Ranch Stories - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive Part II

March 28, 2018 by Allison

**If you missed out on Part I of our adventures, find them {HERE}**

While we were out to Locomotive to work, we were also there to get a little vacay in. That meant sleeping in and a good long breakfast. Doesn’t camping call for a hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon? Once the dishes were cleaned up and we had donned our work clothes, we all packed into the gator and took off to check the cows.

We run the cattle in a few different herds on our personal rangeland in Locomotive. One herd is what will graze on the Forest Service ground during the summer and then other will join the BLM association cattle in May. The last herd we watch on the range is our first-calf heifers that have calved at home and have been taken to the range as their calves have gotten older.

Checking the cattle is pretty straightforward. We check the calves to make sure that they look healthy and that they are thriving. We watch to make sure that they get up and moving, that they nurse well, that they aren’t sick with scours, drooping ears, coughing or anything else that looks out of the ordinary. We keep an eye on the mommas too, to make sure that they are healthy to take care of their babies. Obviously, we make sure that if they are calving, that there aren’t any complications like the wrong foot or a nose coming first or that they haven’t prolapsed or retained their placenta. The last important thing we pay attention to is to make sure that the cow’s udder is in good condition. If the udder is engorged and her teets are big, her calf will have a hard time getting their mouth on and being able to suck. If the calf can’t suck, then they won’t get the nutrition they need and they will get sick. As we drive around we try to get a look at every calf and cow.

Friday was a big day of driving through the herd. We gave everyone a once over and then tagged a few of the newer ones. Overall, everything looked great! Along the way, we did see a few things that peaked our interest.

Just as we finished going through the BLM herd, we noticed a cow off on her own. We buzzed over to her and saw that she did have a little baby there with her. The Rancher jumped off the gator and caught the new baby to put in a tag and castrate it. Everything looked good, but then he noticed the calf had just one ear! We could see that he had been born with both ears, but somehow he had lost it. It hadn’t been cold enough for him to have lost it to frostbite so the only other likely cause was that something had chewed it off. After The Rancher tagged him, he jumped up and took off after his momma, showing that he really was doing fine. He will just have to go by One-Eared-Tom (compliments of our kids) the rest of his life…

Before we moved on to the next herd, we had a little work to do, like… to gather up the back hoe and trailer that had been abandoned by the road after our late-night-stuck-in-the-mud-saga. Along the way, The Rancher stopped at a water trough and moved dirt around and in the trough to fix the leaks. It only took a few minutes, but those minutes were nice to be in the warm back hoe.

After making it back to the corrals we decided to take a lunch break. A girl can only handle frozen toes for so long and hungry babies never make good passengers.

With thawed out extremities and full bellies, we loaded back into the gator and took off to the next herd. We bounced around the range, seeing nothing but good. The calves were running and bucking while the mommas were busy filling their bellies and keeping their noses to the ground. Of course, when everything always seems to be looking good, there is always something that has to put a kink in things.

What we found was a momma with a big, BIG udder and teeny, tiny calf. That combination means that we needed to step in and make it so that this baby could nurse. We started the pair headed towards the corrals and slowly but surely made our way. I have to tell ya, watching this momma with her big bag swaying from side to side and getting rubbed raw… oh it just made me hurt…

On our way to the corrals, we had to go through a gate and as always, I was the lucky gate girl (hazards of riding shotgun). After opening the gate, I took a step back to help her head out through the gate, except she didn’t appreciate that. I lose no pride in admitting that this old girl had me on the fence when I took one step to push her through.

Getting her to the corral was only the beginning of the battle with this bad-word cow. How do you set up an alley and chute and herd a cow into the alley and chute when she won’t let you step foot into the pen she is in? I’m not gonna lie, the corral itself didn’t give me a lot of confidence of safety because I’m pretty sure it’s as old as the dinosaurs and could come crashing down the first hit of an angry momma cow (ok, not really, but they are old and shaky and I didn’t trust ‘em!). The Rancher and I played a fun game of distract-the-angry-cow-while-the-other-one-risks-their-life-to-get-everything-else-ready. After everything was good to go, we had the next hurdle of actually getting the cow into the chute.

I don’t know that I have seen a cow with such a stubborn streak and rubber sides. We poked and prodded and coaxed and anything else we could think of to get that cow to step into the chute. We could get her almost there and maybe even a step in, but then she would hunker down and quit on us. And then she would change tactics on us and blow right through the chute and we would have to start all over again.

And again.

There may have come a point that we were the perfect demonstration on the definition of insanity- trying the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

The Rancher deemed this old cow nylon deficient and rounded up a few ropes to try plan B. While it would have been much easier to milk out the cow and help the calf nurse in standing in the chute, we were perfectly fine roping that cow and tying her down to get the job done. We got a rope on her neck and a rope on a hind leg, tied them to the fence and just like that we were in business, milking business to be specific.

In these moments I try to channel all of my granddaughter-of-a-dairyman talent and hope that my little hands can hold out long enough to get some milking done. This had to be one of the more challenging milk out sessions we have had because she was so engorged and that it was hard to gain any momentum to our milking. Good heck, where was a lactation consultant when we needed one?!

Eventually we milked her out enough that the calf could suck without help. We collected a lot of the milk and put into the bottle to give to the calf so that we knew she had full tummy before we let them go. Whether or not this would be a permanent help or not, time could only tell.

Our time out on the range is never dull! From the baby to this momma, there is always something happening that brings a smile to our faces and keeps us coming back. There are challenges and setbacks but most often there is progress and satisfaction.

Stay tuned for Part III of our weekend adventures in Locomotive!

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive: Part I

March 24, 2018 by Allison

** We had a fun filled weekend with loads of stories. In order to share them all, I’m going to post them in a three part series. Keep an eye on the blog to get the whole story!

When you can’t take vacation because work on the ranch is true crazy, you find a way to take a working vacation. For us, something like that looks like a weekend in Locomotive to camp out while keeping an eye on the cows. Work on vacation, sounds like win to me!

In past years, the only time that we have camped out with the cows in Locomotive is when they needed extra looking out for. Those times are rare and only happen when it’s so cold and so snowy that we have gathered in the herd to feed and watch the calves through the cold nights. I always felt bad admitting it, but I loved it when we would head down and camp with the cows. I didn’t want to hope or wish that we have some time down there camping because that would be wishing for the cold, lots of snow or poor calving and I couldn’t wish that upon The Rancher.

