Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Fall Harvest

Our days have been filled with the fall harvest. For us, that mostly means shipping our calves and lambs. As always, we adjust to changing conditions. For the past several years we have sold most of our calves to the same feeder in Oklahoma. This year’s drought meant that he did not have the wheat pastures to feed out the calves. We listed them on the Superior Livestock Auction, a reputable on-line cattle auction. The steer and heifer calves went to two separate buyers in Kansas, where timely rains provided winter pasture.

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Meghan and Seamus bringing the cows and calves up to sort
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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R.C. Buckley, Superior rep
working calves with Pat
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Putting the calves onto the scales
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Eamon moving the calves
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Ed Buchanan, brand inspector
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Ed and R.C. figuring
photo by Sharon O'Toole

For years, we have retained ownership on our lambs. We usually send them to Dakota Feeders in Hurley, South Dakota where our friend Bill Aeschlimann feeds them to slaughter weight. The lambs are then distributed through the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative to fine restaurants and markets mostly on the East Coast.

This year, we are nervous about the high corn prices (due to the ethanol demand) and have partnered with another gentleman who also does business with Bill. We have feeders closer to home, but our experience with the low death loss at Dakota Feeders compensates for the higher fuel costs to transport the lambs.

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Oscar holding up the ewes
(on a relatively warm day)
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Lambs onto the truck
Badwater
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Shifting the chute to another level
Badwater
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Our job is to get this year’s calf and lamb crops onto the trucks in as healthful and stress-free manner as possible. We are lucky to work with some fine truckers who make our job a lot easier.

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Ewes headed back to the pasture
Badwater
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Free at last
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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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

Fall Harvest

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