Every once in a while I have the chance to do a little freelance writing. While I love these opportunities, I always get a little nervous because I’m writing for someone else… and what if what I write isn’t good?! Lucky for me, my subject this time was my own family- the Eliason’s. The February issue of the Line Rider, the magazine put out by the Idaho Cattle Association, was their Cow-Calf feature and they wanted our operation to be their cover story.
Situated in the Curlew Grasslands of southeastern Idaho sits the Eliason Livestock ranch, a ranch that through the generations has developed a high quality operation of land and cattle. Over the years, each generation has worked to not only maintain what has come before them, but to make their own improvements to the business. Through the work that they have done, the hardships they have encountered, and the advancements they have achieved, they have found success. And while the success on the ranch has been their ultimate goal, the success in their families- raising up the next generation- has been their greatest accomplishment. Fortunately, these successes came hand in hand- while the family raised the cattle, the cattle helped raise the family.
The Eliason ranch found its start in the early 1890s when August Eliason found an opportunity to make his own start. After leaving his home at 14, August found work with the Bar M Ranch, eventually becoming a herd foreman, running thousands of cattle along the railroad through Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. Poor grazing practices and a devastating winter compelled the owner, a railroad baron, to abandon what little cattle had survived. August and others that had worked for the Bar M Ranch were able to lay claim to the abandoned cattle and use them to make a start of their own. August new the land well after working over it for so many years and developed a similar operation of trailing the cows north during the spring and summer months to Holbrook, Idaho and back to Locomotive Springs in Utah for the winter. Within a short time August was able to homestead a few acres in Stone, Idaho and establish a headquarters for his ranch.
It was a lot of work, but August’s cattle operation began to prosper. His success can be contributed to several factors. First, the land, if managed well, provided a hearty and healthy place to raise cattle. The summers in Idaho had good feed and fair weather and the winters in Utah were more mild and ideal for calving. Second, running his cattle on the open range meant that they grazed with cattle of other ranches. This enabled the ranchers to pool their resources, time and energy to collectively care for their cattle. Third, August had a drive and a desire to be successful. It pushed him to work hard, long hours, to adapt and find new ways to go about the work, and to instill a passion for the work in his sons.
At 45 years old August fell ill and passed away leaving the operation to his sons, Chester and Bert. Although they were quite young, the boys were able to keep the ranch operating and running smoothly, evidence of August’s success as both a rancher and father. Over time the brothers acquired their own homestead land to add to the ranch, built their own homes and began their own families. They had worked hard to build up the ranch from what their father had left them, thriving with their herd of Hereford cattle and small herd of wild horses.
Chester and Bert faced their own challenges and hardships as cattlemen. 1929 was a particularly hard year. That winter a blizzard blew through Locomotive that caused the herd to wander more than 50 miles around the west side of the Great Salt Lake. Eventually the men found the cattle and began the long and cold trek back to Locomotive. Several of the cows were too weak to make the journey as a result Bert arranged a railroad car to take them back. It was that same year that they struggled to sell their cattle due to the Great Depression. In an attempt to keep things afloat, the Eliason brothers participated in the Agriculture Adjustment Act, the government’s effort to subsidize the cattle market. Chester and Bert sold 40 cows at $14 a head that were simply killed to reduce the surplus.
Shortly after the Great Depression, Chester chose to take his part of the operation and expand north into Holbrook, Idaho. For years he had his eye on a particular piece of ground, the Rockhouse Ranch, and finally had the opportunity to buy it for himself. His uncle, Dave Dille, owned the ranch and had first offered Bert the chance to buy the cattle and land. With Bert declining the offer, it was Chester’s for the taking. He jumped at the chance and moved his family the 14 miles north in a horse drawn wagon and went to work. The ranch came with a few modest buildings, fences, cows, hay lands and was the new beginning Chester had dreamed of. The combination of his new land, the original homestead, and his share of the range permits provided a solid foundation for the beginning his own small cattle enterprise.
Chester got to work improving the ranch and making it his own. He began by salvaging the better existing buildings, getting together a team of horses and ditcher to clean out the ditch that had only previously been cleaned by a hand shovel, employing the help of his neighbors to build a new barn, and trading a saddle horse for their first tractor. Often he would hire men to help with the work, especially during the summer to help put up hay, but his most reliable hands were his two sons that learned to work by his side.
While Chester made significant changes and improvements to what his father had begun, he stayed true to so many things that were at the core of the father’s success in ranching. He continued to run cattle on the range with the neighboring ranches. They found a collective strength in working and running cattle together. It provided the means, resources, energy, support and man power to get the work done, but it also allowed them the autonomy to run their own operations how they wanted. Not only did he continue to run his operation in a similar manner as his father, but he did so with those same values of hard work, honesty, responsibility, and drive that were fundamental at keeping the ranch not only running, but successful. And again, these traditions and values were something that Chester instilled in his children.
For years, Chester worked with his sons, Ray and Don, but eventually it was Don that took over the operation. With the innovations of the times, there were several areas that Don could make improvements at the ranch. For quite a while they had been moving cattle from Locomotive to Black Pine in two 2-ton trucks. While this was faster than the 10 day cattle drive they had done for years, it was still slow and hard. In 1982 Don took the plunge to buy a semi and cattle trailer to haul the cattle (ironically buying the trailer before the truck- literally the cart before the horse!). Not long after that, he purchased their first round bailer which transformed their haying operation after putting up loose hay for nearly 100 years.