But this year, somehow, someone saw the light and realized that things do have to be so bad down there for us to go camp out for a few days!

Our story of weekend adventures camping in Locomotive starts on the trip down. Adventure lies not only in the destination but in the journey too, right? In this instance, it’s a resounding YES. Let me set the scene so you can fully grasp the exhausting-ness of this night.

We had already spent the day at the Carter Cattle Co. bull sale in Pinegree, Idaho. And while we hurried to eat some lunch, buy our bulls, settle up, load up, do a little PR with the different ranchers and bankers and such, it was a long day. I had intended to have done some packing and prep work in the camp trailer the day before but that just hadn’t worked out. That meant as soon as we got home we had to scurry to get everything ready. When I say we, I mean me, of course, because The Rancher had chores to do outside as well as to hook up to the camp trailer, load up the gator, and hook that to the camp trailer.

Can you imagine the long list of things that we needed to check off before we could head out? And of course we had to get it all done NOW because we had to stop to get propane at the truck stop before it was too late.

Now, let’s add to the frenzy of getting ready, the kids hyped up for the adventurous weekend ahead of them. They were so pumped and jazzed about the whole thing that they were just bouncing off the walls and begging to take the most random things in the camp trailer (all while forgetting the important things, like underwear and socks…). There came a point they were just too much and I kicked them out to go find their bikes (… still trying to decide if that was a good mom moment or not). To top off the chaos and tension you could feel from all the excitement and stress, the baby was running a fever and all he wanted was to be held. To be more specific, he just wanted his dad to hold him.

I’ll admit that is was stressful getting ready to go- packing bags for everyone, packing food, getting enough bedding, grabbing towels and cooking supplies… and, of course, I forgot stuff. I do every time I go somewhere, I swear… (Ask my sister-in-law, she is always shipping me something after I have been to visit their family!)

But we got on the road.

Finally.

The sun was setting and it was dark before we even got 10 miles down the road. Not biggie, we thought. Sure it will make things a little more challenging, but we could handle it. We made it to the truck stop, figuring it would only take a few minutes to top the tanks off and get back on the road. But we were wrong… so wrong… It seemed everything we tried to do went wrong or took more time that it should have.

As we pull to the back of the station we saw a truck and flatbed trailer parked in the middle of the truck parking lot. There was enough room to move around him, but not enough room to move around easily. Of course he was right in front of the propane tanks, making it especially hard for us to get where we needed to go. With his mad truck driver skills, The Rancher managed to sneak us in to get filled up. After three trips into the store to get everything right, we were filled up and ready to go, except for the truck in the way. He had bottlenecked everything and there was a line of semi’s we had to wait to get where they needed to be before we were finally able to make our wait out.

So now we are stressed, sick, excited, and anxious, with lingering feelings of frustration but on our way.

Phew.

Then I realized I forgot the hot dogs and the roasting sticks. Curses. (I had plenty of food packed so we didn’t starve, we just didn’t get to have our roast out… bummer)

The trip was uneventful as we pulled our haul down the squishy, gravel road to our corrals in Locomotive. We were getting close to our turn off and I was thinking that things were all settling down when something on the road looked off. It was just after the cattle guard and I couldn’t quite tell what it was until eyes started shining back at us.

Cows! Black cows, all over the road, lingering and meandering SLOWLY in the middle of the dark night. The Rancher hit the brakes and I silently prayed that the bump wouldn’t be too bad and that we could keep going. Ya, I didn’t even think we would manage to avoid smashing into a cow. You can imagine how a truck towing a 30(ish) foot camp trailer and another 16 foot trailer with a gator on it would be hard to stop or maneuver through cows dotted across the road. By the grace of heaven, a loud horn and good trailer brakes, The Rancher got us stopped and the cows scooted off the road.

Curses! Heart racing, breath holding curses! And then, phew… We refer to those moments as butt-pucker-moments, if ya know what I mean!

I’m starting to think that getting to where we are going can’t happen soon enough but I know that in reality, the hard part was still ahead of us. We had no idea what the road to the corrals was like. It could be fine, but it could also be laden with slimy, greasy, squishy mud and that we would have to park it for the night somewhere else.

We turned off the road and I held my breath to find that the road was surprisingly ok. Not great, but not enough to stop us from going on. We made it through the first gates just fine and continued down the road until the road started to look more like one huge puddle than a road. The Rancher figured that driving along side of the road instead of on it would be a better option at this point and we began off- roading. It really was a good idea because there weren’t any puddles or greasy mud and the grass helped us have a little traction as we made our way across the range.

Our progress was slow but steady and then suddenly The Rancher said, “Uh, oh…” and gunned it. It didn’t take a genius to recognize that we were about to be in trouble. And just like that we sank. When I say sank, I mean sank clear up to our axles. We sank so deep we didn’t even attempt to get out. We sank so deep that when The Rancher stepped down out of the truck there was no down part of it.

Curses… again …

I started convincing myself that we would be fine to camp out here for the night and just deal with it in the morning. I was figuring that my attitude was a good-take-things-as-they-were type of attitude but in retrospect, I was probably just ready to be done with the night. The Rancher, the great problem solver that he is, jumped into action and made up a plan.

To our benefit, and ultimate salvation, the backhoe was at the corrals and we had the gator hooked on to the back of the camp trailer. So The Rancher could jump in the gator, drive up to the back hoe, drive it back down, and finally pull us out of the mud hole that swallowed us. With this being the only real plan we had, he took off down the road leaving the kids and I in the truck waiting. Now, being the God-fearing, religious woman that I am, I didn’t let this moment escape without gathering my babies close and offering up a prayer that everything would work out to our benefit.

It seemed to take FOR-EV-ER (channel your inner “Sandlot” as you read that) but soon enough we saw the lights of the back hoe approach. Yahoo! He made it.

But now, to get pulled out.

I was dreading this moment because I would either have to be in the back hoe yanking on the trailer to pull it out or in the truck feathering it just right as I attempted to steer the truck out of the mud and avoid getting deeper in trouble all while in the dark when I couldn’t see anything except from the lights of the back hoe.

Yikes…

My lot landed in the truck (which was honestly my preference of the two undesirable choices…). My only instructions were to wait until I could feel the jerk of the back hoe and then give it just enough to drive out, without spinning my wheels deeper in the mud. I put the truck in reverse and waited for the jerk. As it came, I began to let off the clutch and slowly push on the gas. To my immediate relief and total surprise, we were moving! I had figured there would be some finagling to get out, but before we knew it, we were out!

