Ag Untold

Brett Wilmoth of Wilmoth Ranch runs a feedlot, the last stop for cattle before they’re sent to processing or to other ranches. Here, the herd that began on pasture is fed, managed and readied for what comes next. The feedlot is the final step in the cattle tour, and it’s where the work of the whole supply chain comes due.

At Superior Livestock Auction in Steamboat Springs, cattle are sold online, heifers and steers alike, and millions of dollars’ worth change hands in a matter of days. Buyers bid from anywhere while the animals stay put, and the sale sets herds moving across the country. The cattle never enter the ring; the market does the traveling.

One week with Idaho rancher John Pocock, moving a cow-calf herd from a lower pasture to summer grazing in the mountains, loaded onto trucks, hauled up the grade, and eventually brought home again. Real cowboys, real weather and live animals leave little room for a plan that doesn’t bend. The cattle go up in June; getting them back is the harder trip.