Don improved their irrigation system by moving from flood irrigating to hand lines and then again upgrading to wheel lines. New buildings and sheds were erected to better maintain and care for the equipment. He slowly grew the herd by keeping more cows each year, and grew it to a sizeable number only rarely supplementing by purchasing cows. In that time he also moved from a Hereford operation to Black Angus.
Eventually both of Don’s sons, Ken and Ron, returned to the ranch after finishing college. They worked as partners for years, each bringing new ways to maintain and improve the ranch. In some of his college courses, Ken had learned how to preg check cows and was one of the first in the area to begin using that practice for better herd management. He admitted that in the beginning he was inexperienced but over time he became more proficient and his talent became quite an asset for the ranch. No longer were they keeping and feeding open cows that were not profitable or having calves born late into the fall every year. Preg checking allowed them to have a clearer picture of their herd- what cows were profitable, what needed to be culled as well as more easily manage each year’s calf crop.
As they were fine tuning their herd management, they were also improving their herd genetics. The cattle already had strong genetics to thrive on the rough range. Ron focused on finding genetics that would produce larger calves through AI-ing and the new herd bulls purchased every year.
As opportunities arose, the men would purchase or lease land that would allow them to expand their operation. They purchased more land locally that provided the space and hay land to manage a growing herd. Eventually the hay acreage was sold to facilitate buying more land in Locomotive, which continued to be an ideal place to have the cattle during the calving season. For a few years they leased acreage on the Gamble/Wine Cup Ranch in Nevada where they ran several hundred cows year round. Having some of the cattle in Nevada worked well because of the good feed and its low maintenance but eventually the distance became too much and the cows came home.
It has been important to the Eliason’s that as they tried to improve where they could, to continue using those practices that had proved successful over the years. To this end, the men continued to run cattle in Locomotive and in the association with several other ranchers formed so many years ago. The benefits that August and Chester had found still serve the current cattlemen well. There is also some amount of pride in continuing the heritage of calving, riding, roping, branding and weaning out on the open range like the cowboys did so long ago.
Eventually Ron and his family chose to leave the ranch to chase their own adventures. Don and Ken continued to work side by side but with Don ageing, the business of the ranch was turned to Ken. Through the ups and downs of ranching, Ken has continued to see the progress and growth of the ranch. He recalls how they used to keep and feed their weaned calves through the winter to sell in the spring. But now, they are able to sell heavier calves months earlier, a success he attributes to their continual striving to make the operation better. A clear example of just how notable their cattle operation has become is in the ICA Annual Grass Futurity Contest. The Eliason’s have entered a calf each year for the last three years and have been one of the top three finishers for two of those years. In 2018 their calf not only won the contest, but was the heavy gainer two of the four months.
In looking to the future Ken has some very clear goals. First, he wants to pass on the ranch to his sons as had been done for so many generations. There is a legacy and heritage found in the family ranch that he is honored to pass on to his sons. His second goal is simply to keep and maintain what they have. Ken’s final goal is to carefully manage the growth and financial affairs of the ranch. Over so many years and generations they have developed an impressive operation and while he wants to expand, he isn’t willing to risk losing what they already have.
Ken is proud of their family’s ranch. Proud of the work that was done before him, proud of what he has been able to do, and proud of the future the ranch will have in his own children. He and his wife Kristy have raised their five sons, Brayden, Clayton, Nathan, Quinn, and Eric, on the ranch and they largely attribute their living and working on the ranch to shaping them into the men they are today. They learned well the lessons of hard work, responsibility and accountability. They learned how to run cattle, work with horses, use and maintain equipment, and harvest what they sow. Ken talks about how great it was having their boys to work with him as they were growing up. “They loved the work and always wanted to be involved in whatever we were doing. The hardest thing was always finding enough horses or saddles or whatever to go around for them all!”
Their life on the ranch set the stage for each of their futures. As they attended college they all studied ranch and ag related degrees. Their passion for the industry and their individual talents has made for some great opportunities for the ranch and in their own lives. The boys all admit that they would all love a chance to come back to live and work on the ranch but understand that that is unlikely. For now they take whatever time they can to come and help and still be part of what is happening on the ranch.
Currently, two of the sons, Brayden and Nathan, have returned to the ranch with their families. With their return they have brought with them new ideas and dreams for the ranch- pivots to replace the wheel lines, a drone and cameras to more easily watch and check the herd, more advanced haying equipment, and better herd health and nutrition.
The ranch isn’t the only place that has benefitted from the hard working family. The Eliasons feel strongly in being involved and serving in their community. Throughout the generations, they have been involved in their local volunteer ambulance, fire department, search and rescue, fair board, church, and community rodeo. Several of the Eliasons have even served on the ICA Board of Directors. When it comes to service, Brayden says, “If not me then who, and if not now, when?”
The Eliason ranch has changed in so many ways over so many years, but so many things have stayed the same. Each day is filled with the men doing their best to improve upon the day before while holding close the heritage and values that the ranch had been founded on. Ken says, “We have raised a lot of cattle through the years, but our best crop has always been our kids.” It is evident that through the legacy of hard work not only has a successful cattle operation flourished, but more impressive are the successful generations of a hard working ranch family. The family raised the cattle, but the cattle also raised the family.