The Rancher looked at me and said, “It should NOT have been that easy!” We will take it! And by it, I totally mean the blessings of answered prayers. We loaded back into the truck and made our way to the corrals, following the tracks the back hoe had left as The Rancher made his way back to us earlier.

The rest of the night seemed ordinary after so many other high emotional moments. We made it to the corrals, got cozy in the camp trailer, and managed to warm up some dinner (leftovers never tasted so good!). The beds seemed a little cozier and sleep came quickly after such an eventful night and we were ready for an exciting day come morning.

Fall in Less Than 50… um 500… um 660

March 15, 2018 by Allison

This post has been a long time coming. One because its about fall of 2017… which was a long time ago. I mean it feels like it was just yesterday-ish… ok maybe more like last week, but certainly not MONTHS and most definitely not LAST YEAR. But it was… You may be thinking, “Allison… let it go! It was so long ago, don’t take us back. Move on!” But guess what? I’m the one with the password to be writing here and I love the photos from last fall so… boom… I’m posting.

Its also a long time coming because, man, it has taken me so long to get it all together and edited and play mom… but here it is.

I say that, and it sounds like this is going to be super fancy or exciting or crazy. And its not. I mean its nice and a fun look at our fall in its nearly comprehensiveness, but its not life changing or anything. Just a look at our crazy, beautiful life (in the fall, of course!).

The fall work officially kicks off when the cattle come in from the summer range in Cow Hollow to the fall range in the Bowis fields. Just before their hit the final destination, they take a pit stop at the Stocker Corrals (not stalker… even though sometimes I write that instead… sounds creepy in steady of beefy, livestocky…) to sort off any bulls or any cattle that don’t belong with the herd. Mom life keeps me from getting head out with the crew to gather first thing in the morning, but my posse and I meet up with everyone at the corrals and get our fill in the rest of the day. This is the same place that went to last year and got lost along the way. Surprised? Anyone?

Once the cattle are moved to fall range, we get to the “fall work”. We start by weaning off the calves and brining them home. We have 3 main groups that we have to wean. Each group has a day of gathering, sorting the calves off, and sorting calves between the different ranches. After having the calves home a few days, we run the calves through the chute to vaccinate, retag, and do a wellness look over them. Then we start all over with the next group. Eventually we kick all the calves out in the alfalfa field to eat down our 3rd crop.

October is prime preg-checking time. With so many cows that we run with, it take several days to get it all done. Of course, the work is sweetened with load of candy, donuts, and great range dinners. I think these guys like the long days working together and teasing the man that happens to make a mistake. The inside jokes and stories can keep ’em laughing all day long. Of course, its all kept a little interesting with the feisty, ornery cows that have been penned up for a few days.

We always do a little trucking in the fall too and I’m pretty sure that the whole reason we keep doing it is for the view. OK, not really. But getting a scenic drive up Logan Canyon as the colors are at their peak would be reason enough for me! I always try to get at least one run with The Rancher up there to take in the colors as well as snap some photos of the cowboy life in canyon.

Fall work ends with a bang when we ship the calves. This is more than the culmination of the season but of the YEAR! We work day after day throughout the year for this one day that we finally get our paycheck. We need to keep all the calves alive, healthy, and heavy to have a profitable year. 2017 didn’t disappoint with its ups and downs but we lived, learned, and earned enough to make it to another year.

Why a Rancher Goes to College

January 24, 2018 by Allison

We just got done with an awesome weekend with the whole family. Nothing big. Just some good food, some game time, and our favorite people. Three of The Rancher’s brothers are in college right now and coming home to the ranch is their quick breath of fresh air and their means for rejuvenation before the next week of school. I totally get the need to take a break and come up for air after so many deadlines nagging at you over and over again. Over the weekend we heard all sorts of “I gotta study for this big test…” or “I have this huge assignment coming up…” and it almost sorta, kinda took me back to the days that The Rancher and I were in school.

I had two different college experiences in the quest for my degree. The first was when I was single and living my own dream and all that was on my schedule was a little bit of school, a little bit of work, a little bit of homework, and a lot of sports games. That was my life. Oh, and trying to get into nursing school… Then I got married, moved and started a new university experience. I didn’t have an apartment of girls that I had to share the bathroom space with anymore, but I had a man that needed real food, that I had to negotiate who got the car with and that I was building a life and sharing a dream with.

It was awesome.

It was hard.

The Rancher is not a sit-down-read-the-text-book-to-learn kind of kid. There might have even been some classes that he didn’t even open his book up, let alone learn from it. He is hands on, learn as you go, trial and error kind of learning guy. He learns fast and can see so quickly how to get from A to B. But sitting in a classroom just drained the life out of him.

There were a lot of times that I heard people say, “Why is he going to school if he is just going back to the ranch? He isn’t even going to use his degree anyway. Its just a piece of paper.” And when I hear those words, my blood starts to boil.

Yes, my husband was very VERY lucky that he had a job waiting for him the day he finished college. The job he had dreamed of having his whole life. He didn’t have to do scores of applications and interviews. He was qualified for the job by his experience long before ever finishing his degree. But that doesn’t mean that his college experience wasn’t a valuable asset for him as he returned to the ranch.

Here’s why.

When a grad walks away from college, we like to think it was only worthwhile if they got a job in their field or if they are able to make money using the skills and knowledge that they gained. If not then their experience was a total waste. In The Rancher’s case, it would seem that he already knew everything he would need to know to cowboy, so what was the sense in spending all that time and money on math classes and literature classes that he would never use anyway? And of course everything they would teach him in his ag classes were things that he should already know or he wouldn’t need to use. Right? It was just as wasteful as someone that went to a trade school or did an apprenticeship but changed course after getting done. Its wasted money and time if the girl that went to beauty school doesn’t open up a salon the week after she is certified or if the boy that went for diesel mechanics doesn’t end up working on trucks. Right?

Wrong!

I get that getting degrees and certificates and those kind of things cost money. I also get that we feel that there needs to be a return on that investment that is deemed worth such an investment. But the future potential income ISN’T the only returns from going to college.

There are so many life skills learned while going to college from the little things of doing laundry to learning how to problem solve from some crazy math (I will NEVER forgot the ah-ha moment I had mid-math class when I figured out the most complex problem… Never…) . Not to mention learning how to meet deadlines and pushing through to the end when you don’t want to.

