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At the Roundup in the Fall

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Pat gearing up
Home Ranch
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Pat & Sharon looking for cows
Routt National Forest
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Tricia & Pat T. looking for cows
Medicine Bow National Forest
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Recent posts show fall colors in our neck of the woods. Of course, some of those red ones are afflicted with pine beetles. It seems like we just finished trailing all of the cows and calves, and ewes and lambs, onto the National Forest for summer grazing. Our off-date has come and gone, and so has the fall gather of our cows. We are blessed with great grass in our summer country, and we are leaving lots of it behind. Fall moisture has really greened things up, after yet another dry summer.

October 1st is the date that we are required to move the cows, and we were lucky to have several of our friends show up to help out. Everyone had cameras, including me, so the cows probably felt like they were being stalked by paparazzi! The outcome was lots of great photos, which we share with you.

Pat pointed out that we could have all stayed at the ranch and drank whiskey. It snowed the next day, and most of the cows would have walked home anyway!

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Cows!
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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More cows!
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Between the aspen
photo by Sharon O'Toole

To see more photos, go to "Continue Reading"

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Mike ahorseback
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Putting them together
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Mike and Big Ed
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Lunch break
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Pat on Plata
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Cowhand
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Almost there
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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End of the trail
Chief, Siobhan, Seamus & Sharon
photo by Pat Tognoni

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Day's end
Home Ranch
photo by Tricia Moore-Gode

Posted by Sharon O'Toole on October 7, 2007 12:15 AM |

Comments

The cattle always seem to know before we do that change is coming. How nice that you can leave some grass behind. It doesn't look like that will be the case for us, it's so dry in Nebraska.

Posted by: Rose | October 7, 2007 4:58 PM

Hey, it was such a joy to check out the log and see what's happening on the Ranch. I miss you all greatly and can't wait to see you soon. All my love.
Kevin

Posted by: Kevin | October 8, 2007 10:13 PM

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The opinions expressed in the Western Folklife Center's Deep West online journals are those of the online journal participants and not the Western Folklife Center. The Western Folklife Center does not moderate these journals and as such does not guarantee the veracity, reliability or completeness of any information provided in the journals or in any hyperlink appearing within them.

About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Sharon O'Toole
Pat and Sharon O’Toole are ranchers in the Little Snake River Valley near Savery, Wyoming, right on the Colorado-Wyoming border. They raise cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and children. Pat “immigrated” from Florida in 1970. He attended Colorado State University, where he met Sharon when both worked for the campus newspaper. Sharon grew up on their ranch, where they live and work with her father, their daughter, son and granddaughter (soon to be grandchildren!). Pat is a “water buffalo” and has served in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1986-1992), on the President’s Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, and is the current President of the Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for farmers, ranchers and irrigators. Sharon is an author, poet and journalist. She writes extensively on Western issues and is a columnist for “The Shepherd” magazine. Pat and Sharon are the parents of three children: Meghan, 27; Bridget, 26; and Eamon, 20.

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