All three bunches of sheep which wintered on the Red Desert have now crossed under Interstate 80, over the Union Pacific railroad overpass, and across Rodewald’s pasture. The early lambers are at the lambing sheds north of Dixon. After last year’s experience of lambing in the wool, we are most anxious to get on with shearing. Meanwhile, the second and third bunches are in the Badwater Pasture, also awaiting the shearers. They will soon trail on through the Atlantic Rim to the Cottonwood lambing grounds. Here’s some photos of leaving the Red Desert.
The sheep are ready to leave winter pasture on the Red Desert
We have to flag as the sheep enter the highway
Today, the first band of ewes headed south, under Interstate 80 at Creston Junction, and over the Union Pacific line on Wyoming Highway 789. After a hard winter on the Red Desert, they are going to greening pastures. The other two bands which wintered on the Red Desert will follow in a couple of weeks as they travel to Badwater for shearing and Cottonwood for lambing.
crossing under I80, in the rear view mirror
sheep heading down from the Union Pacific overpass
The traffic was backed up as it waited for the sheep to pass over the narrow bridge.
Filomeno heading for the gate
through the gate into Rodewald’s pasture
Most of the Livestock Guardian Dogs rode in the truck–after various escape attempts
Every year in mid-April, we begin the long trek south with the sheep. Most of them have wintered on the Red Desert, north of Wamsutter, Wyoming. They trail sixty miles or so to the Badwater pasture–a checkerboard pasture southeast of Creston Junction. When the Union Pacific put the railroad through in 1865, the U.S. government gave them every other section for 20 miles on either side of the track as an incentive. If they’d just given them a solid ten miles, it would have made life easier for future generations, but that is how it is. Half the sections are privately owned (and many of them were sold by the railroad over the years) and half are BLM-administered lands.
This annual journey includes crossing under Interstate 80 and over the Union Pacific tracks, thankfully on an overpass. It is a trail fraught with hazards, as the traffic is sometimes heavy and the railroad overpass is blind on the approaches. We do a lot of flagging and keep the sheep in the right-of-way as much as possible.
I recently read “Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author,Who Went in Search of Them” by Donovon Hohn–a book which tracks the vast number of container ships who travel from Asia to the United States with consumer goods. I was interested to note that the sheep were passing over railroad cars carrying containers that clearly originated in China.
Containers which came by sea from China.
When we pass through the gate into our good neighbors Duane and Debbie Rodewald’s pasture, we give a huge sigh of relief.
Patrick and Sharon O'Toole are ranchers in the Little Snake River Valley on the Wyoming-Colorado border. They represent the fourth generation on the six-generation family ranch. The O'Tooles raise cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and children on their high country ranching operation. The transhumance operation stretches from north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado to Wyoming's Red Desert.
Pat has served in the Wyoming House of Representatives, the Western Water Policy Commission, and is currently President of the Family Farm Alliance, representing irrigators and water users in the western United States. He is active with several conservation and agricultural organizations.
Sharon is a writer and poet. She writes extensively on western issues, and the relationship between landscape, animals and people. She is widely published as an author, essayist and editorial commentator.
Pat and Sharon have three children. Their daughter, Meghan and her husband Brian Lally, live on the ranch with their children, Siobhán, Seamus, Maeve and Tiarnán. Meghan has also served on the Wyoming Board of Agriculture and the Environmental Quality Council, She and Brian are active in community service.
Daughter Bridget lives in Phoenix with her husband, Chris Abel, where she works in health care communications. Chris works in the food distribution business.
Son Eamon and his wife Megan live on the ranch with their sons, McCoy and Rhen. Eamon is a horseman and natural resource manager, and Megan is a flight nurse. Eamon is a member of the Wyoming Beef Council and is active in the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
The blog traces the activities and life on the ranch, from the mundane to the fabulous.
Ladder Ranch
