The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

More Than One Right Way

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Lessons in humility, experience, and learning to mind our own operations.

I never thought I would say this, but I believe I’ve found a downside to teaching our five-year-old the ins and outs of ranching. With all his newfound knowledge, my little rancher is suddenly convinced he knows everything there is to know — and he’s more than happy to tell you all about it.

It’s adorable when he narrates his toy setup in his bedroom. It’s even endearing watching him work alongside his dad, small as he is, doing his best to keep up. But the cuteness wears thin when he’s ready to explain to everyone else how it should be done.

Living out in ranch country means we spend plenty of miles on the road, often passing someone else’s operation. And almost without fail, a commentary begins from the back seat.

“That pivot shouldn’t be off.”

“Why are those cows still there?”

I have to suppress a smile at the certainty behind such strong opinions coming from such a small person. But at the same time, it’s hard not to notice how familiar it sounds. Apparently, confidence comes early — experience follows later.

And unfortunately, this isn’t unique to my five-year-old.

It seems far too easy to jump to conclusions about how someone else runs their operation — when they irrigate, how they feed, when they move cattle, or why something looks different than we expect. Somewhere along the way, observation turns into judgment, even when we don’t have the full picture.

They say there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I’m here to say there’s more than one way to ranch.

Take haying, for example. Round bales versus square bales — one must be better than the other, right? Except both serve a purpose. Round bales can be put up sooner with a little more moisture, and net wrap protects them well in the stack. Square bales, on the other hand, shine when it comes to hauling and efficiency. One isn’t right and the other wrong. It depends on the operation.

Branding season brings its own debates. Calf tables versus roping and dragging. For us, range brandings and skilled cowboys make roping the clear choice. But for operations with fewer hands or closer corrals, a calf table might be exactly what makes sense. Different circumstances call for different tools.

Even moving cows can stir strong opinions — horses versus four-wheelers. There are cows to move either way, and as long as they get moved, the job is getting done. Though if I’m honest, if there’s a chance to saddle a horse instead of turning a key, I’ll take it every time.

Calving systems, feeding programs, grazing rotations — every ranch is a balance of land, livestock, labor, and goals. What works beautifully for one may be completely impractical for another.

The trouble comes when we forget that.

When it’s time to make decisions for an operation, there are a few things that matter more than outside opinion. First, knowing your goals — what you’re actually trying to accomplish. Second, knowing what your operation has to offer — the land, the resources, the skills, and the help available. Systems that align with both will always make the most sense.

From there, you can try new things. Not because your neighbor is doing them. Not because they’re trendy. But because they might help you do your job better.

And sometimes, they won’t.

That’s part of it too.

The older I get, the more I realize that experience has a way of softening certainty. Confidence earned through repetition looks different than confidence born from assumption. One listens more. One asks better questions.

My five-year-old will figure that out in time.

Until then, I’ll keep listening to his opinions from the back seat, smiling to myself, and reminding us both that ranching — like most things worth doing — isn’t about finding the one right way.

It’s about finding your way, being open to learning, and leaving room for the possibility that someone else might be doing it differently — and doing it just fine.

The Curlew Cattle Association: A History of Belonging

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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. 

Momma-Cow Turned Momma Bear

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Before we moved to the family ranch, we worked our way through college at few different ranches.  Of course nothing compares to working your OWN ground or your OWN cows, but we still had some great times and some great memories on the operations we were a part of.  Once in a while a story comes to mind from those days and we have a little fun reliving those good times.  Every year when calving season comes along, there is one story that always comes up.  One of those remember-whens that you actually don’t want to remember.

Any rancher will tell you that a momma cow can instantly turn momma bear real fast.  A cow that seems perfectly harmless suddenly becomes anything but as soon as you lay hands on her baby.  And really, who can blame her?  I think that sometimes I turn into a momma bear when I have sweet little babies, and they aren’t even getting tagged!

But… Even if I do relate to them, sorta, that doesn’t mean they need to eat my husband for lunch!

