Dev WFC

Working with sheep is one of the last handcrafted occupations with ancient roots and traditions. While the business of sheep ranching has evolved, the fundamentals of raising sheep have remained much the same for thousands of years. Sheep herding and ranching provide a hands-on, independent life, where workers shape their daily existence according to the cycle of seasons that defines their work.
This traveling exhibition, produced as one part of the Western Folklife Center’s Sheep Ranching in the American West  project, presents a broad view of the work at hand as experienced in the Intermountain and Great Basin West.



Because much of the business of sheep ranching takes place in extremely remote places in the American West, the everyday public is not generally aware of this way of life and the current challenges it faces. This largely invisible occupation is quickly disappearing as the number of sheep operations in the American West diminishes. Since 1974 the sheep industry has declined over 39 percent. As a result, family run ranches seek new ways of sustaining their livelihood as they face challenges to their industry. In this atmosphere of necessary change, contemporary sheep raising continues to draw upon generations of wisdom, skills, and traditions. These cultural threads – emphasized in Trailing the Year - strengthen the industry and provide a legacy of work that paints a rich picture of an occupation at risk.


This exhibit will be on display at the Western Folklife Center beginning June 29 to July 14, 2006. Trailing the Year is also a traveling exhibit and is available for use by cultural organizations. Find out how you can host this exhibit.

You can find these related products in our online Gift Shop:
Barrego, A Sagebrush Journey with the Ellison Ranching Company
Bitterbrush Country-Living on the Edge of the Land by Diane Josephy Peavey
Fifty Miles from Home by Linda Dufurrena and Carolyn Dufurrena
Herding Sheep in Northern Utah by Laurie Rich
Sheepwagon, Home on the Range by Nancy Weidel

This exhibition was produced with the generous support of:
Nevada Arts Council
Anne Pattee
National Endowment for the Arts
Simmons Family Foundation
R. Harold Burton Foundation