Hear stories from four of Idaho's most influential sheep ranching families.
“Our family ranches are disappearing as surely as the carrier pigeon, with less fanfare than the leopard frog. There are fewer grandparents each year, fewer ranch kids who can afford to stay, or want to. Life is not always kind out here. But families, working together, learn who they are, what kind of men and women they will be, determined by the hardships, and the joy, of living here. Every decision has a consequence, every mistake its price.” –– Carolyn Dufurrena, Fifty Miles from Home
It isn’t easy being a family farmer or rancher in 2015. It is estimated that only 1 percent of Americans are involved in farming or ranching today. Most young people are a generation or two away from living life on the land.
Last year, the Trailing of the Sheep Festival started a three-year program called “Celebrating Generations.” The goal is to listen, learn, share, and save the memories of our western families – dreamers, all of them, who live and work the land and are the keepers of open space. The festival first honored the visionaries — those first families who found a piece of western land that matched their dreams. This year, it is following those families into today’s hardworking second and third generations, the landowners of today who have survived depressions, droughts, fires, and the pressures of a rapidly developing West that can put them out of business in a heartbeat. Can they hold onto the family vision of open spaces and working landscapes around them against demands their parents could never have foreseen? What are their stories of triumphs and loss? Next year, they will look at the next and future generation. Will they hold onto the dream of their parents and grandparents or find an easier life for themselves?
At the Sheep Tales Gathering on October 9, four members of Idaho’s most influential sheep ranching families will share their stories. Laird and John Noh represent the 5th and 6th generations of a sheep ranching family; Laird Noh served in the Idaho legislature for over 20 years. Henry Etcheverry operates his sheep business on 700,000 acres between Rupert and Lava Hot Springs in Idaho; his father came from the French Pyrenees in 1929. Mike Guerry will share his stories of working to save the rangelands and sheep ranching in southern Idaho.
Agriculture has historically been a unique experience of generations working side by side, of grandfathers and grandsons moving sheep to new meadows in spring, feeding and lambing in winter, haying in summer. They did it together. That’s not possible for many families today.
Want to share your own family's story? Ranching families are being invited from around the West to participate in the weekend activities and to share stories with visitors. Anyone willing can be a “Lambassador.” It means being identified as a rancher and being willing to answer questions about today’s ranching. Organizers hope all the ranching families who come will participate in the Trailing of the Sheep Parade on Sunday, helping to trail the sheep down Main Street in Ketchum, Idaho. The Western Folklife Center will be available during the Folklife Fair to record stories.
