Last updated: February 11, 2022
Place
Ranching: Life and Business
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Cant Ranch Historic District
Significance:
The barn and corrals were the hub of ranch business.
The barn and corrals were the hub of ranch business. Standing quiet now, this area was once filled with hundreds of bleating sheep or later, bellowing cattle.
For more than thirty years, this ranch was driven by the intensive process of raising sheep. Each season of the year followed a pattern. Fall brought the main band back to the ranch from summer pastures, and winter months involved feeding and watching over the sheep. By March, all hands and family members were busy with lambing. Sheep shearing started in April, when crews sheared over 2,400 head of sheep. Ewes and lambs were moved out to summer pastures in early May. Herders spent the summer alone with the sheep in the mountains, a job many ranch children looked forward to.
For more than thirty years, this ranch was driven by the intensive process of raising sheep. Each season of the year followed a pattern. Fall brought the main band back to the ranch from summer pastures, and winter months involved feeding and watching over the sheep. By March, all hands and family members were busy with lambing. Sheep shearing started in April, when crews sheared over 2,400 head of sheep. Ewes and lambs were moved out to summer pastures in early May. Herders spent the summer alone with the sheep in the mountains, a job many ranch children looked forward to.