Actually this story was before we were married.  Even before we were dating.  I was in the midst of my sophomore year of college and my only sanity was heading up to my brother’s near Salmon, Idaho.  He had my horse, cows, and a population of about 50 and it called to me after long hard days of school and work and SO many people.  Ironically, I didn’t have a car (probably a good thing or I would have spent all of the money I didn’t have driving up there all the time) and I had to convince friends and roommates that we should take a trip up to the ranch to have a little R&R.

It was on one of these weekends that I met The Rancher.  He was doing his internship up there, partially in an effort to avoid the school work and people like I was.  Truth be told, I had no interest in him at first.  I had sworn off boys because they just caused frustration and heart ache.  Cows and horses, on the other hand, only caused frustration. I was determined to take advantage of the little time I had on the ranch and soak in as much fresh air and get as much poop on my boots as possible.  To that end, I got brave, and asked The Rancher if I could ride along with him to check cows on his late night watch.  Being the player he was at the time (haha…) he shyly agreed and I hopped in the truck.

For the most part, it was uneventful.  There was a calf or two born.  We tagged them, gave them shots, wrote it all down and moved on.  It was cold and bumpy but it was fun.  We went out checking for a few nights and it was all the same every night.  Until we found one of those momma-bear momma cows.

This brilliant momma, had decided to have her calf in the snow.  Something not all that conducive to life if you were just born and wet and cold.  We had been checking around the different fields and found this cow exactly where she shouldn’t have been.  Labor does strange things and apparently with her, it made her want to climb through a few fences and birth in the privacy found in the wheel-line stock pile.  Not knowing that she was calving or had just had a calf, we drove over to get her back in where she was supposed to be.

The Rancher hopped the barbed wire fence, figuring it would only take just a minute to get the cow back in her field.  That’s when he saw the baby and plans changed.  Getting the two of them back was totally on the back burner and keeping the calf alive was all that mattered.  The momma was loving on him, but he had yet to get up and out of the snow.  So being the nice guy that he was, The Rancher grabbed a leg and started dragging the calf out of the snow.

It only took a second for that cow to turn momma-bear.  For all she knew, someone was messing with her baby and she wasn’t going to have any of that. 

Now put yourself in my shoes, or rather my seat.  Here I was, sitting in the front seat of an old, beat up ranch truck, riding around with a kid I hardly knew.  He was across a barbed wire fence, through drifts of snow and there was a momma cow about ready to have him for a midnight snack. 

What was a girl to do? 

It was dark and the only light was from the poor headlights (calling the headlights as poor was a compliment!), and he was far enough away I really couldn’t see well enough to know what was happening, just that things were getting a little (or a lot!) intense over there.  But, was he ok and wouldn’t need any help?  Or was he only seconds away from broken bones and smashed insides?  Was there even anything in the truck that I could use to help him?  Should I risk life and limb for this kid?  I could see myself jumping out of the truck, slipping a time or two as I trudged through the snow, getting tangled up in the wire fence as I tried to cross it in the dark and finally make it to him only to find everything ok and totally unworth my efforts.  Or I would do something embarrassing like fall on my face in the snow or rip my pants on the barbed wire…

So I just sat there.

Heroic, I know.  But before I made a move, I wanted to know what that cow had in mind.  It didn’t take long for her to prove that she meant business.  She took off straight for The Rancher, covering the 10 yards between them in seconds.  At this point all I could do was pray.  Pray that he got out of there in time.  Pray that she changed her mind.  Pray that even if she did get him, it wouldn’t be too bad.  Pray that he wouldn’t need mouth to mouth…

It must of worked because just as she was about to him, a snow drift popped up in front of her and she dropped to her knees.  It was the few seconds The Rancher needed to get clear of the calf, sail over the fence, and finally take a breath!

And then, to be terribly honest, I don’t remember much that happened next.  I know we had other cows and fields to check and so I’m sure we just moved on with the night.  The Rancher might have been a little more weary and a little more spry in case any other mommas had a little bit of momma-bear in them.