You also gain an amazing network of friends and professionals in your area of study. They are the people you can work with, lean on and learn from. They push you to be better, help pick you up when you fall, and encourage you to try again. These people are so invaluable!

Taking time to step back from the ranch to learn from other people, their experiences and knowledge widens what can be a narrow view. You learn different ways, other ways, possibly better ways to work in the same industry.
If you ask The Rancher, a boy that spent all of his growing up time on the ranch, he will immediately tell you that he uses things that he learned from his classes. Especially his ag classes. Could he still ranch and cowboy without what he learned? Probably. Is he better at doing what he loves because of it? Absolutely.

The Rancher pushed through school because we both felt it was important to him. Not just for the things he learned, but for him to accomplish something that was hard, something that he thought he wasn’t made to do. We also thought it was important for the day that he may ever have to look for a job. Our dream was always to come back to the ranch, but what if that didn’t happen? What if it took years for that? What if at some point he had to look for other work? Having a degree made him marketable. It was a safety net that we needed for our family.

I am a big proponent of getting an education, ANY education you can. Because it is there that people gain valuable experience and confidence, gain life skills, net work, and find what they do and don’t want to do with their lives. You might think that this is an expensive cost to learn what they don’t want, but gaining an education is priceless. No matter what you are learning. It can be simply that you don’t ever want to be the prescribing rations of feed supplements. It could be that you learn how interested you are in genetics.

Not everyone is made for college or trade school or an apprenticeship. But everyone is made for learning. There is a whole world out there waiting to teach us is only we are ready to learn. So don’t ever think that because you or someone you know wants to cowboy or be a rancher that they don’t need to go to college or that they shouldn’t waste their time on college. Because it isn’t wasted time. Its invested time. Support them and their want to learn, their want to do something hard. They are probably going to complain or even regret it while in the thick of it all. But when it is all over, they will tell you it was worth it!

Cows on the Move

January 17, 2018 by Allison

All the cows are home. Well, all the cows that are coming home at home. I’m like a momma hen with all chicks tucked under her wings. Ha! No… I don’t feel the need to have them all close under wing and my watchful eye. They are probably going to get out and make for more work for me. Hey honey, lets get them kicked back out ASAP, ok!

We brought the last of the girls home a week ago. On our anniversary, in fact. What better way could we have spent our anniversary than chasing cows?! They actually moved super well, which was kinda surprising. Remember a few years ago when it was kinda a disaster? I was busy reading stories to The Ranch Princess when The Rancher walked in and said my favorite words, “Are ya busy? Can you come help?” Even if I am busy, YES, of course I am going to help!

My job was simple- wait and turn the cattle onto the road and then follow in the truck and trailer. I was more than willing for that job because it was a very cold very foggy and rainy day.

You may be surprised to see the guys heading out on 4 wheelers when I mentioned that we had the truck and trailer. This is how we cowboys in Holbrook roll.. Haha! Actually, the debate of taking horses or 4 wheelers or motorcycles can get pretty hot between the brothers. All in good fun of course! Right? I guess a lot of that has to do with perspective. The Rancher, whose every day job is to get the work done, is all about efficiency. If there is a lot of cows to move or gather over a lot of ground, he may pull out the motorbike. Then there is the opinion that what’s the point in moving cows if you don’t ride a horse… That’s half of the greatness of ranching- work that REQUIRES you to ride a horse. Which is pretty much the best kind of work. Because it isn’t work. It’s play. Both opinions have valid points…

I’ll admit, that while I love any chance to get on a horse, there are those times that 4wheelers are just more convenient. Especially when that may be the only way that I can come along. A whole other OTHER perspective on this intense debate.

I cornered The Rancher and had him spell it out for me on how he decides if he loads up the horses or the 4wheelers.

The guys like to take horses as often as possible. They can get anywhere a cow goes, especially those rangy places. It means that we can rope and doctor anything we see, rather than having to come back to take care of it later. And of course, it satisfies a cowboy’s soul to sit up in the saddle in harmony with his horse.

So when do we take 4wheelers? We usually pull them out when its a quick push down the road and it would take almost as much time to get the horses in and saddled as it would to move the cows. (ok, it doesn’t really take that long to get the horses out, but you get the idea…) But you can see how it might not be worth getting them ready for just a little jaunt down the road.

It seems that the times The Rancher rides the 4 wheeler or motorbike the most is when there is a lot of territory to cover and not a lot of man power. I see this mostly the days where they are bringing the cows in off the range than just trailing them down the road. Or if he is out checking the herd during calving season.

A few years ago we had a really hard winter. Really hard. Acutally, we have had several hard winters over the last few years. But the year I’m thinking of was hard in the midst of calving. It was so important for us to be able to get around the cattle quickly so that if there were any calves that needed help, mostly helping get warm, we could get to them before it was too late. We didn’t hardly lose a calf to the cold and I think the biggest deal was getting around fast.

Where do you stand on this issue? Because it is super important… I know some guys that at more on the rancher end than the cowboy end and they do 4wheelers only. I know another guy that likes to use horses because they will do less damage to grasses and feed. And I even know another ranch that they don’t use horses or 4wheelers… They walk. As much as they can they like to do it all on foot. They aren’t too horse savvy to use horses but they are also concerned on the impact of 4wheelers.

Do you have an opinion? I want to know what you do at your ranch! Because… I’m a curious creature, and even though we all do the same thing- ranching, we all do it differently. But however you do it, keep doing it. 4Wheelers or horses, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we all find our own BEST way to get the work done. Be your best and rock on!

Until next time!
The Rancher’s Wife

Trailing the Cows Home: If Only We Can Find the Gate…

January 12, 2018 by Allison

Its definitely winter here on the ranch. Not because it is cold and snowy, because it has actually been warm (relatively) and rainy. I’m saying its winter time on the ranch because the cows are here and The Rancher is officially feeding every morning. Slowly over the last 2 weeks we have trailed and hauled cows home, starting with the group up in Quaken Asp.

Quaken Asp is some of private ground in the mountains past our home where we pasture the cows in the fall. Its a favorite of our family’s- a place where we go up for a 4 wheeler rides, hunting, an evening drive… you name it, we do it up there. In fact, The Rancher proposed to me up there. Yep, I love it up there. When The Rancher announced that it was the day to bring the cows home from there, I immediately asked if I could come along too. I would say it was 50% me wanting to go for a ride, 30% that I needed get out of the house and do something, and a strong 20% that needed some quality time in a place that I loved.

