and said, “Did you look at my dirty hair before you told me you had showers?”

Winter at Diamond A doesn’t slow things down at all. It just adds layers.

Cold or not, the chores still get done. Mostly by Tucker and Carson. Occasionally by Fred.

That’s life here in December. Cold hands, helpful neighbors, and grateful for working furnaces.

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COLD FROSTY MORNING ON THE DIAMOND A CORRIENTE CATTLE RANCH

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