Reliving that story every year always brings new things to light, like how The Rancher was actually grateful for the chance to look so brave and he was a little sad that I didn’t need to give him a little mouth to mouth…  I, on the other, hand, am just glad that he managed to survive that night so we could have our life together now.  Do any of you have a good momma-bear story?

Its All About a Bunch of Bull

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Bull sale season is coming to a close.  It ends just as fast as it comes.  I kind of have a love hate relationship with Bull Sale season.  I love it when I get a chance to go, but I hate it when I get left behind.  And unfortunately, with all of my other OTHER responsibilities, it happens more than I’d like.  But I usually try to send a child or two if that’s the case (hahaha… hehehe…).  My mother-in-law and I were having a great conversation the other night, talking about all the pros and woes of being a rancher’s wife during Bull Sale Season.  I’m sure that we aren’t the only ones that have noticed the ups and downs that come Bull Sale Season.  In fact, I’m sure that we have it easy compared the wives of the ranchers PUTTING ON the sale.

I’ve actually had the pleasure of both sides of the sale- the selling and the buying.  Growing up I loved the prep work of a sale.  Trimming everything, photographing them all, sprucing up the sale barn, staying home from school on sale day…  Yep, it was a kids dream.  But I’m sure as the wife to a rancher, my mom didn’t think it was quite so awesome.  When I imagine her at that time of the year, one word comes to mind- STRESSED!

Even though I am on the buying side of the bull sale now, I still love it.  There is such an energy at a cattle auction!  The combination of the noisy crowd, the feisty bulls, the auctioneer’s ramble, and the anticipation of when to put in your bid gives the air a little extra zing.  You can’t help but love it, right?!

While the debate of whether Bull Sale Season is an actual thing is still being decided, I have unofficially dubbed March, plus or minus a few weeks, as such.  If you were to come look at our bull-sale-calendar, you might mistake it for a bingo card for as many days as have been scribbled on.  In fact you might even think we were going for Black Out!  And while there may be so many to go to, you can be sure that every one will be different and every one will be good.

The obvious upside to having so many days out to a bull sale is that I get a free pass on fixing lunch for those days.  While we can always expect the sale to be great, we KNOW the meal will be even greater!  In fact, it may be so good and we come home so full, that I might not even have to make dinner (actually that’s never happened, but every time I’m hopeful!).  Is it bad to admit that I have even asked for a recipe or two after watching my family down their lunch?  I figure its a great compliment!

Once you get to the sale and have a chance to look around, you realize that ranchers can actually dress up and they are a pretty darn good looking crowd.  You spend so much time seeing them in shirts torn up from the barbed wire or pants covered in what looks like tractor oil and grease (and maybe even something else you can’t even recognize!), or boots smeared in mud and manure and stinking even worse than they look, that you forget how good looking a rancher can be.  And I think they will take any chance to get out of their grubby clothes too!  Maybe that’s why we hit up so many sales….  Hmmm….

I’ve decided that there is an art to bidding.  You don’t want to jump in too soon, because that just might take the price right out of your budget.  But you don’t want to get in the action too late because then you might be out altogether before you even got in.  Unless you can manage the sneak attack and steal the show with a last second bid.  Then there is the whole other ballgame of bidding online.  That one really makes me nervous… What if the connection goes out all of the sudden or what if it takes a second longer to register the bid or what if …. something else could go wrong, I’m sure! 
Whatever way you bid, you gotta have a game plan!

Usually we go to a sale with a budget in mind and a number of how many bulls we need to buy.  I always figure that once we spend the money or we get all the bulls we need, we will head home.  But the truth of the matter is, a bull sale is a rancher’s social hour.  Believe it or not, ranchers to like to gab!  They all hurry up to buy their bulls and then hustle over to the cookie table to chat away the rest of the sale.