Luckily for me, I managed to upgrade my ride from the gator, which I always plan to take because it lets me take all my little people and manage to take photos off the trail, to my horse! The Ranch Boss, my father-in-law, had shoulder surgery a few months ago and the thought of something going wrong and him coming off his horse was enough to make him call dibs on the gator. At first I thought that meant I was destined to stay home or to sit in the truck and wait. But, because I am his favorite daughter-in-law, The Ranch Boss volunteered to take my kids with him and I was free to saddle up and go.

Once we got up the mountain, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the cows were going to be difficult to bring home. We rode to the very edges and corners of the field and only gathered up a small portion of the herd. As cows do, they had managed to tear the fence down in a few places and meander far, FAR away. And not only they were few and far between, but they were also belligerent and stubborn and wouldn’t move. They would sit in the trees, head up the mountain, and no matter what we did, turn tail and run.

Ya wanna here just how stupid and ignorant and frustrating these cows were? Ok, it wasn’t the worst move we have ever done, but still frustrating.

There were four cows that I found in the bottoms, stopped in a groves of trees. Calling them trees is kinda pushing it… It was more like a bunch of overgrown bushes that left no room for a horse to move around but apparently enough for a cow to wiggle under. And there was no amount of whooping and whistling that was moving these cows. I tried coming at them from every direction and something worked because eventually they started moving (I guess I am scary… BOOM!) Of course they don’t take the easy way down and jump in with the rest of the herd but they decide to go further up the mountain, through even more brush. About this time The Rancher rides in and he followed them up and over while I kept looking for others in the rest of the brush.

Things were going pretty ok, but we could see handfuls of cows that still needed gathered in. The Rancher and Cowboy E headed out to gather in whatever they could find, while I grabbed those four cows and kept pushing them. I actually didn’t have to push all that much because they were moving plenty fast on their own. Unfortunately they kept going further and further up the mountain and away from the herd. I would get the leader stopped and headed back down just to see one take off another way. This happened over and over again. Where was a good ranch dog when I needed him?

We were headed in the same general direction as the herd and I knew that we would come out just fine, so I opted to stop fighting those old girls and just see where they were taking us. I knew that other cowboys were on the same side of the mountain as we were and that in reality, if I needed help, I could leave the cows and things would be ok. But, being the good cowgirl that I am (or at least pretend to be), I just kept going. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned when I first trailed cows was to let them take the lead. They knew the range better than I did so it was likely that they knew the best way out. I was hoping that this little bit of advice wasn’t about to fail me. After moving for a long for a while, I start to see more and more cows. Apparently this group all had the same idea to head for the same corner of field, not realizing that they had passed up the better route of going through the bottoms. About that same time, I see Cowboy Pete push a few more cows in my direction and turn around to head for more so I figured I would just take this group and move on down. We started following the fence, assuming that it would take us to the road and out. But I started to look where the fence headed and all I see are corners.

Who builds a fence with 12 hundred corners in it?! Ok… I know that the where and how the fence goes depends on a lot of different things, but still… I mean, if I kept following the fence, where was I gonna end up. I didn’t bring my map of the range so… I called The Rancher instead. He informed me that occasionally they just take the fence down and make their own gate… Oh. Make my own gate. I can do that. I rode up ahead of the cows and took the wires down. Just then The Ranch Boss called me to explain that I needed to turn the cows around, that there is a gate at the corner already opened. Ya know, the gate that we had passed already. He said it was an easier ride out so, I turned those cows around. And went back to where we had started.

No gates to be found… I might have grumbled a little.

And then we turned around again and headed for the place I knew I could get out, make-shift gate I had torn down. And that is when I saw it. A gate. Hidden in a sort-of corner (as opposed to a nice square corner) that we had passed. Over and over again… These blasted cows, that have been on this mountain year after year, head straight for the gate that THEY want to go out, and then MISS it altogether! Gah! If I was a cursing woman, I would have used all sorts of obscenities but… I held my tongue. And those crazy girls redeemed themselves by sticking to trail for the rest of the ride home.

Mostly…

Until the next ride!

The Rancher’s Wife

Fix up After Fire Season

December 20, 2017 by Allison

As you probably know, things on the cow front are pretty slow right now. Super slow. Which is good. Good because I get to enjoy my husband a little bit more. But also good for The Rancher to get some of the maintenance work done. After the summer we had, Locomotive really needs a lot of maintenance.

Our summer was riddled with thunderstorms rolling through our private and allotted BLM ground. The storms were popping with lightning and too many times that lightning turned to fires that swept across the range. I got pretty good and recognizing when those moments were upon us. The Rancher would get a call and you would hear things like, “Where did it hit?” and “Is there any wind? Which direction is it moving?” and “Who is there?”. Then of course there was the, “We will be down there right away!” At that point I just got some snacks and water and told him to be safe as he headed out the door.

The worst timing was when he got a call on the night of July 3. We had been gone for the weekend to a family reunion. We were tired from too much fun and too many miles sitting. And to top off the terrible timing, my brother and his family were there visiting for the upcoming holiday. So here comes a fire RIGHT on our land and The Rancher HAS to go. By brother and his daughter had been hoping for some awesome ranch action so they pile in with all the cowboys and go along with them. Not quite the action I was hoping to give them but you gotta roll with what ya got. They loved watching them work the fire, even if they got home in the wee hours of the morning. That sorta killed my plans for an early morning 4th of July 5K but it was still a great day!

We can only directly fight the fires if it is on our own land. When that’s the case the boys load up the tractor and disc and head down. We go around the fire itself and make a line to stop it from spreading any further. By discing up the grass that fuels the fire we are able to make a barrier to keep it from moving on and eating up anymore of our feed. But so many of the fires neighbored our land or were moving to our land that it was still prudent that we take the time to go down there and protect our land. Instead of going around the fire itself, they disc around our land. Doing this can totally head off the fire from causing any damage on our land. Its amazing what a rancher in a tractor can do to stop a fire.

