Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Weaning lambs, sorting ewes and thoughts about corn for ethanol

We are crazy busy right now with both cattle and sheep work. The sheep and cows came off their National Forest grazing permits in late September. We have some fall pasture around the Home Ranch, which allows us to work all the animals in an orderly manner. By the time we are done, we will have individually examined several thousand sheep and several hundred cows.

Most years, we keep the lambs until mid-November or so, then send them to the feedlot in South Dakota. The lambs are fed a natural corn-based ration until they reach slaughter weight at about 150 pounds, and then are marketed through the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative, which Pat helped form. We are mighty nervous about corn prices, which have been driven up by the demand from ethanol plants. The boon for corn farmers has been disastrous for those who feed livestock, from feeder lambs and cattle to dairies to hog farms. All this translates into higher consumer food prices and more risk and uncertainty for livestock producers.

Still, it is a fine day when we sort the lambs off and view the summer's crop. These guys have grown from their birth weight of about eight pounds to their weaning weight somewhat over 100 pounds in a period of five months. They have survived storms, coyotes, crows and bears. They have stuck with their mothers, who tended them and brought them safely in. It is animal husbandry in its truest sense.

The feeder lambs are now loading onto semis and heading for Dakota Lamb feeders. Everyone from the herders to the truckers to the feeder agreed that they are as fine a lot of lambs as they have ever seen.

guys%20in%20ranch%20corrals-small.jpg
Sheep sorting crew
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

weaning%20the%20lambs-small.jpg
Newly weaned lambs
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Jose%20on%20Coco-small.jpg
Jose on Coco
Cottonwood pasture, Carbon County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

sheep%2C%20Cottonwood%20corral-small.jpg
Working sheep in the Cottonwood corral
North of Dixon, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat%20%26%20Nerio%2C%20yellow%20dog-small.jpg
Pat and Nerio at the sorting gate
Cottonwood corral
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Siobhan%20%26%20Pepe%20with%20gloves-small.jpg
Siobhan and Pepe
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Grandpa%20%26%20Seamus%20at%20Cottonwood-small.jpg
Grandpa George and Seamus at the gate
Cottonwood corrals
photo by Sharon O'Toole

replacement%20ewe%20lambs-small.jpg
2007 replacement ewe lambs
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

About Pat & 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.

Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Weaning lambs, sorting ewes and thoughts about corn for ethanol

Post a comment

About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Search

Archives

Recent Posts