At the heart of every bull sale is their bull magazine. You can ALWAYS know it is Bull Sale Season by the stack of magazines on the desk.  I wonder if the mail man gets tired of filling the mail box up with them?  We’ve seen a few ranches that REALLY want you to come, so they send 2 or 3 magazines to be sure you get a good look at what they’ve got.  It makes things easier for The Rancher when there are more, though.  He can leave one on the kitchen table to read while he eats, one on the night stand to have his final look before he goes to sleep, and one in the bathroom where he does his best thinking.  For some ranches, they send out the whole sale lineup.  They figure then you can come to the sale knowing exactly what you want to go home with.  For other ranches it is more like a ranch-and-family-year book.  They try pulling at your heart strings a bit with those sweet smiling grandbabies.  Then there are the ranches that just send their own type of save-the-date card and figure its gonna save them a lot of work if you just grab the magazine as you walk through the bulls. 

But without those magazines, a rancher would be lost keeping everyone and everything straight.  Besides the fancy names and photos, they are full of the info any rancher needs to get a good buy.  Its those EPDs.  If anyone ever thought that rancher wasn’t an educated guy, he should try his hand at EPDs…  I’m slowing starting to gather what scores are good birth weights, weaning weights, milking and futures.  I have no idea how they figured them, but I believe them.

Well,  Bull Sale Season… its been real, its been fun, and no we are done.  Its just a little more than a month away until the real fun starts and we see just how good of a buy we made!  Until next year… (Maybe the season will be official then and we can have an opening day celebration!)

PS-  I think the life of a bull is rough… Seriously, who else has a job of pleasure that only has to work a few months of the year and then is literally put out to pasture for the rest of the year?!  And to have pasture like we did last spring…  Yum…

A Good Winter Day Sorting Cows

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Last week sorted cows in Locomotive.  Scratch that… It was actually like SEVERAL weeks ago that we sorted.  In fact, its been long enough ago that we sorted, that the snow has melted and we have mixed the cows back up.  I had a twinge of hurt when they mixed up the cows again.  Because I feel that we just did the work of getting them unmixed up… Oh the work we do…

That day of sorting had a lot of emotions running through it.  There were those overwhelming feelings of just being totally exhausted from the added work with dealing with the snow.  There was the tension of not knowing how the day was going to go, if it was going to go at all.  Then there was the final relief and thankfulness of finally getting the work done. 

You can imagine we slept well that night.

I’ll admit, I had my own doubts about how the day was going to go down.  They had never had to sort all those cows there.  They never had so much snow to work the cows in.  I was afraid for the worst- cows not cooperating, horses slipping on the ice, and cowboys coming home hurt and discouraged.

That is always my fear.  Because I have seen it.

When I was a little girl, I saw the hard days that my dad had.  There was the day that he couldn’t take his own boots off because of the 4wheeler accident.  There were the days that he came in exhausted from no sleep trying to keep calves alive in the cold.  There were the days he couldn’t keep the equipment running to get the hay done before the storms rolled through.

But there is one day that comes to mind above all the rest as being hard for my ranching dad.

It had been a long winter.  The calving was over and breeding season was in full swing.  Doing the spring work in the still winter conditions was getting long and tiresome.  Eventually there was a break and the thaw finally came.  It only took a few days for things to change.  The frost thawed, the ground dried and suddenly it was hard again.

He was bringing in a heifer to AI.  He saddled up his horse and headed out as he did every time.  Now let me tell you a little about his horse.  She had a long, long ugly nose.  And that was about the only bad thing about her.  Ok, not really… everyone horse has her issues.  But this girl was good.  She could cut a cow as good as any other.  Once she knew what cow she was bringing in, you just let her do the work.  She could drop her back end and change directions in a second.  If you didn’t hang on she would move right out from under you (and I know that from personal experience!).  She loved the work and worked hard.

 The heifer my dad and his partner were bringing in was a little feisty.  No surprise and really, no big deal.  And for my dad, it was even a little fun.  Like most cowboys, he enjoyed the rush of the ride.  But then the heifer cut back and Whitney, his horse, went to spin.  And then she went down.

