This
winter has been so open in our part of Wyoming that it reminded me we are still
in drought. We need snow, we’ll take rain, but we need snow. Hope the weather is
not setting up for another disaster like the one in 1886. Won’t happen because
we are better prepared today than the ranchers of more than a century ago, we
hope.
The Wyoming
summer of 1886 was hot and dry; cattle went into winter in less than perfect
condition. In November heavy snow came and it stayed for two months. In late
January the snows came again, snowing for four days and three nights before
letting up. By spring the bad news was apparent, piles of dead cattle, many others
were wobbling from starvation. Wyoming in 1886 proudly boasted of it being the greatest
place on earth to raise livestock with over nine million cattle on the range.
By 1895 only three million were left.
The
main lessons learned from drought and blizzards were simple. Put up hay for
winter feed and sell down when the grass is bad in the summer. Cattle once
again cover the pasture lands of Wyoming, but never again will ranchers overdo
like days past. We are getting better and proud of it. But we still need snow
or rain.
How
dry and warm has it been this winter? I have played 18 rounds of golf since the
first of December, shouldn’t happen in Wyoming. Don’t get me wrong, I am
enjoying the golf, but right now I would rather go sledding, sit by the fire
and sip hot chocolate.
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