Wyoming Sheep Jams Reveal Mounting Pressures On Local Ranches And Farms

One of the quintessential Wyoming experiences is driving down a lonely two-lane road on the high plains and finding your vehicle slowed to a crawl by hundreds of baying sheep streaming past your windows.

But what many travelers don't see behind that pastoral scene is a rapidly changing industry grappling with international market forces, processing challenges and the squeeze of rising costs that threaten family operations across the state.

Gov. Mark Gordon announced the Cowboy State Agricultural Initiative on Oct. 11 during halftime at a University of Wyoming football game, appointing a 13-member working group "committed to preserving Wyoming's agricultural heritage for current and future generations." 

The group includes executive branch advisors, state legislators, a county commissioner, agricultural association representatives, University of Wyoming officials and business leaders.

In interviews with Cowboy State Daily, members of the working group detailed how challenges facing the sheep industry reflect broader problems found across Wyoming on all kinds of farms and ranches — from succession planning and workforce development to the growing need for off-ranch income.

When it comes to all those sheep pouring into Wyoming roadways, "Most Americans just don't realize where that wool goes," said Alison Crane, executive director of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association and part of a sheep operation near Powell. 

"Most of it ends up being processed in China, because that's where the market is. Our prices are set mostly by China and Australia with wool, because they dominate demand,” explained Crane. “Whenever there's these political disagreements, I guess we'll call them, with China, it really affects the sheep industry."

Crane's operation is among the fortunate ones with a contract supplying high-quality fine wool for military use.

"Almost all the dress uniforms are made of American wool. And the specialized materials that they wear next to skin — because if you're in an explosion, wool doesn't melt, it doesn't burn,” she said. 

Herder Pay

The iconic work of sheepherding, working the lonely range and sleeping in a sheep wagon, is often done by Peruvians who come to Wyoming through a federal visa program, said Crane, as well as longtime herders of Basque descent. 

For those running family sheep operations, they’ve seen labor costs for these employees go from $750 per month about a decade ago to $2,400 per month now.

"The rancher is actually absorbing the cost of living increases three times," Crane explained. "You're absorbing it through their wages, you're absorbing it through paying their room and board, and then also on your ranch with your ranch expenses. So you're getting hit three times with cost of living increases."

It doesn’t stop there, said Crane. 

"Everything is so much more expensive and land prices and people moving in and the temptation to just pull the ripcord is there all the time,” she said, lamenting the looming urge among generational farmers and ranchers in Wyoming to leave agriculture. 

“We're just losing it piece by piece,” she said.

Bigger, Not Better

These pressures come on top of what Sen. Brad Boner, R-Douglas, calls one of the sheep industry's most devastating recent blows — the loss of cooperative processing infrastructure to multinational corporations.

Boner's family experienced it firsthand when JBS, the Brazilian meatpacking giant, acquired Mountain States Rosen and removed lamb processing equipment to focus on beef production.

"A very large company, JBS in particular, decided that they wanted the portion of the facility, and they basically took us out," Boner said. "It shows just how brutal these large multinational corporations can be, and that's had a huge impact on the sheep industry in Wyoming."

The cooperative had been "close to vertically integrated," Boner said, giving producers control over crucial parts of the supply chain. Its loss during the pandemic was particularly painful.

"That really reinforced that we have to be more sustainable when it comes to other parts of the supply chain, that we can't be dependent upon a large multinational conglomerate to do what's right for Wyoming producers and Wyoming consumers," he said.

Boner pointed to promising countermeasures. He highlighted legislation passed in 2022 — Senate File 9 — that allows the Wyoming Business Council to issue industrial revenue bonds to help increase processing capacity.

Like the new ag initiative and working group, Boner said Gordon helped lead the way. 

"When Governor Gordon first took office, we had exactly zero USDA approved meat processing facilities. Now there's almost a dozen,” he said. 

Can't Compete

For Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, whose family runs a fourth-generation sheep and cattle operation west of Douglas, the corporate consolidation represents an existential threat to Wyoming's agricultural character.

"When you're able to bring big money from other places and buy up these big ranches, that puts the price to where your family farms and ranches can't compete," Strock said. "You cannot buy land at the prices that they are now and be able to pay them off just by selling your product."

The price squeeze extends beyond land. Strock noted that sheep prices have remained largely stagnant for decades while costs have climbed relentlessly.