In those couple of days that the weather changed, my dad was busy.  Are you surprised?  He is a rancher, they are always busy.  Busy enough that he hadn’t had a chance to take of the cleats on his horse.

When she turned back, those cleats dug into the ground, and she spun, but her leg didn’t.  And it broke.

My dad knew instantly that it was bad.  So bad.  He was right.

He called the vet and he was able to come in and help Whitney.  They were able to set and cast the broken leg.  But she would never chase a cow again.  It was devastating.  

My dad says that every cowboy gets one good horse and one good dog.  She was his.

Ya know, despite the great days we have on the ranch and in this life, there are some really hard days.  We take risks.  We work in sometimes dangerous conditions.  We work with animals that can do a lot of damage.  And when those bad days come we just have to take it in stride.

My dad couldn’t put his partner down that day.  He just couldn’t lose her.  She meant to much for him.  So he decided to turn her into a brood mare.  Now her babies are on the ranch, doing the same work their momma did. 

Thankfully, our day sorting on the range had a good ending.  A great ending.  The work went well and the cowboys came home safe.  Not everyday turns out so well and we are grateful for the good days.  Its the good days that keep us going when we have those hard days.
  

Our Snow-Pocalypse

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Hello from the land of snow!

Can you finally see us out here?  The snow is finally settling!  If you add up the total inches accumulated, we have had like 71″ of snow.  Is that not insane?!  That is over 5 feet of snow!  But don’t imagine that all fluffy 71″ are still standing like they just fell.  Some of that snow was way heavy and packed everything down with it.  We had a week of warmer weather that helped melt things down a little too.  And we actually had a couple of inches of rain that dropped the level down even more. 

We have been praying for the moisture for so long and we feel so blessed to finally have it.  But in the dry spell that we have been having the last few years, we might have forgotten the not so awesome side of so much moisture. 

Now, I want you to know I AM NOT COMPLAINING!  Just simply explaining the challenges of having so much snow.  Because there are challenges, friends.  Besides the obvious road closures keeping us from going ANYWHERE, school snow days, and hours spent cleaning off my roof so it won’t fall in (I might have been stuck up there for a while…), the biggest challenge has been keeping the cows on the up and up.

I’ve told you before that we winter our cows down in Locomotive (some come home for the fall and until mid-February, but then they end up back down there…).  Its a great place to have them for the winter because, generally, there is no snow.  Or just a little bit of snow.  That makes it better for calving, less sickness, and not having to feed them everyday.  But when you have so much snow their bellies are dragging through the snow, they certainly can’t get to the feed underneath it.

So this winter, with the snow-pocalypse and all, we are having more work than ever!

When the storms first started coming through, we pushed the cows as far south as we could where the the storms had been less severe and there was more feed available.  Ironically, it always happened to be on a Sunday that the guys from the association wanted to move them.  You might not think that would be any worse than any other day of the week, but wrestling 3 kids alone in church is rough, friends.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, come visit next Sunday…

Back to the cows…

So even after getting the cows south, enough storms came that NOT feeding them wasn’t an option anymore.  So then they had to bring them back up to where we could get to them with hay.  And that was a lot of work.

First they had to find all the cows.  And if you know cows, once a storm hits they just start moving- moving to find shelter or feed or whatever… But they just start moving and when there are hundreds and hundreds of acres for them to go, it takes a while to finally find them all.  The Rancher didn’t complain too much at this.  I mean, when you HAVE to go snowmobiling all day for your work, it can’t be all bad, right? 

But after finding the cows, they had to get them up to the feed yard.  That was definitely a challenge…  Of course the cows were going to struggle moving through the snow and would fight you nearly every step of the way.  I probably wouldn’t want to move my big pregnant self through so much snow for miles either.  So the guys pulled out all the graters and tractors and … (I don’t even know what all equipment they had!) and they plowed a path to trail the cows back. 