Sometimes there can be tension between ranchers and those responsible for putting the fire out on BLM ground. We have the experience and know-how to get the fire out but we aren’t authorized to do it. But we are motivated a little more than others to get moving and get the job done because its our livelihood. Every bit of grass burnt up is feed we lose. We can supplement the feed with hay either in Locomotive or by bringing the cows home. But the greater loss is the time we lose feeding down there or not being able to keep the cows in Locomotive to calve out when we have to bring them home. So you can see how things can be a little tense…

But that stuff is all in the past. Now is the clean up. Those fires ripped right across the range taking out fences in any direction. And of course it ate up all the feed, so there was work to be done planting seed for some spring grass. The Rancher and Cowboy E spent a long week and then some getting things settled and back to the norm for the winter. It was long and hard but its so satisfying to put the effort in to do a good job to put things right again.

I haven’t been down there myself since all the fires have happened so I asked The Rancher to get some snaps of what the land looks like now. It is bare and black, but now we have new fences and new seeds planted and ready for a new season of growth.

From The Idaho Rancher's Wife From The Rancher's Wife

The Calves Have Shipped- RELIEF

November 8, 2017 by Allison

Guess what, Friends? The calves are SHIPPED! You can’t deny that THAT day is one, if not the very best days on the ranch. The year’s work has finally paid off and you can see the results of your labors. You don’t have the stressful responsibility of keeping the calves healthy and alive. Things just turn calm and slow and I love it!

You would think that the slow down and relief would be mostly for The Rancher, but I too am relieved for when the calves on are gone.

I’ll you why…

Because without fail, EVERY year, there are calves out. And not only are they getting out, but they get out when there are no ranchers around to put them back in. We have been back to the ranch several years now and I don’t think that there is a single weaning season that we have gone through without a few calves sneaking out.

In some regards, I’ll take any chance to earn some Rancher’s Wife Stripes and have The Rancher owe me for dropping everything and helping out. But dropping everything just isn’t a convenient thing when you are a busy mom. Plus, the stress of putting the calf in the wrong place or just NOT getting a calf in at all makes me wonder if the Rancher’s Wife Stripes are even worth it!

This year was no different, of course. You would think that I would have learned by now to not schedule anything on the days that the guys are gone. That way I would be ready for the break out and have the time to put the sneaky buggers back in. But I haven’t.

Just a few weeks ago, I had a project that needed done and I had a tiny window of time between getting kids’ homework done and getting dinner going. I’m outside, minding my own business, trying to keep The Cowboy Kid off of the busy road in front of our house, and getting some work done when I see a handful of calves walking through my garden! Lucky for them, I had pulled everything out of there that I was planning to use. If the peas had still been growing, those calves would have been in big trouble…

So I scoop up my baby and we start them back to the pasture. The trouble with putting calves back in, especially around the ranch yard is that you never know where they are going to go and what is going to pop and get them. We have chased in circles around the homes or through the equipment sheds. The dogs have come to help only to chase them in the wrong direction. This time they actually head back to the field ok, but just as we were getting to the gate, the chickens jumped out.

This presented a problem in a couple of ways. One, it meant that the chickens were out, probably my least favorite critter to get back in. Second, it sent my already flighty and skiddish calves busting through the gate. They were hung up on it and in it and scurrying around it and I was sure we were going to have a wreck. When all was said and done, the gate was the only one worse for wear. There is a big ol’ bow in it and it doesn’t swing exactly right…. But The Rancher can deal with that. I did put his calves in, after all.

2017 Calf Crop from The Idaho Ranchers Wife

2017 Calf Crop from The Idaho Rancher's Wife

2017 Calf Crop from The Idaho Ranchers Wife

That wasn’t the only day that the calves put a kink in my day. The week before we shipped calves was pretty packed for me. Which means that nearly every moment is scheduled and that I only have spare minutes to clean up the baby’s spilled milk, not put The Rancher’s calves away.

That day I had planned to get yard work done- the lawn mowed and leaves cleaned up, the flower beds cleaned up and bulbs planted. I’m cruising around the yard, thinking I was totally on top of the day, when I spot a calf out across the road. Then another. And then a whole pile of others… I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes and cursed The Rancher under my breath but I parked my mower and jumped on the 4 wheeler to get the calves. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it only took a couple of minutes to get them back in. No catastrophes! I closed the gate and headed back to work. It wasn’t but a few minutes when I saw another handful of calves. I went through the same routine of rolling my eyes, really cursing The Rancher, getting the calves in, and heading back to work. Even before I got back on the mower, I could see a few more calves out and I knew that wherever they were crawling out from wouldn’t wait until the guys were home to fix it.

Being the great ranch wife that I am (HA!) and for my own sanities sake, I headed to the shop for tools, wire, and staples. After driving the fence the kids and I found a calf sized hole that the escapees had been breaching all morning and got to work. I would love to say that I just snapped out a beautifully fixed fence but that wasn’t the case. When the calves had broken the fence, they had broken a pole and loosened the wires. I’m sure The Rancher would have just replaced the pole altogether, but that was beyond what I was willing to do. A little patch job was going to have to be good enough. After about 5 trips of getting the right stuff, we had finally finished our crude attempt at fixing the fence. I knew it would hold but it certainly wasn’t the prettiest job… But it was done and the calves were in.

At least until my next busy day!

You can see how I am just as relieved as the guys that the calves are gone! Maybe this momma can get a little bit of work done around here… Probably not, but we are gonna give it a try!

He’s got this supervising thing down- sitting down on the job with a cinnamon roll in hand!

The last bunch headed to load in the semi!

If this picture had sound, you would here a lot of “HUP! HUP! HUP!” from this little cowboy!

5 semi’s loaded down with steers and heifers headed to their knew home.

The Reality Is…

November 2, 2017 by Allison

… Its November…

GASP!!

I can’t believe that not only is summer gone, like LONG GONE, but Fall is on its way out. And so much has happened in that time. The good news is, I FINALLY (mostly, or almost mostly) have the new look for the blog up and running. The reality is that I am NOT web designer and so what I thought would be a quick and easy change was anything but… There is still a handful of surprises I have up my sleeve but I have enough done that I might sleep at night and NOT stress over it all.

I don’t have the time or the head space to give you a complete update on everything that has happened between now and then. But here is the highlights reel of the summer.

The kids and I made a trip to Montana- a much needed break and chance for renewal before a long and crazy summer. The highlight of that week had to be the basketball camp that The Rancher’s Sidekick got to be a part of. I have to admit that I was swelling with pride because I went to that same camp since I was a girl in second grade and it was my high school basketball coach that put on the camp!

