Opportunities through Membership

In the fall of 2015, I wrote a Featured Member article, a short biography on long-time Wyoming Stock Growers members, in Encampment, Wyoming. While our members are strewn across the state, WSGA like most membership organizations has a few tried and true membership from each of our 23 counties that go above and beyond in their efforts to strengthen an almost 150-year-old organization.

I worked for WSGA at the time and met Kal and Vickie Herring at their ranch. A few years out of college from the University of Wyoming (GO POKES!), I was still technically "wet behind the ears." I was okay with that. Growing up on a ranch myself, I knew that anything worth cultivating takes time, much like ranching and writing. I humbled myself that even though I came from a ranching background I definitely didn't know everything there was. I took notes, photos and learned a great deal from our time together as well as a friendship. Over the years since then, I interviewed many more of our members and wrote articles on various issues in Wyoming that our ranchers face on a yearly, if not daily basis.

The one thing that membership organizations bring to the table, besides a unified camaraderie is the endless opportunities to improve your business. I'm now a full-time mother, ranch-wife, gate-opener, feeder of hungry crews, etc...I think you get the point and part-time contract employee for WSGA. I'm lucky that I can still keep those ties I cultivated there and stand on the other side of the counter as a producer and not just an employee.

My parents and I met Kal at the annual meeting and through conversation found he had about fifty bred heifers for sale. As any cattlemen know, the bred heifer market is somewhat a tricky thing to figure at times. Perfect for increasing the herd without having to wait as you would with home-raised replacement heifers but also treacherous in the fact that a price for a bred heifer can be a great deal or incredibly expensive. Thinking the latter, these heifers were AI bred (Artificially Inseminated) and PAP tested (Pulmonary Arterial Pressure) making them all the more valuable. Through some negotiation, we agreed on a reasonable price making our goal of growing a younger herd more real.

In early January we received our heifers from Encampment and will process them with the "Lazy D" and "Galloping H" brand, a new ear tag and notch to show our ownership. In just a few months, my husband and I will start calving the ranch-raised heifers we kept and the new heifers bringing in a new generation of life to the ranch. Many of the friendships made since I started with WSGA have stayed, growing over the years to a personal connection I treasure greatly.