Drought, Wildfires Prompt Torrington’s Biggest Cattle Sale In A Decade

At the Torrington Livestock Market in Wyoming, the third Friday of November is usually the biggest sale of the year of culled cattle.

This year, drought and wildfires sweeping through Wyoming and neighboring states made this year’s sale the largest in a decade with ranchers forced to sell more cattle because of hundreds of thousands of acres of lost pasture.

“A lot of times they'd run 3,000 to 3,200 cows (through the sale) and I think we'll have close to 4,000 this year,” co-owner Lander Nicodemus told Cowboy State Daily. “It might rival the biggest weighed cow sale ever and is the biggest weighed cow sale that I've ever been a part of in 10 years.”

On Wednesday, the market sold 6,000 cows.

Every Friday, the sales are for the culled cows that ranchers have cut from their herd for varying issues rather than keeping them through the winter. They have each been pregnancy checked and, if found not pregnant, are then sold on the Friday market.

“A lot of the producers in this region are weaning calves in October and November,” he said. “They're getting sent to wherever they're going. This is just a natural time of year for them to be sending their cows and bulls to town.”

However, there are nearly a third more cows than usual. 

“I think these guys are dipping a lot,” Nicodemus said. “They're being a lot more critical of their cow herd and sending more cows to town than they typically would just because of how dry it was this summer.”

His co-owner, Lex Madden, said that they will be working past midnight Friday to sell the large number of cattle.

Drought

Donna Baldwin Hunt is one rancher impacted by drought.

She is joining the sale Monday, which is reserved for pregnant cows. She posted an ad on Facebook that she has 420 “beautiful, well-behaved mamas that must leave the MW due to drought.”

“Join us on any Monday bred cow special and you'll witness it,” Nicodemus said. “I think most producers statewide and, in the West, had a year that was awfully dry. I even heard guys say it was the lowest, smallest beef cow inventory herd ever recorded since they started collecting that data. So, we're already starting really low with our numbers. And then it was super, super dry this year.”

“No rain, no grass, very little water. That's what I'm seeing,” Baldwin-Hunt said. She took a break between chores to talk to Cowboy State Daily about the conditions forcing her to sell her beloved “girls” that she has raised for years.  

Her family has ranched in the area since 1926, and she has never seen the conditions as bad as they are this year.

“The ’30s, of course, were tough for my family and there were some tough times back in the 9’0s, when we had to sell a few extra cows,” she said. “I don't think it was ever quite this magnitude.

“It’s no fun because I know all those girls, and we're selling the pretty much the heart of the herd. We're keeping the younger ones, who will do better in these conditions. We're not going out of business. We're just trying to stay in business.”

More Than Drought

Nicodemus has noticed that the increase in cattle sales are not just from the drought conditions.

“We've got front-row seats to watching the U.S. rancher essentially disappearing,” Nicodemus said. “We see cow herd after cow herd being dispersed and a lot of those that will never come back in business.

“Cattle herds that are dispersing are being affected by labor issues,” he said. “And I think the younger generation have watched their folks struggle for years to make ends meet. They're saying, ‘no, thank you.’ It’s pretty concerning.”

With urban sprawl continuing to gobble up ranchland in southeast Wyoming, “these young producers can't compete with these housing developments we're seeing on the Colorado Front Range. It is hard to keep any of this land in production and at the same time, the checks are pretty when they just sell the land off into houses.”

Hope For The Future Of Cattle

“As a nation, we've been very blessed,” Nicodemus said. “We've got the greatest producers on the earth, as far as I'm concerned. We raise the most beef, the most efficient way. There’s a lot of good efforts going on but I think it needs to be the focus of this country. We need to get our young producers back involved in this business. I think as a nation, we tend to wake up and pay attention.”

“It’s a sad story,” Baldwin Hunt added. “But also an inspirational story because ranchers just do what we have to do. I just hope somebody with some grass gets these nice girls and takes them home and treats them well.”

Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.