On a recent warm summer morning, Trudi Julian hooked up a tiny camper trailer to her truck. It was parked at the base of the mountains in a hilly, grassy area. Last night, sheepherders stayed here overnight with their sheep. They woke up early in the morning and have already started moving the sheep on horseback along the land. They’re working their way up the mountains to the Bridger Teton National Forest. Julian was moving this trailer, which is called a sheep camp, to the next overnight location. It’s basically a tiny camper trailer with just enough space for two people to sleep, a cook stove, and a couple of cabinets. Sheepherders live in these year round.
“This is what most sheep that run on the range, this is how they do it. They trail everywhere they go, because, I mean, there's usually too many to truck,” said Julian. “I mean, it would take so long and so much work and so much money if we had to truck them from Kemmerer to the forest, and then from the forest back to Kemmerer, and then in the winter, we go out by Rock Springs.”
Julian has been a sheep rancher all her life and is the fourth generation to work the land outside of Kemmerer. Wyoming's sheep and wool industries are some of the largest in the nation and they've been around since the state started. And really, not much has changed in the industry since then.
Julian’s daughter, Marie McClaren, brought one of these sheep camps to the first annual Wyoming Sheep and Wool Festival in Kemmerer.
“I think people see the sheep camps out on the range as, like, a thing of the past that isn't around anymore,” she said while sitting in the newly renovated camper. “And so I just want to show people that it is still around, and we're still out there on the range doing the same thing we were hundreds of years ago.”
The camps have solar power and are pulled by a truck now, but they are fundamentally the same. Another thing that has hardly changed? The camaraderie felt between those working in the industry.
“That's the thing that attracted me to the sheep industry is it was a huge family, and they welcome you with open arms if you're willing to listen and be a part of it,” said Alison Crane, the executive director of the Wyoming Woolgrowers Association (WWGA).
WWGA was one of the main organizations putting on the festival. Crane said it was an opportunity to show the public this historic way of life.
“I know there's been some moments already where people have had some learning experiences here,” Crane said. “And there's been some good but hard conversations had and some hard questions answered for people.”
An example of that was the difference between how ranchers use and perceive the skulls and horns of their animals and how many in the public may think about those same skulls. That was exactly the kind of thing the organizers were hoping for.
The two and half day event was open to the general public as well as the sheep producers. For Crane, the first night, when they served lamb hors d'oeuvre during the programming, showed how the industry embraces the community.
“The pinnacle of last night was having a bunch of people stand around those lamb roasters, and just get to be a part of the family,” she said.
The rest of the weekend included educational talks and demonstrations, a panel with multigenerational ranchers, and a vendor fair in the heart of downtown Kemmerer, where you could buy products made from wool, learn about sheepdogs, and even pet a lamb. The University of Wyoming Wool Program was also there teaching people about how wool is judged and sorted.
The festival was also meant to celebrate the ranchers and give them a minute to visit with other producers and let their hair down, especially after the tough winter. The extreme cold and amount of snow meant they lost a lot of animals.
Even the younger participants agreed that something like this was important, like Sarah Brooks, who works for Julian in the summer docking lambs. Docking is shortening the lamb’s tails to avoid diseases and pests.
Brooks is just 11-years-old and is glad that there’s an event like this happening.
“To let people know how hard we work and how hard the ranchers work around here to bring meat on the table,” she explained.
Overall, people were excited about gathering, reminiscing on the past, planning for the future, and sharing their passion and livelihoods with the public. The festival is planned to take place again in Thermopolis next year at around the same time.