My Montana skies!

Between The Rancher and I, we had FIVE different family reunions scheduled throughout the summer. No, we didn’t make them all, and that’s ok. We still had lots of time to reconnect with family, especially those that we don’t have the opportunity to see often. Highlights included fishing, water slides, bon fires (and consequently FIRE TREATS!), and late night games. Low-lights include being stuck at the mechanics for SEVEN hours, stomach bug while camping, and never enough time for it all.

My sister planned an EPIC road trip for herself and I was privileged enough to kick it off with her. The Cowboy Kid (my littlest) and I braved a plane to California, two full days of driving to Arizona (where we surprised our brother) and a flight back home in just a few days. Once again never enough time, but still so much fun. I have a whole new appreciation of how much I love where we live. One, because it isn’t swarming with people and two, because it isn’t a desolate, dreary, bleak, sterile desert. I mean, we live in a desert, but at least we have cedar trees and sage brush growing!

Road trippin’… (we really had fun despite these crazy faces!)

Even though it was summer, there was so much work to be done on the ranch. We rolled from crazy winter to busy calving to hectic branding to a quick turnout to rushed spring field work. This was our first spring with the new pivots (Christmas in May!!) and there was a heavy learning curve and lots of kinks to work out. I wish I could have had a dollar for every time The Rancher said, “We shouldn’t have to touch the cows until…” or “The field work should be down now…” because I swear Karma would kick in and we would inevitably have something come up that we STILL didn’t have a chance to catch our breath. Maybe we will after the calves are all gone? The reality is, catching our breath is pretty unlikely because we just don’t know how to slow down!

Getting the pivots up and running

A little spring farming!

Out on the range to check water with The Rancher

Of course we had our hands full of rodeos and roping all along the summer. The Rancher’s Sidekick even took a chance to ride into the arena and do a little sorting like the big boys. I don’t know how well he did, but it didn’t matter when you saw the smile he had on his face. All I could do was pray that he didn’t fall off and all he could do was beam with pride!

No summer would be complete without a little fire action. Unfortunately a lot of the action we had was on our private and BLM rangeland in Locomotive. And of course Mother Nature has no regard to Holidays or family time so Fourth of July fireworks had a whole new meaning and the dust was a little thicker with smoke at the Annual Stone Rodeo.

When we actually managed to be home and NOT working, we poured sidewalks and laid sod! I had been saving my pennies for a good long time and it was all worth it to a new sprinkler system, established grass and sidewalks instead of mud! It might actually be worth dusting now that we don’t live in a giant dirt bowl… HA! The reality is that even though I don’t have as much dust, I still don’t have any more time to clean!

The summer closed out with fairs, concerts (can you say bucket list!) and a wedding (Cowboy Pete tied the knot! More on that later, for sure!!)! Being on the County Fair Board is exhausting but always worthwhile. From ropings to horse races to hog washes, we did it all! Probably one of the highlights of my summer and the best way to end it was to go to a Home Free concert! The music was awesome, my date was the best and having a TERRIFIC babysitter was the icing on the cake!

Home Free date night!

We are full swing into school and fall work and back into some sort of routine. We eat, sleep, work, play and pray. The reality is, I don’t ever feel caught up and I never feel like I am doing good enough at any of it. But as a good friend recently told me, we are too blessed to be stressed.

Until next time, Friends!

The Curlew Cattle Association: A History of Belonging

June 3, 2017 by Allison

A few months ago I was asked to write a story for the Line Rider, a magazine published by the Idaho Cattle Association. The story they asked me to write was a little closer to home than most of my other stories. They asked me to write about our history with the association we run our cattle in. Since it wasn’t my family that I was writing about but rather my husband’s, I had to do a little research. It was interesting and exciting and inspiring. It ended up becoming somewhat special to me that I could write about my husband’s family and share their story. And I wasn’t the only one that felt this way.

Over the last few months, I have had several of the cowboys and ranchers that we work with mention the story. I’m not sure why, but I was really surprised with how much they all loved it! Maybe I’m still a little surprised when people (besides my momma and my husband… they are obligated to cheer for me) think that what I write is something worth reading.

Because of all their applause, I thought I would share it with you!

Ranching can be a tough and demanding lifestyle but with people working around us facing the same challenges and striving for the same goals, we find a collective strength. In fact, it is through the practice of leaning on each other that several ranches in the Curlew Valley have found success amidst the struggles of ranching on the range. Their association of working together began as their ranches were founded. It was long ago that August Eliason learned that the demands of range were easier to manage has he harnessed his efforts with those around him and still to this day, his descendents continue to follow his practices of working together.

August Eliason came to America from Sweden with his family as a young boy at the age of 9. At the age of 14, he decided to go out on his and found a job working for the Bar M Ranch, hiring on as the ranch foreman.

The Bar M Ranch began after the construction of the trans-continental railroad through Utah. A wealthy railroad baron from San Francisco had seen the boom of cattle empires in the west and he wanted part of it. He saw an opportunity to buy up the available land left from building the railroad and purchased the land from Connor Springs to Kelton, Utah, approximately 365,000 acres. Soon after, they bought their first 2,500 cows and they were in the cattle business. They continued to acquire land and cattle as they bought out other operations, bringing their numbers up to a herd of 45,000 cows running throughout northern Utah and southern Idaho. Unfortunately, the owner of the ranch and his managers had no experience managing a cattle herd. Their lack of knowledge ultimately set the ranch for failure.

As the foreman of the ranch, August was responsible for grazing the cattle throughout the Curlew Valley. Through managing so many cattle over so many miles, August developed a great talent for overseeing the cattle and land. The cattle grazed the range for feed year round, often overgrazing it. The operation never purchased or put up any additional hay, and the cattle were left to forage on what little feed was available during the winter months. This mismanagement proved detrimental for the ranch.

In 1888, the blizzard of a lifetime came through. Heavy snowfall and extreme winds caused the cattle to stray as they followed their instincts and walked with the wind in attempts to stay warm. With nothing to stop the wandering Bar M cattle, they walked for miles and miles. With such terrible storms, August and the other cow hands knew there was nothing they could do. They knew they would never survive searching for the cattle in the storm over the snow covered range. All they could do was wait and see what the outcome of the storm would bring.

