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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2019)
‘GUARD 21’ JOSEPH CHARTER SCHOOL’S RISING STAR | A8 Enterprise, Oregon Wallowa.com 134th Year, No. 49 Wednesday, March 20, 2019 $1 Ellen Morris Bishop A Red Angus cow gives birth on the Klages ranch. Calves emerge feet and head-fi rst. The mother must ensure that the cloudy birth sac is removed from the calf—especially the nose so the newborn can breath. Births may take only minutes for cows that have calved before, and/or have low birth-weight calves. The process can take much longer for heifers, or cows who have problems and require human assistance. WOMAN RANCHING MAKES STRIDES By Christian Ambroson & Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain rom the time that cattle were fi rst domesti- cated, women have been part of livestock management and ranching. Some have man- aged their own spreads. Many have worked as equal partners with husbands and family. Today, the tradition continues, with women increasingly taking on F the lead roles in ranching here and across the west. It’s not an easy life, but it’s one that a lot of women fi nd irresistible. There is respect as an equal from men and from community, that comes with the job. But it’s an earned respect. “ You have to earn your way,” said Bar-B herd Women ranchers taking the lead in calving season By Christian Ambroson Wallowa County Chieftain It’s calving season for many in the Wallowa Valley. Long, hard days and cold sleepless nights defi ne late winter as it bleeds into early spring. For Daa- rla Klages, it’s the paramount season for the ranch she operates with her hus- band, Alan. Klages guides one calf as the young- one learns to walk on this foreign ter- rain. Yet the always observant rancher spotted another cow hunting for a spot to calve across the pasture. “When it’s so cold, if we weren’t right on top of those calves, they’d die within an hour,” Klages says. Her attention again on the other end of the calving pasture, “she’s looking for just the right snowbank to deliver. That calf will be out in half an hour tops. As soon as she lays down it will come right out.” After just two weeks Klages’s oper- ation had already yielded about 100 See Calving, Page A15 manager Tami Lambrecht. “You have to prove that you can do the work, and do it well. But I like that.” “I think maybe part of it is the Cowboy Way,” Adele Schott said. “Cowboys are taught to be kind, gentle, See Ranching, Page A15 Days start early, end late at the Bar-B Ranch By Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain Watching a calf being born fi rst turned Tami Lambercht into a rancher. She grew up on a Washington fruit farm and studied nursing in college. Her parents sold their fruit operation, bought a ranch outside Wallowa, and transformed from apple growers to cat- tle ranchers in 2006. One chilly day in 2007, while contemplating life from a hill above her parent’s Wallowa ranch, Lambrecht witnessed a calf being born. “That was it for me,” she said, “Right then, I just knew I had to be a rancher.” Today, Lambrecht is the cow boss on the Bar-B Ranch, a large spread with wintering grounds in Wallowa and Lostine, and summer range near Promise. She manages and calves out about 160 mother cows for Bar-B, keeps cattle of her own on her parent’s ranch, and helps her dad with his herd. Especially during calving season, her day starts early and ends late. See Bar-B Ranch, Page A15 Enterprise Library Sheriff Rogers dons a new hat grows after county library’s demise By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain By Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain When voters rejected funding for the Wallowa County Library in Novem- ber, Enterprise librar- ian Denine Rautenstrauch knew that her tidy facil- ity would have to serve a larger population. But the increased demand for books and services has exceeded her predic- tions. The Enterprise Pub- lic Library has stepped up to the plate with a second librarian, new books, con- tinued Story Time pro- grams and a stash of the county library’s large print books available for lending. “We could see that the county library closure would increase our usage a lot,” she said. “But the demand skyrocketed, espe- cially in children’s books. The use and circulation went Phuuuusschhhhttt.” Rautenstrauch made the sounds of an explosion See Library, Page A7 Wallowa County Sheriff, Steve Rogers, just returned from Reno, Nevada with a little something extra, but it wasn’t from the tables or slot machines. The Western States Sher- iffs Association voted Rogers onto its board of directors as its Sergeant-at-Arms. Rogers was attending the association’s annual con- ference on March 3-7. The sheriff said that as far as he knew, he was only the second Oregon sheriff voted on to the board of directors. The group rep- resents county sheriffs from 17 states. The association describes their mission as: “to assist sheriffs and their offi ces with federal and state legislative issues, address policy and procedural matters, develop guidelines to promote uniformity in matters that are important to sheriffs of the western United States and to work together to keep the offi ce of the sheriff strong.” Oregon has Sheriff Steve Rogers a 100 percent membership of its county sheriffs and Rogers started his membership upon becoming sheriff although he previ- ously attended the group’s training sessions See Sheriff, Page A7