One of the oldest and largest sheep operations in the United States is a proud member of Intermountain Farmers Association
Fourteen-year-old Wayne Richey is a sixth-generation Siddoway sheep herder who has participated in all the family traditions of trailing, lambing, shearing as well as carving his initials in an aspen tree along the century-old sheep driveway.
As part of the colonization movement in the West, the Siddoway’s ancestors arrived in Idaho in 1886 to buy ground and raise sheep, said Cindy Siddoway, office manager for the business. “It was so labor intensive that many eventually converted their operations to cattle, but we’re one of the few purists left,” she said referring to her family’s flock of 10,000 sheep that graze more than 400,000 acres of forest, BLM, state and private land. The herds still camp on historical allotments that were established long before the U.S. Forest Service was created.
“We are very pro-multiple use of public lands,” said Cindy. “So over the years, we’ve learned to share the back country with hikers and bikers, but sometimes they don’t want to share it with us. Since we go back to the same land year after year, who’s going to take better care of it than us – our livelihood truly depends on good stewardship.”
Despite many improvements and upgrades, the Siddoways also have preserved time-honored, century-old methods of raising quality lambs in the shadows of the Teton Mountain Range. They organize 8 to 10 summer camps and hire 16 to 18 Peruvian sheepherders to work through the summer seasons. Some of their employees are third generation herders whom the Siddoways cherish as if they were family.
The herds are trailed, not shipped more than 100 miles from their summer range to the winter range near Terreton, Idaho. That’s where Jeff and Cindy Siddoway have made their home for the last 40 years surrounded by farming ground and expansive lambing sheds. The Siddoways don’t finish their lambs, but instead currently sell them right off the mountain to buyers in Colorado and Idaho.
Each summer camp is manned by a herder and a camp jack – a man who moves the cook tent, teepee and supplies to a new camp site everyday. The herder sleeps among the 2,600 sheep in his care along with three Great Pyrenees guard dogs to keep predators at bay. Jeff said each camp regularly encounters wolves, bears, mountain lions and coyote attacks.
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Their son, J.C. manages the summer grazing plan and delivers supplies to each camp every eight days – sometimes sooner when predators are threatening.
Siddoway Sheep made national news in 2013 when a mid-night wolf attack resulted in the death of more than 176 ewes and lambs as they panicked and piled up near a narrow ridgeway.
“That was a tough time,” said Cindy. “Not only because of the losses to our herds but also because of the death threats and wild accusations that came from extremists from all over the country.”
In addition to predators, Cindy said the other two issues of continual concern are international trade and labor policies on H2A employees. She also focuses what energy she can on young entrepreneur programs and helping young ranchers succeed in the business.
“The sheep business is a great business and it has been very good to our family for multiple generations,” Jeff said. “There are problems however and solutions can be found, but there are also many disappointments when dealing with labor, government agencies and increasing regulations.” The family has always been active in local and national trade associations. Jeff followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in serving as president of Idaho Wool Growers. Currently, J.C. is on the board of directors. Jeff was first elected to serve as an Idaho State Senator in 2006 and perpetually advocates for rural citizens’ interests. Cindy balances the scale in her civic service as well. In 2000, she was the first woman to serve as president of American Sheep Industry Association – a group originally named the National Wool Grower’s Association in 1865 and takes claim as the oldest trade association in the United States. She has testified before the U.S. Congress advocating for the rights of agriculture and sheep ranchers. Cindy also brings her leadership skills home to serve on the local school board, in her church and as State Chairman of the Farm Service Agency State Committee.
After all is said and done, the Siddoway Sheep Ranch is a family operation that faces similar challenges to other operations of any size.
“When Jeff and I got married, we bought the stock from his uncle so that we could get started in the family business,” Cindy said. “Since then, we’ve gone through all the transitions of growth and hard times and bringing the family together to make difficult decisions. ... We’ve set up a trust so that we can keep our land and operation going for future generations. Overall, I think we’ve learned the hard lesson that if you try to save family feelings, you’re not going to make the best business decisions. It’s not just a way of life, it’s a business. But it’s a way of life we love and are very grateful to have.”
Cindy manages the finances and office work. She’s in daily communication with her daughters, Billie Jean and Jodie, who work in the family business as well as J.C., who has taken his management role in stride.
“Our greatest assets are our children and their work ethic,” she said. “Whatever job they do, they know how to work hard and contribute to the family business.
“It’s tough to work in this industry, so what’s left are a bunch of tough, gritty producers, but J.C. has a different personality – he doesn’t get upset,” Cindy said. “He stays calm through it all. We work together every single day and I’m so impressed with his skill-set.”
Cindy said her father-in-law always claimed to be in the “glad” business. “We’re glad that we’re lambing and glad to have it over; glad to be shearing and glad to have it over; glad to be trailing, but always glad to have it over. It makes the work more enjoyable because we’re always starting or stopping some sort of exciting process.”
The Siddoways are proud to be member-owners of Intermountain Farmers Association and rely on the personable service of feed specialist, Rex Larsen for supplements and feed.
“IFA has been great to develop mineral packages to help control disease and to provide nutritional requirements for our ewes and lambs,” J.C. said.
In addition to the sheep operation, the family owns Siddoway Wool Co. which produces woven blankets made from the wool produced on their ranch. The Siddoway daughters and daughter-in-law design seasonal trade blankets as well as jacquard designs and sell most of their product online.
The family has also diversified a portion of their acreage into an elk and bison hunting preserve called Juniper Mountain Ranch. The guiding business hosts up to 150 hunters per season at a newly built lodge that accommodates up to eight hunters at a time. Hired guides also take guests fly fishing and on hunts for small game after they succeeded with their big game hunts.
So whether grazing the sheep or grooming the habitat for elk, the Siddoways feel a deep sense of stewardship over the land they use and maintain.
Jeff said, “I have always tried to be a good steward of the land and to pass on the sheep ranch to another generation so they, too, can care for and enjoy the beautiful resources in which we work and live.”
Also read, Sorenson Sheep Co.: A Family’s Sheep Farm Story >
Written by Stacy Duce and originally published in the IFA Cooperator magazine (vol. 81, no. 3) Fall 2015. Photos provided by the Siddoway family.