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Next time you are considering a burger or steak, consider 307 Pub and Grub. Not only are you sure to have a wonderful meal, but you will also be supporting the Platte Valley economy. That’s because 307 Pub and Grub buys local beef. To date, 307 Pub and Grub in Encampment has bought steers from Zeller Cattle, the Silver Spur Ranch, the Big Creek Ranch and, at the 2023 Carbon County Fair, a steer raised by Quade Jordan. Each steer is appropriately named 307-1, 307-2, and so on. These steers h...
The University of Wyoming’s annual ram test will conclude with a public field day Saturday, April 13, at the Laramie Research and Extension Center. The event, which begins at 11 a.m., will present results from the 140-day performance test and discuss how test results can be used to make selection decisions. Lunch, provided by Wyoming Wool Initiative, will be served at noon. Starting at 1 p.m., attendees will have the opportunity to view the tested rams and participate in a silent auction. “We’ve conducted this central performance test since...
When Ed Glode’s great-grandfather, E.J. Shively, bought Tilton & Son Hardware Store in December 1925 it came with a list of vendors. “The top vendor was International Harvester,” said Glode, who is the fourth-generation to own and run the business. “When they settled the West from Chicago to San Francisco, next to every other rail hub was an International Harvester dealer. We were the product of one of those. Most of those are closed in the western United States. We’re one of the few that’s st...
A new study in the UW Department of Animal Science suggests that investigation of maternal microbiomes in cattle may yield promising results for producers looking to improve herd health, reproductive efficiency, and even feed efficiency. In November 2020, graduate student Madison Shults and assistant professor Hannah Cunningham-Hollinger took vaginal swabs and rumen fluid samples from a group of cows and heifers at the Laramie Research and Extension Center. Open (not bred) cows also received uterine swabs. This was the first step in a study...
Tack shops were once a common sight across the country, but especially the West. As the tools used in ranching have evolved from riding a horse to riding an all-terrain vehicle, these iconically western businesses seem to have all but disappeared. Not in Saratoga, though, where Hatch Tack has set up shop on Bridge Avenue. Cordell Hatch and his wife, Siara, have operated Hatch Tack for nearly two decades and opened up their storefront in Saratoga over a year ago. Since then, said the couple,...
Danny Burau, owner of The Malt in Saratoga, knows the concept of farm-to-table isn’t new or revolutionary in the food industry. It’s been around long enough it was once parodied by the sketch comedy series “Portlandia” when two characters—played by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein—are so invested in the chicken on the menu they visit where it was raised. Being a comedy series, hijinks ensue. While it may seem almost hyperbolic in its critique of the locally sourced movement, there is perhaps...
The University of Wyoming Extension welcomes Jennifer Faulkner as a local foods coordinator in the Department of Agricultural and Applied economics. Faulkner grew up on a Wyoming cattle ranch and managed a ranch operation in Riverton for three years. As a rancher, she was highly active in the local foods movement and sold meat, dairy and produce to local customers. Faulkner’s experience with agriculture and passion for local foods serve her well in her new role. “Jen rolled up her sleeves and...
The University of Wyoming Extension welcomes Rob Ziegler as the new livestock production and marketing extension specialist with the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Ziegler earned his bachelor’s degree in animal and veterinary sciences from UW in 2018 while working as a laboratory technician for the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory. He went on to earn a master’s degree in ruminant nutrition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2020. His master’s thesis focused on co...
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Ryley Alameda is only 12 years old but she is already a partner in Remick Boer Goats, learning the ins and outs of what it really takes to raise an animal for profit. Ryley is a member of the Saratoga's Finest 4-H club and she has shown goats as her 4-H project for the past four years. It all started when a family friend, Valerie Remick, gave Ryley and her brother two bum goat kids from her Boer herd. They named the goats Tank and Lightning and didn't have high hopes for them. However, both...
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride in a pumpkin carriage like Cinderella? Well, three Carbon County 4-H members are one step closer to finding out; they are growing giant pumpkins for their 4-H project. One of those 4-Hers is Emily Donough, a three year member of the Rawlins Reliables 4-H Club. Gardening & Horticulture is her main 4-H project and she got her love of growing things from her mom, Melissa Donough, the biology teacher at Rawlins High School. "I've always loved...
One of my favorite parts of being a University of Wyoming Extension Educator is going on yard calls. Residents from around the county will call the office and ask questions about things that are giving them fits in their landscape: yellow patches in grasses, odd-shaped holes in leaves, funny insects marching up and down the bark and so forth. Sometimes people stop in the office with a sample; sometimes they bring pictures. If I can’t figure out the problem from the sample or the picture, I travel to the property and take a look in person. In r...