And now to have 1,100 cows are rounded up together, it takes a lot of hay and a lot of time to get them all fed.  I’m pretty sure right now, all the guys do is push snow and feed cows.  Feed cows here at home, drive to Locomotive, feed cows there, and if there is any time before dark, they push snow.  Seriously, it is all they do. 

And it is exhausting.

I think it wouldn’t be near so bad if we were all healthy, but we are not.  Sickness has gone through the ranch, not to mention other issues (like being run over by a cow and lacerating your liver…).   So while we are trying to heal and get healthy, we are using all our energy to keep the cows on the up and up. 

I’m honestly a little worried about the guys.  This is the time of year things are slow and they get to recuperate before calving and then branding and then turnout and then summer… But I don’t think anyone is feeling rested after these last few weeks!  It could be a long few months ahead of us.

But we are still SO thankful for the snow! 

Now we just pray for the energy to withstand it all… Did you know there is more snow in the forecast?  Yay… (I might be crying inside….) !!

Thinking happy and warm thoughts,
 The Rancher’s Wife…

I tried taking pictures of the horses in my back yard, but there was so much snow my camera couldn’t focus!

Taking hay down to the cows and unloading without a tractor…

Its snowy and beautiful even if its so much work!

The upside of so much snow!

Priorities

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Preg checking.  It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t picturesque but it certainly is exciting and entertaining.  Not the actual preg checking itself… that is somewhat boring and redundant.  We make the day entertaining and exciting any way we can, which most often includes some kind of razzing about somebody everybody.

On this fine fall day, we were working the cattle we run on the forest ground.  It is a considerably smaller herd of cows than the group we do out to Black Pine.  Don’t get me wrong, with three different ranches pooling cows together, there was still a lot to do, but we were able to slow things down a bit.

And slowing things down for a bit was kinda nice. I’m sure that the guy that got put on the fence a few times didn’t think it was a take-it-easy kind of preg checking day. Or the guy that was doing the preg checking…  There’s nothing nice or easy going IN the OUT end of a cow! 

Every rancher will tell that there is more work to be done than there are hours of the day.  Even if the cows are settled and the haying is done and the water looks good, there is fence that could use fixing and equipment could do with servicing.  There comes a point that you have to decide just how hard you want to push yourself.  You could work a neck break pace and get a lot of work done, but that leads straight to burnout and once you hit burnout you hate your job.  And where this is more than a job, its a lifestyle, we can’t afford to reach the burnout stage.

So what do you do to avoid burnout?  I don’t know that we have totally found the answer to this question.  Unfortunately there are those days and weeks that you have no choice but to push hard.  But even though we don’t have the complete solution, I will tell you that there is one thing we always keep in mind and that is our priorities.

There are a lot of things that are important to our family and our ranch.  Obviously, as far as the ranch goes, the cows have gotta be happy.  Its hard to swallow that hundreds of other girls get my cowboy’s attention over me, until you take into consideration that they are cows.  Then its all good.  Beyond the ranch, our priorities are God, family, and community because without God we are nothing, with out family none of it is worth it, and its all so much better with good friends and neighbors.

Our priorities have to be family priorities with a common goal because on the long days where my husband is nearly non existent and I am being both mom and dad, it can get overwhelming.  If I didn’t have the ranch’s success as one of my priorities I’m pretty positive in would be a real cranky wife being put second.  And knowing The Rancher’s priorities include taking care of his family helps me to know that he is doing everything he can to make it back home as fast as he can.

So on this day of preg checking, we certainly had getting the work done as our top priority.  But enjoying our time working together with our family and friends was a close second.  And because it was, it was a fun day even if it was spent at the back end of a cow.   
        

It Looks Like we are Working, But we Call it a Vacation

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We preg checked the buffalo again.  Not because we had to, which is usually why we go preg checking, but because we want to.  Are we weird because we want to do more preg checking?  I know we are… We are one of those families that enjoy working, so instead of taking a real vacation, we go to my brother’s place to do more work.
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Click “Read More” for the rest of the story!

