Real Cowman: Jim Weiss, Wisdom, Mt / Salmon, Idaho

Oct 8, 2007 2:34 PM

One time when I was a younger man, I helped an older cowman, Slim, move some cows. We got them all thru the gate and I asked the cowman, "Can we go home now?"

He said, "No, we're going to stay here and make sure the cows and calves are mothered up so we don't have any calves going back looking for their moms."

The cowman told me, "There's a difference between a cowman and a gate opener." A cowman keeps the cattle paired up and the gate opener closes the gate, home he goes and the next day he spends half a day correcting the problem.

I said to the older cowman, "which am I?" and he said, "Kid, your still a gate opener!" Ever since that time my goal has been to become a cowman like Slim.

At age 69, my operation consists of 2,300 acres, split between Montana and Idaho. My wife and I run 325 cows plus 300 stocker cattle. Our herd is a Simmental/Angus cross with superior growth and tremendous carcass traits. They produce excellent offspring that fit the market as it is today and come as close to fit the 70-70-0 as any crossbreeding program. They, also, produce very good maternal replacement heifers.

Our goals are to have "good cattle, good crops and to have a good life." Since our lives consist of the total sum of all of our experiences, I thank all the cowmen that I've met along the way. Now, every time I close the gate I think of old Slim. I ask myself, "Have I become the cowman that he wanted me to be?"

I’m still a work in progress.

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