Juan Reyes knew nothing about the American West, cowboys or the United States when he arrived in Florida in 1962 at age 11 as part of a secret exodus facilitated by the Catholic Church to get young Cubans off the Communist-controlled island.
His family lived in a rural Cuban community called Covadonga just more than 6 miles from the infamous Bay of Pigs. His father worked in a sugar mill and raised a few cows. Their main transportation was horses.
When the Bay of Pigs invasion happened in 1961, Reyes said it impacted his family.
“I was very aware, because the uncle that I was named after was fighting with (Fidel) Castro,” he said. “It actually split my family in half. My mother’s side was all pro-Communism; my father’s side of the family was all very strongly Catholic based.”
Reyes said his father “got the idea” that he and his two sisters needed to get out of the country and escape the Castro regime. So, in 1962 as part of a Catholic Church operation dubbed “Peter Pan,” they were put on a flight to Florida. At 11, he and his sisters were in a crowded refugee camp filled with other “orphans” from the island.
Now Reyes, 74, of Wheatland, has spent decades riding Wyoming’s open ranges as one of the state’s successful and respected ranchers. He was recently named as one of two people who will be inducted this year into the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. With his family, he runs MR Angus Ranch, which specializes in producing purebred Angus bulls for high altitude ranches and more.
The journey to becoming a Wyoming cowboy and rancher was not easy.
When he left Cuba, Reyes said he took a cardboard suitcase and filled it with 12 pounds of clothing. They were not allowed to bring any money or jewelry.
After months at the camp, a man named Roy McDonald showed up from Colfax, Washington. Reyes said at the time his hair was blonde.
“He picked me and asked me if I wanted to move to Washington state,” Reyes said.
He characterizes the refugee camp as one of the “toughest” times of his life, and so he told McDonald that he would go with him.
With his sisters and 70 other Cuban children, they were taken to St. John’s Academy in Colfax, a school was run by priests and nuns.
The Reyes family participates at the auction of some of their cattle. Jason Reyes is seated on left, and Jennifer Burr, the Reye’s daughter on the right beside auctioneer Lex Madden. Joni and Juan Reyes stand with three of their four grandchildren below. (Courtesy Juan Reyes) 
The MR Angus Ranch began in 1977 in Tie Siding and Wyoming and then moved to Wheatland, Wyoming. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch) 
Once an 11-year-old exile from Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba, Juan Reyes was recently named to the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. Juan Reyes knew nothing about the U.S. when he arrived, but says ranching in Wyoming became his American dream. (Courtesy Juan Reyes) 
– Cattle at the MR Angus Ranch spend some time near the water. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch)
Help In Colfax
Reyes said the McDonald family had a wheat farm in the area and a few cattle.
While at school, he enjoyed going out to the farm and helping out. He became close with the family and that led to an opportunity for his parents a few years later after they were allowed to leave Cuba.
His mother and father settled in Colfax, and McDonald hired them to work on the farm.
After graduation, Reyes attended a college in Washington, and at one point helped a friend who was going to attend law school at the University of Wyoming move to the state.
That’s when he “fell in love” with the open spaces and solitude the state offered. So, he transferred.
At UW he met his future wife, Joni, who was from Greeley, Colorado. Their relationship blossomed — and she had 12 registered Angus cows.
Meanwhile, Reyes helped his friend in law school during a hunting guide gig with an Indiana man who happened to mention that he would like to “someday own a ranch in Wyoming.”
Reyes said he told the man, John Milnor, that if he did, “I would like to lease it from him.”
“And that’s how our partnership started,” he said.
In 1977, Reyes and Joni married and moved onto ranch land that Milnor bought in Tie Siding.
The couple quickly learned how hard the winters were in Tie Siding and how challenging ranch life at 8,000-feet could be for them and their cattle. Reyes calls Tie Siding the “Siberia of the USA.”
Reyes said the property Milnor purchased could hold about 60 or 70 cows, but they quickly learned something about “pulmonary artery pressure” after buying some Angus stock from Montana and losing them to the condition. They nearly went broke.
“That kind of woke us up,” he said. It also started the couple on a quest to work with Colorado State University as among the first to find solutions for pulmonary hypertension in cows at high altitude.
After expanding into a breed of cows called Amerifax — five-eighths Angus and three-eighths Beef Friesian — they found that they had good characteristics but the cattle just weren’t catching on in the region.
Move To Wheatland
After a few years, Reyes and Milnor began looking for other property that would be less challenging in the winter.
