Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Trucking the ewe lambs north

We have been dancing with the weather. A storm blows in. We stack up the firewood, dig into the haystacks, scatter more feed for the cows and sheep. Every three or four days, we get a couple of days of good weather and load up groceries, bales of hay, grain, dog food, mail, fuel, water and provisions and head out to the sheep camps. This involves a 125 mile drive, some of it over interstate 80 (usually the most hazardous part of the journey) and some of it bucking drifts over two-tracks. The herders ride out the storms in their sheep camps and head out each morning, blizzard or shine, to feed corn to the sheep and keep them strong and together.

We had taken our ewe lambs (next year’s replacement ewes) out to our Powder Flat ranch and its associated grazing allotments, some 65 miles west of our Home Ranch. It used to be really good winter country, but has been severely affected by drought, energy development and an invasion of wild horses into this non-HMA area. (A Horse Management Area is one set aside for wild horses. They are not supposed to go outside these areas, but they too are pressed for feed and water, and cannot read.)

We had enough feed on our private and BLM lands for our ewe lambs to graze, but in mid-December, it started to snow. We have been in drought for eight years and were startled by this development. It is not bad news, for winter’s snow brings us summer’s grass. We decided to truck these ewe lambs up to the Red Desert, some 170 miles north to join most of the rest of our sheep. We have corn there, and men and trucks to feed and herd these sheep. The Powder Wash country is buried in snow. We have good and plenty on the Red Desert, but the wind has blown it around, and we will be altogether there, and not trying to tend camps in two directions. Edgar, the ewe lamb herder, will be glad for the company and improved conditions.

In the meantime, we struggle over icy roads.

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Brian, bringing up the lambs
Chivington Place, Powder Wash
Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Guard dog in the corral
photo by Sharon O'Toole

lambs%20ready%20to%20load-small.jpg
Ready to load
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Spencer%20on%20his%20truck%202-small.jpg
Spencer on his truck
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Lambs, truck, and snow
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Loaded and leaving, but
Meghan and Didi had to unload in the dark
photo by Sharon O'Toole

lambs%20in%20cow%20pasture-small.jpg
The ones we brought home
Home Ranch
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

Trucking the ewe lambs north

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