“Last year was the toughest I’ve ever seen,” says Mike Wilkins, but he is taking it in stride. “Sometimes you have to pay for the lifestyle. We’re gonna have some pretty tight budgets this year – there ain’t gonna be no frill on them.”

How much are vaccinations worth? Here in north-central Idaho, common killed virus shots for spring branding total nearly $4 per cow and just under $8 per calf from the local vet. With that kind of investment, proper handling has to be a priority for producers.

“What’s really cool about sheep is the way they’re a part of the human story,” says Dr. Hailey Wilmer, research rangeland management specialist at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station near Dubois.

“I always wanted to be a farmer,” says Brice Mosekian of BnB Farms in Cambridge. “I didn’t want to do it in California.”

If it seems like breakdowns are more frustrating than they were three years ago, you’re not alone. The representative at the dealership is probably feeling the stress too.

Summer weekends mean rodeos for Idaho’s urban and rural dwellers alike. As two- and four-legged athletes test their skills in a sandy arena, there’s a lot going on behind the chutes. And that’s just where the Pinz family likes to be.       

It’s another hot summer day, but something is off: The sun has a reddish hue, the light is dim, and the wind carries the smell of destruction. No, it isn’t the apocalypse but just another wildfire season in the West.

If you’ve ever browsed photos from cattle shows of decades past, you’ve seen a striking shift to longer, taller and altogether “framier” U.S. cattle over the years.

Cowboy humorist Baxter Black once quipped, “Working dogs is like manipulating a screwdriver with chopsticks, like doing calligraphy with a plastic whip, like bobbing for apples, like threading a needle with no hands, like playing pool on the kitchen table.”