Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Fall gather on the Routt National Forest

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Trish with cows
Tennessee Creek, Routt National Forest
photo by Sharon O'Toole

We have marked the end of our summer grazing. We are fortunate to have good forest grazing permits for our sheep and our cows and calves. Our livestock enter their summer country from mid-June (the cows on the Medicine Bow National Forest) to July 1st (the rest of the cows and the sheep) on both the Medicine Bow and the Routt Forests. They happily graze—except for the occasional murder of some of their numbers by bears and coyotes—until late September, when we trail them off of the Forest to fall country. Most of our fall country lies on private land near the Home Ranch. There wework both the cows and the ewes, and sort the calves and the lambs. Here are some pictures from our first gather on the Routt Forest of the cows and calves. We had an early snow, and it was pretty deep when we got to the high country to kick the cattle down. Cold weather makes them eager to trail down, and they know the way, even without us.

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Crew heading up Beeler Draw
Routt National Forest
photo by Lynn Cox

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Sharon: camera at the ready
Beeler Draw
photo by Lynn Cox

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Cow, lurking
Tennessee Creek
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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George and Lynn: crew
Tennessee Creek
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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No speeding
Bedrock Creek Hill
photo by Sharon O'Toole

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Pat and Sharon: turning the lead
Lidstone gate
photo by Lynn Cox

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Snow on aspen
October 3, 2009

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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 gather on the Routt National Forest

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