blackfoot-valley

The number of cattle run on the Ranch varies somewhat from year to year. Normally there have been close to 600 registered purebred Red Angus cows and over 1,200 Red Angus-Black Angus crossed commercial cows. Cat- tle are grazed on the mountain grasses during the warmer parts of the year, at elevations between 5,500 to 6,000 feet (primarily, though, not entirely, on leased land). Well before winter the animals are brought down to the lower valleys of the Ranch; that is from 4,300 to 4,400 feet. The Ranch also main- tains about 35 horses of Percheron and American Saddle breed. They’re not just for show; ranch hands ride them while making the rounds with the cattle. Earlier, we noted the agricultural boom during the 1908-1918 period, and the bust that followed the failure of an attempt to grow wheat on a large scale when the years of good weather for that crop inevitably turned to drought. Most of the land farmed during that time reverted to brush and grass, and ranchers subsequently re-seeded most of these areas to grass for grazing. However, about 250 acres of hardier grains - barley and oats - are farmed even today on the Ranch, to be harvested for hay. Water released from the Wales Lake dam provides flood irrigation for some meadow hay, 172