JOINING FORCES

Idaho and Nevada ranches combine cows to get benefits of complementary skills and larger cattle groups to market.

- Gene Johnston

More than a decade ago, Bill and Laurie Lickley and their cow herd near Jerome, Idaho, faced a dilemma: Pastureland was being squeezed out by irrigated crops. To keep the cows, the Lickleys needed to find more space.

Through an acquaintance, they heard about a ranch in central Nevada that had ample rangeland and wanted to add cows. After a few phone calls and a couple of visits to Squaw Valley Ranch, operated by Jesse and Ricarda Braatz and Ricarda's parents, Dick and Mary Bradbury, the Lickleys loaded their cows and shipped them 300 miles to Nevada to become part of a combined herd owned by the Lickleys, Braatzes, and Bradburys.

We asked Bill Lickley about this ranching arrangement and how they make it work.

SF: How did complete strangers end up in the cattle business together?

BL: Maybe we didn't do as much due diligence as we should have, but I knew from that first call they were good people I could get along with. We just clicked. The results have been amazingly positive. It has been 11 years of getting to know how we think about cattle and building more and more trust.