Eventually they found that from the combination of exhaustion from the walking and the lack of feed because it was buried beneath the snow, the majority of the cattle had died. Accounts recall that there were so many dead cattle across the land that you could walk for miles stepping only from one cow to the next. When spring came, they found 35,000 dead cattle wearing the Bar M brand. The numbers of surviving cattle are somewhat unknown, anywhere from 10,000 to only 800.

The Bar M Ranch never recouped from the devastating winter and was disbanded shortly after. The cowboys were left to fend for themselves. But what was the end of the Bar M Ranch was the beginning of several grazing organizations in the area, such as the Curlew Valley Horse and Cattle Association and the Black Pine grazing group.

It was rumored that August and his two brothers-in-law, Andrew Anderson and Ed Showell, gathered up any unclaimed and unbranded cattle to start up their own herds. They continued to winter the cattle in Locomotive and graze north through the Curlew Valley, similar to how the Bar M Ranch managed their cattle. It was hard work but with their experience on the range, their desire to succeed and their strength by working together, they facilitated their own beginning.

At the time, ranches from all over northern Utah and southern Idaho would turn their cattle out on the public rangeland. There were no boundaries, no regulations and no expectations grazing on the open range. All the animals roamed free, fending for themselves where ever it may be. Because of the water and good feed, most cattle would migrate south to Locomotive Springs. At the end of the grazing season, everyone would work together to gather in the cattle to sort and take to their home ranches.

In addition to running on the public lands, August and the others also homesteaded land in Idaho. They were successful on their homestead land in Stone, Idaho on what was called the North String. There he set up headquarters for his ranch and his family. August had 6 children, including his two sons, Bert and Chester, who took over the ranch at his untimely death when they were teenage boys.

Even though they were young, the boys were able to successfully run the operation for their mother with the help of their uncles, Andrew and Ed, keeping both the ranch and the family alive. The time came that they decided to buy the ranch and their partnership began. It took time, but they were able to add cattle to their herd and land to their operation.

The Curlew ranchers recognized what an asset Locomotive was for cattle, although most of the area was deeded up to homesteads. But over time, the flies and sickness of the wetlands caused most homesteaders to sell out, an opportunity Bert, Chester, Andrew, and Ed jumped on. In addition to wintering the cattle in Locomotive, they decided to hay the land as well. Once a year, they worked together to carry out the very labor intensive job of mowing, raking, pitching and stacking the hay.

Over the next several years, many things would happen that would bring more organization and need for the association. In 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act was set in place to regulate the use of public lands. Throughout the country, drought and poor management of the land had caused severe losses that devastated the farming and ranching industry. In Idaho and Utah, cattle and sheep ranchers would graze an unrestricted number of animals that overwhelmed the rangeland. With the Grazing Act, those ranches already running animals had to apply for permits. With the homestead land in Stone and Locomotive, the men were granted permits to continue running their cattle on the public lands of Black Pine of Idaho and Wild Cat/Cedar Hill of Utah.

Every season had its challenges, but Bert and Chester managed to find success. A large part of their success was working hard, but an even larger part was working smart. With their operation being divided over so much land, it required a lot of time and labor to manage it all. The men would spend days on the range haying and moving or tending cattle. By working together, it made it easier to ensure that everything was be done and looked after, without having to hire additional men.

Shortly after the depression Chester had the chance of a lifetime. Dave Dilly was ready to sell the piece of land that Chester had wanted all of his life- the Rockhouse Ranch, famously named for the house made of rocks that provided protection from the Indians in the 1860s and later used as northern headquarters of the old Bar M Ranch. Living just a few miles away in Stone had given him plenty of opportunities to see its potential.

Dave Dilly, Chester’s uncle, first offered the Rockhouse Ranch to Bert but with Bert declining the piece, it was Chester’s for the taking. He sold his home, land, and half of the company property to Bert and moved his family and his half of the cattle 14 miles north to their new ranch in Holbrook, Idaho. Starting his own operation had been a longtime dream and he was excited for the opportunity. He continued to run things alongside the others in Stone and to run his cattle on his portion of the rangeland permits.

Running separate, but parallel operations was very profitable for the two brothers. They were both able to grow their operations and later pass them on to their own families. Bert had two sons, De and Bert Jr., which in the end inherited his cattle and land. De stayed on the homestead in Stone while Bert Jr. began a new operation in Snowville, Utah. With his portion of the permits he continued to work alongside his brother, until De sold his operation. Bert Jr. ‘s operation, known now as the Eliason Ranch, was owned by his son Dave Eliason, who just recently turned things over to the next generation- his son, Shane.

Dave enjoys the same benefits of running cattle in the association that his grandpa did. Dave says, “The greatest benefit is that we can share the labor without having to hire extra men. We all have large enough herds that we couldn’t do it alone.”

The Rockhouse Ranch, now known as Eliason Livestock, is managed by Ken Eliason, the third generation to run cattle in Holbrook. His father, Don, was just a boy when Chester began ranching in Holbrook. In his time, he watched the ranch develop from a small operation to a thriving family business. With the goal in mind of keeping it a thriving family business, Ken’s oldest son, Brayden has returned to eventually take over the ranch someday.

While time and innovation has changed how things are run from day to day, Ken and Dave still employ the same operational practices that the original Curlew cowboys did. They still winter the cattle in Locomotive with the Anderson and Showell operations. They work together to wean, brand, move cattle, preg check cows, and check water.

Working together with so many different operations can be challenging but these men have made it work. While they have seen similar groups fall apart by disagreements, they have found a way to keep things beneficial to all. Ken says that the best thing about the association, and how they have continued working together for so long is because of the trust. “You know that you can trust that they will be there to get the work done and that they will do a good job. You can trust that they have your back.”

Running together in the association has proved to be a successful practice for everyone in the Curlew Valley. They enjoy the same benefits that the old cowboys did- the autonomy to run their operations but still have the man power to get the work done. But the benefits go beyond the obvious. Each man in the association a niche- his strengths that the whole group can rely on. It may be the equipment and skills that he has or the “in” for a good deal on salt block. Some have their finger on the pulse of what is happening in the cattle industry across the country and some have the relationships and contacts for more support and information.

Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” The ranchers of the Curlew Valley have been the embodiment of that phrase for so many years. Alone, one ranch could never have accomplished what has been done. They would have succumbed to the hard reality of homesteading and the fatigue of the rough range. But together they have advanced the industry, produced cattle, improved the land, raised families and strengthened communities. With the help and support of one another they will continue to do so much.