Actually, we didn’t go for the work.  I went for the family.  I guess if preg checking crazy buffalo is what I have to do to hang out with my family, then I guess that’s worth it.  Because I think that my family is pretty awesome.

Let me walk you through that day a little bit…

Yep… there was buffalo.  They are ugly and majestic, all at the same time.  They are so powerful and terrifying and awe inspiring.  In all honesty, I think they are pretty cool but I am so glad that I’m not the one running the place.

 Here is my nephew, with pretty sweet hair.  He is so funny because although he lives in Washington, he was born in Alabama and he can’t seem to get that thin Alabama blood out of his system.  No matter how many northwestern winters he makes it through or how many layers he puts on, the boy can’t stay warm out there.  But the cold doesn’t matte when his dad gives him a job to do.  He toughs it out anyway!

And then there is The Rancher’s Sidekick, that is there for the fun and the snacks.  Good thing the company and work is fun.  Funny story about this boy and the licorice…  He saw a guy walk over to the fence, dug around in his coat pocket, and pulled out a piece.  The guy offered The Rancher’s Sidekick a licorice and he took that as an open invitation to crawl up the fence and have as many pieces of licorice as he wanted.  And you guessed it, over the day, my boy ate up the whole package!  

Working out in the middle of nowhere may be inconvenient at times, but the view is always worth it.

My other nephew… I can’t believe how fast this boy is growing. I’m not old enough to be an aunt of a teenager, or soon to be.  If he had to choose his job for the day, it would be watching the little ones instead of working the stinky buffalo.  He has such a big heart and can’t help but love my babies and I love him for it.

My cool oldest brother.  When I was teeny tiny, he would go out of his way to hang out with me.  He was the cool brother that would help me saddle up to go ride or swing by the house to give me a ride in the wheel barrow.  Then when I went to college he still would make the effort to hang out with me.   He would drive hours to pick me up so I could spend the weekend out on the ranch with him.  In fact, that’s how ended up meeting The Rancher.  He did an internship with my brother and I fell in love with him.  Yep, my brother’s pretty cool.

The Rancher doing the easy job for once.  And by that I simply mean that he was doing someone else’s cattle (buffalo) and had no stake in game.  Its almost relieving to not be the boss every once ina while.

My beautiful neices.  They’re cool.  They’re smart.  And they are TOTALLY off limits to any boys that want to take them out.  For at least 20 years or so. 

This is the set up.  They put panels around everywhere because buffalo are crazy.  Super crazy so we make sure that our backs are covered…

Apparently The Ranch Princess doesn’t know how to take a serious picture.  But that’s ok.  Every bit of this picture is her personality and I love it!

Nobody is immune to this cutey.  Everyone needs a minute to snuggle a sweet, chubby baby like The Cowboy Kid.

The Rancher took the opportunity to sharpen up his preg checking skills since he had someone to teach him along the way.  Buffalo are actually a little easier to check because their back end is narrower and not so deep.  But it all translates just fine to cow anatomy terms.

My brother open us the gate so I could catch a picture without the chute in the way.  And while, I was taking the picture and looking through the lens and NOT paying attention to what was happening around me, The Rancher came around and scared me.  Scared me so bad I screamed and jumped a mile high.  Sure the buffalo wasn’t coming after me, but somebody or something was!  I still haven’t got him back for that… Hmm… Any ideas?

The little ones…  They work the buffalo once a year to cull out the old, sick ones, get the preg checking done, vaccinate everything and then wean out the babies.

My sweet baby loves to be outside.  He came home from the hospital a little cranky, but taking him outside always calmed him.  Even in the cold now, he loves to be out and never fusses with what’s happening around him. 

The buffalo were stinky and crazy and my fingers were so cold I couldn’t feel them, but the food was great and the people are my favorite so all-in-all, I could call it a great day.  

Confessions About Truckers…

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I have a terrible confession to make…. Growing up I had a very narrow minded, very terrible perception of truck drivers. There… I said it. And the sad thing is that it was an opinion I formed in the first grade that took me YEARS to change.

