Sheep Ranching with my Floridian Friends

Two years ago a retired couple from Florida came out to a Wyoming sheep ranch for the first time. Chris and Katia spent a week with me in the heat of the fall work in September. We spent long days cutting sheep, trailing lambs, mouthing and bagging ewes, and a side-by-side adventure gone a little hairy… where Chris learned that we don’t lock vehicles around here, especially on the side of a mountain! After a week of working together, Katia and I both cried when we had to say goodbye. We were no longer strangers from opposite sides of the country, but friends with too many miles in between.

I was so excited when Katia messaged me this winter wanting to come back for lambing season. They showed up in the midst of shed lambing, diving right in to whatever task I asked of them. I got to show them the desert country where we winter our sheep, and get a $1 ice cream cone at Little America. They got to experience a few different seasons in their six days here: dust, snow and ice (where Chris tested out his snow angel making and snow ball throwing skills), mud, and green grass growing. All the while staying in the sheep camp and walking to the outhouse on the frigid mornings like champs! We learned more about each other over lamb meals and bottles of wine, and even got to share a Peruvian dish- Ceviche, made by Oscar for Good Friday.

Even though they are coming from a life in the city, working as a CEO and nurse all their lives, they are great help and up for anything. They understand that animals die, but it's still ok to shed a tear for them. They don't even think twice about sleeping in the camp during a spring blizzard. They aren't afraid of getting sticky newborn lamb poop all over their hands that they make and eat a sandwich with. Flaking alfalfa off the wagon in the wind seems to leave more hay in your mouth and clothes than on the ground, and leading yearling colts that are getting halterbroke is just part of it too. Lamb milk replacer tastes better out of a Bud Light bottle. Those barb wire gates produce more blood on a little hand cut than one would think, and getting a lamb to nurse for the first time isn't as easy as it looks. The first tick I've seen all year obviously found its way to fresh Florida blood. Butterscotch schnapps is better than sugar in your coffee, and the big fireplace in the lambing barn is the best place to be. Another week filled with great memories made, lessons learned by all, and lots of laughs. Working alongside good company sure makes the time fly by, and again, tears filled my eyes when they loaded up to leave.

Chris and Katia spend their retirement traveling the world, visiting countless countries, and seeing incredible sights; yet they chose to come visit a little ol’ sheep ranch in SW Wyoming not only once, but twice! And with a future summer trip in the making. I am in awe that the ranch ranks that high on their travel list amidst places such as Iceland, Italy, and Asia; and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to share my life with such amazing people.   

Here’s a little bit from their time here in their own words:

Chris-

“My wife and I have been retired for a few years and love to travel. We have come out to beautiful Wyoming to visit and work at the Julian Ranch twice because we seek adventure and to learn new things. The Julian family has been producing outstanding quality lamb and wool for five generations. Spending time working here will give you a lot of respect for the effort and care they put in every day.

Anyone joining the movement in the United States to buy meat and produce more locally should definitely consider their lamb.  It makes no sense environmentally to buy our food from half way around the world when we can produce it better in this country and reduce emissions from shipping.  And if you visit, Marie's lamb chop dinners after a hard day's work will definitely make you want more.”    

Katia-

“Even though my father was raised on a dairy farm in Michigan, I've lived in cities throughout the south my whole life; currently in Gainesville, FL.

I frequently visited my grandparent's farm and have fond memories of spending time with them, but the dairy cows were long gone. I never had the opportunity to see how much work went into producing milk.

Because my husband, Chris, enjoys an occasional "educational" vacation, I was all for traveling to WY for a sheep herding experience! I guess you could say I wanted to get an idea of what my family once did, having never seen it.

Spending the week with Marie allowed me to be there when the ewes gave birth, watch new lambs nurse for the first time (sometimes with a little assistance from us), witness some lambs and ewes not survive for whatever reasons (and to cry for them), bottle feed the lambs that were orphaned or abandoned, help set up and tear down corrals in the desert to separate the bucks from the range herd, putting "earrings" on the day old lambs, and so many other tasks.

The amount of care, work, and hours the Julian family puts in to provide food and wool for others is commendable. Theirs is truly a "labor" of love. I now consider Marie and the rest of her family a part of my family. They are all such wonderful people to be with, and my eyes filled with tears at this goodbye.

I consider it a great honor to have been included in only a small part of their daily lives. I now have a greater understanding and appreciation of where our daily comforts come from. It's because of families like Marie's, and mine, that we are able to enjoy some of the most important necessities!”