"A lot of the prices that we get — they're starting to come up, like this year, last two years, of course beef has really come up," Strock said. "But I've got the same price for my lambs this year as I did last year."

The same goes for wool.

"The price of wool is so bad, you really don't make much off of it," Strock said. "It costs quite a bit to get them sheared, and then that's not keeping us going."

She emphasized the human cost: "We're losing the family farms because of big corporations, to be quite honest with you."

Problem Targeting 

This tangle of challenges is exactly what Jill Tregemba hopes the Cowboy State Agricultural Initiative can help unravel when the working group meets in Cheyenne on Thursday. 

But she's cautious about rushing to answers. 

"I really hate to be solution driven," said Tregemba, an agribusiness manager with the Wyoming Business Council. "This group — this will be our second meeting. What I prefer to do is tackle the problems."

Rather than jumping to the "exciting part" of finding solutions, Tregemba said the important work lies in truly understanding what's preventing the industry from thriving.

"I think where the hard work is, is finding what are those problems — what's stopping the industry," she said. "And I think some of those are consistent across agriculture and other industries too."

One common thread, she noted, is young people leaving after college, unable to find opportunities to stay even when they want to.

"We want them to have the opportunity to stay if they want to stay and have those jobs," Tregemba said. "I'm keen on leveraging some of the technologies and leveraging that applied research that can be done through the university, and really push on giving the entrepreneurs within the industry a spot to turn some private sector growth."

Tregemba emphasized the interconnected nature of Wyoming's economy, noting that strengthening one agricultural sector creates ripple effects throughout communities.

"I think if we do that in the sheep industry, it probably helps the beef industry and it probably helps the corn guys, and it probably even helps Main Street," she said.

"I think the more we can drill in on identifying what the barriers are, the more lasting impact this group could have," Tregemba said.

Bridging Knowledge Gaps

Lincoln County Commissioner Mel Shumway's brother runs a small dairy operation next to the family's home place, making ice cream, yogurt and chocolate milk on the farm from his own cows. His son has worked into the business, creating a smooth transition from father to son at Shumway Farms.

But Shumway, who grew up on that same dairy farm, knows his brother's successful succession story is increasingly rare.

"Our greatest export in Wyoming is our workforce right now," Shumway said. "And we have ag opportunities, but they're either legacy ranches that are locked up or else the barriers are so hard to get into.”

The working group, he said, needs to address two critical deficiencies: knowledge gaps among current producers and hurdles preventing young people from entering agriculture — especially those without a family operation waiting for them.

Many ranchers possess impressive hands-on skills but lack crucial business knowledge, Shumway said.

"I know a lot of people on the ranch or have come back to the ranch or stayed on the ranch, they know how to move cows. They know how to fix a baler. They know how to fix fences, but they don't know about estate planning," Shumway said. "They don't know about taxes. They don't know about loan structures."

His solution: expanded certificate programs through Wyoming's community colleges and university that provide focused, practical training without requiring full degree programs.

"I've been intrigued lately with the option of certificates," Shumway said. "Sometimes someone just needs a quick, hands-on certificate approach to something like we see with welding or that we see with mechanics... here's an animal husbandry or here's an agricultural finance certificate."

But Shumway's vision extends beyond keeping ranchers on their land — it recognizes the economic reality that most agricultural operations now require additional income sources.

"It's very difficult to get rich ranching or farming anymore. At best, it's a break even," Shumway said. "The off-farm income is going to be so vital to keep food on the table while the farm helps pay for itself."

That's where he sees natural synergy between Wyoming's two dominant industries: agriculture and energy. The skills ranchers develop are often those energy companies need.

"The certificates also would be transferable or translatable to off the farm income with like energy companies in like an agronomy or a reclamation setting," Shumway explained. "These skills are highly sought after for other industries. You know, welding equipment, mechanics, reclamation, vegetation management, wildlife biology, things like that."

He offered a concrete example: "If you know how to fence on the ranch, you can fence down the right of way” of local roads and anywhere else that needs a fence. 

By aligning workforce development efforts, Shumway said, Wyoming could simultaneously strengthen both industries while keeping young people in rural communities.

As subdivisions replace farms and international corporations reshape markets, Crane with the Wool Growers Association, said the stakes are clear: "I think everyone at the table thinks it's extremely important. It's going to be complicated, but it's good that we're all talking about it."

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.