I very vividly remember my little 6 year old self sitting around a table with a few of the boys of my class hearing them say that all they wanted to do when they grew up was to drive semi.  Now, if you please, imagine a very cute somewhat bossy, sassy, darling and very opinionated little girl that was sure that the only dreams worth living were her dreams… that’s me.  In my mind, the only guys that drove semis were fat, stinky single fathers that drank and smoked and were on the road so much that their own mothers had to take care of their kids.  It was like they couldn’t get a job at home and the only thing they could do was drive.  I took them for failures and therefore anyone that drove semi or wanted to, were failures at life too.  Pretty terrible right?  At the time I didn’t think so and so you can guess that when I heard these boys I was absolutely baffled why someone would want to choose a life as a failure, destined to be stinky, lonely, and fat from sitting on their rear all day.  

Great opinion, huh?  Remember I was 6!

Fast forward 14 years and all the sudden there I was marrying a man that loved semis just like those boys, and although he didn’t want to be a truck driver all his life, he did love the opportunity to haul cows in the semi.  Eek! I kinda couldn’t believe it and I really didn’t ever want to admit that my husband did such a thing.  But after riding with him those first few years, my opinion drastically changed.

Having an up close view of just what it is like in driver’s seat helped me realize that first, driving semi isn’t easy and isn’t for the faint of heart.  That moment when you have to pull your rig across the highway, stopping all lanes of traffic to get turned around to get backed into that tight spot to load up just about makes me pee my pants… And I’m just the passenger! And speaking of backing up, can you imagine backing up a 50 foot trailer a quarter mile when you struggle to back up your car 10 feet?!  I seriously thought truck driving didn’t require a brain but then my mind as BLOWN watching The Rancher drive. 

Being the wife of an occasional trucker help to debunk the all-truckers-are-fat-stinky-losers myth pretty fast.  I mean, with a wife as awesome as me, how can you NOT be rocking life?! Haha… But seriously, The Rancher’s character of being an honest, hardworking, giving, God-fearing family man easily proves that truckers are great men too.

Do you hate me? I seriously had a terrible perception and really discredited a lot of good men (and women!) with my shallow stereotype.  But now every time Smokey and The Bandit comes on, I have a sense of pride for my trucking husband. So now I am here to tell you truckers are people too! And good people!  Sure there are a few that give them all a bad name, but that’s in every job and industry we see.  They are good, smart, skilled people that just have their own dreams. 

PS On a similar note, The Rancher says to give a little love and share the road with those truckers.  Just remember, they are bigger than you!

Ag in Your County Promotions!

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Ag promoting has become a big part of my family- my dad, brothers, me…  We all love the life and want to share what we have!  My brother works on his Farm Bureau board in Salmon had a fun opportunity to do a little ag promoting at his fair.

Their board had seen posters with farming/ranching photos with a some facts relating to agriculture as a whole.  My brother’s wanted to put up something similar at their fair, but more specifically they wanted to spread a few facts about their county.  They thought about using the generic posters for the sake of ease and that they were already available, but my brother said he knew a photographer that might be able to help out…

Then he called me.

And I said yes!  I love this stuff!  I love spreading the word, creating posters, using my photos… ALL OF IT!  The one hitch was that it was the week before my fair and I was already pulling my hair out getting everything ready.  (Ya know, they ask the young naive ones to be on the fair board before they know how crazy it REALLY is.)  But I didn’t want to miss out on this fun chance so I packed up my stuff and found a corner at the fair to pull together these posters!

My brother did the hard work of picking the photos and the wording.  I got the fun part of throwing it all together however I wanted.  In my opinion, they turned out great!  And it sounded like a lot of people at the fair loved them too.  I should actually say men instead of people, because they were the only ones to see them.  Unless some lady decided she needed to use the men’s bathroom…

About Me

Hello! I'm Allison, The Rancher's Wife! There's nothing I love more than being out on the ranch with my husband and kids. Join me for a look at what goes on here at the ranch and the life being a rancher's wife!

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