Reyes said to support his growing family, which included a son and a daughter, he started working as a switchman for the railroad in Laramie and later a brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad.
He also started a construction business to help make ends meet.
Construction opportunities took him to Wheatland “during the power plant era,” and he heard about the Wheatland Irrigation District.
Milnor ended up purchasing a 483-acre ranch in the area and in 1983, the Reyes moved to Wheatland.
The property in Tie Siding was sold, but they leased land at a neighboring ranch for summer pasture. About 15 years later, the Reyes reached a point financially where they could purchase the MR Angus Ranch from Milnor.
At the Wheatland ranch, Reyes said there was already a broken-down feedlot. They repaired and improved it and started offering a winter place for heifers to feed.
They also worked on raising better Angus bulls and strategized to have their cows give birth in months with better weather and not in January and February.
Reyes said it was more costly to deal the winter births.
“We thought economically, the best time to calve is the same time the elk and the deer do,” he said. “The other reason was that we were selling yearling bulls, and those yearling bulls don’t hold up as well as those 18-month-old bulls when ranchers turn them out to breed cows.”
The winter feedlot for heifers also gave the ranch a monthly income in addition to the annual check that came at a sale barn.
Over the years, success has built on success.
The ranch now has a 7,000-head feedlot and runs 1,000 head of cattle. The ranch’s annual bull sale in conjunction with a Colorado ranch family is renowned.
All their bulls spend time in the summer grazing at Tie Siding to be acclimated to high altitude.
Juan Reyes brings some cattle in with the help of one of this trained border collie dogs. (Courtesy Juan Reyes) 
The Angus cattle found on the MR Angus Ranch first began with an orgininal 12 registered cows owned by Joni Reyes when the couple married in 1977. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch) 
Cattle on the MR Angus Ranch spend part of their year at Tie Siding, getting acclimated to high elevations. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch) 
The MR Angus Ranch in Wheatland also raises hay for its cattle and horses. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch) 
The MR Angus Ranch can grow corn thanks to the local irrigation district. (Courtesy MR Angus Ranch)
Family Effort
Reyes said his greatest success is raising his family during those difficult times because there was a lot of work involved, and he admits he sometimes pushed everyone hard.
He and Joni have a son, Jason, who along with his wife Sarah help lead the ranch. They also have a daughter, Jennifer, married to Michael Burr who also have leadership roles.
“I hear from a lot of my friends that it is hard to give up and pass it to the next generation,” he said. “I tell people that it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. When they are doing a good job and better than you can do, I think it’s very satisfying.”
In addition to the cattle, the MR Angus Ranch took advantage of the irrigation district and raise corn and alfalfa. Reyes also has become known for his border collie dogs that he trains.
He first saw a rancher with a border collie working cattle early in his career in Tie Siding and a light went on.
Reyes said over the years, training the dogs has been a relaxation for him, just like fly fishing is for others. The breed was bred to work sheep, and he said he has worked to get them willing to engage the cattle using their herding instincts.
“We probably needed a little more teeth, a little more bite working them with cattle,” he said. “I guess I had the ability to get into their heads and get those dogs to do things that a lot of people don’t do with them.”
Being named for the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame is a great honor, Reyes said. The rancher has received many awards in the past, but he said this one meant a lot because it came from peers.
Wyoming Livestock Roundup Publisher Dennis Sun characterized Reyes as someone whose life story of overcoming overwhelming odds, business success, and contributions to Wyoming associations and agricultural organizations makes him stand out.
“He’s literally been a model citizen for Wyoming agriculture,” he said.
A Lot Of Help
Reyes said he has had “zillions” of friends and mentors over the years that have enabled him to become the person and rancher that he is today. He agrees with his wife, Joni, that the “Hall of Fame” recognition belongs to his family.
“When we started, we had absolutely nothing and lived that way for years,” Joni Reyes said. “And now we have our two kids, who have their own families.
“All those years they were by our sides, helping us, and that’s how they grew up, and they just loved the way of life and wanted to continue it.”
The 11-year-old who knew no English and left the alligators in the swamps around his home in rural Cuba, now boasts acquaintances around the nation and Canada due to his agricultural connections, cattle, trained dogs and opportunities over the years.
He loves the state, friends and family who have boosted him over the years and enabled him to reap the rewards of his labors and dedication to the land and animals that have brought him success.
“I used to say that I’ve lived the American Dream, and I’m starting to say that I’m living the Wyoming dream,” Reyes said. “I don’t know that I could accomplish this anywhere but the state of Wyoming.”
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