Wildflowers can be a great addition to a landscape. The cottage look is just what many gardeners are seeking. Additionally, when we hear wildflowers, we tend to think about flowers that are easy to grow, require little maintenance, and maybe even require less water than some of the other plants in the garden. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. The term “wildflower” implies the flowers have not been cultivated and are not hybrids; the flowers should not differ from their native flower counterparts. Wildflowers are not, and can...
Imagine: citrus trees growing in Medicine Bow, Wyoming all year round. As unlikely as this might sound, Kani and Lyle Flansburg believe it possible and are taking the steps to make this unlikely scenario a reality. They have already built a greenhouse in Medicine Bow that is the beginning of this citrus growing world. "We have started a small permaculture design, food forest and sustainable agriculture demonstration business, WyOasis, LLC," Kani said. For those who don't know what permaculture...
For those who are not involved in the world of agriculture, the word "cattle rustling" may invoke images of sepia-toned movies in which black hatted villains abscond with the property of hard working ranchers. Perhaps it brings to mind gritty western movies, still set in the Old West, in which lynch mobs are formed and the thieves are brought to some form of justice. Unfortunately, the theft of cattle is not the problem of a bygone era. While ranches and ranchers have adapted with changing...
Among the many bills that were introduced during this past legislative session, one that may have caught the eye of ranchers throughout Wyoming was House Bill 0244. This piece of legislation, introduced by Representative Hans Hunt, would have repealed Wyoming State Statute 11-37-108, which may fine a rancher up to $750 for not paying the beef check-off dues currently owed to the Wyoming Beef Council. The bill failed by a vote of 27-29-4, Representative Jerry Paxton was excused, and so the $1...
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The Upper North Platte River Valley, much like the rest of Wyoming, is filled with family histories that are an integral part of the history of the area as well. The descendants of original homesteaders often still operate the very ranches founded by their ancestors. Sometimes, though, a family will find that they are working on far less land than their forebears. Such was the case for Alan Peryam, great-grandson of William T. Peryam. "Suddenly, you look up and this famous old ranch, one of the...
Firewater Public House (Firewater) owner Danny Burau has always envisioned his restaurant to have locally grown produce and proteins served at his venue whenever possible. "We had conversations with ranchers when we opened and the Barkhursts, from LL Livestock, came in we struck up an easy conversation about serving beef or bison from the Platte Valley," Burau said. He said the talks centered around how Barkhursts and Firewater could make this work. "I knew it was going to be a challenge to...
Steve Priest, the principal of Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School went to Ohio State thinking he was going to major in agronomy. His goal was to graduate and work for the seed company Dekalb. "In high school I was interested in crops, crop science and seeds, and I knew that is what I wanted to study," Priest said. "Then my Ag teacher told me I should consider going into Ag Ed. Then, another Ag Ed teacher told me I should look at it, too, so I decided to consider it." Priest was...
Toni Tolle may not be a native to the Platte Valley, having moved to Encampment in February 2018, but she is a native to the world of agriculture and the West. Born and raised in Hereford, Texas, Tolle spent countless hours in her father's tack and saddle shop. Her father made and repaired saddles, horse tack and repaired boots. "He didn't get too much into the non-tack stuff," said Tolle. An early benefit to having a father who made saddles was that Tolle used the saddles when showing and ridin...
The economics of ranching are, to put it simply, complex. Whether it's a ranch that's been family owned for over a century or an operation that spans hundreds, if not thousands, of acres, the issues faced are often the same. The health of cattle, the availability of food and the abundance, or lack thereof, of water are concerns shared by ranches of all sizes. Because of the complexity of ranch economics, the life of a ranch hand is one filled with long hours and hard work. On the TA Ranch,...
It is no accident that we use the term "busy as a bee" when talking about how active and hard working someone is. Bees are, and have been, one of the hardest working and most efficient pollinators in the animal world. A well-known byproduct of their pollination efforts is, of course, honey. According to the National Honey Board (NHB), honey production in 2013 was nearly 149 million pounds in the United States and the NHB puts annual honey consumption in the U.S. at 450 million pounds. Wyoming,...
As a Career and Technical Education teacher at HEM Jr./Sr. High School I often find myself asking what students are planning to do after high school graduation. "I'm just going back to the ranch," one student answered. I promptly reprimanded the student for considering pursuits in production agriculture an option of dishonor. Students should be proud to be involved in the agricultural industry and agricultural courses strive to support those pursuits. Realms of Participation Participation in...