Lupher pursues passion for agriculture
Published on Feb. 29, 2020
For Mountain View native Logan Lupher, returning home to work on the family ranch was always in the cards.
“I always knew ranching was what I wanted to do and the ranch was where I wanted to be,” says Lupher, who moved back to the family cattle ranch, six miles south of Mountain View, after buying himself a handful of cows.
Today, Lupher is a top hand at the Lupher Ranch, where he is responsible for day-to-day duties, including feeding cattle in the winter, putting up hay, calving and fixing fence.
Historic operation
Lupher notes the ranch has been in the family for 100 plus years. In fact, he explained his great-great-grandfather first came to the area with Jim Bridger and settled on the banks of the Smith’s Fork River, where the ranch is still located today.
“Part of our ranch was part of the historic Carter and Hamilton Cattle Company on my dad’s side,” Lupher says. “It was homesteaded back in the 1870s. Over the years, the ranch has been split up a little between family members, and we have expanded our piece by buying ground here and there.”
“But, we have been ranching in this same spot ever since,” he states.
This spot is where Lupher has spent the majority of his life.
“I was raised on this ranch, it is all I have ever really known, and I have been here almost my whole life,” says Lupher.
Family tradition
There is no doubt, Lupher comes from a long-line of individuals with a strong passion for agriculture. In fact, on top of ranching, showing and selling home-grown cattle is also a family tradition.
“Before I got involved in showing cattle, my grandpa, dad and uncle sold a lot of high-quality show cattle around the country,” says Lupher. “They sold show steers through the 90s and early 2000s, from California to as far east as Indiana and everywhere in between.”
Lupher notes he became involved in the tradition when he turned eight years old and joined a local 4-H club. Then, during his high school years, Lupher also joined the Jim Bridger FFA Chapter. He spent these years showing cattle.
Although Lupher can no longer show cattle through 4-H and FFA, it doesn’t mean he isn’t still involved.
In fact, both of his younger sisters, Madi and Hannah, are following in the family footsteps as well. Both girls started showing cattle through 4-H at eight years old and Madi is now a member of the Jim Bridger FFA Chapter. Lupher notes he spends a lot of time helping his sisters with their projects and joins them at the Uinta County Fair every summer to help them prepare for shows.
A unique operation
While they still show cattle, Lupher notes they don’t dabble as much in the club calf industry anymore. Instead, they are more focused on raising good bulls and fancier females.
“We run about 250 head of Simmental and SimmAngus cows, and we put up our own hay,” states Lupher. “My dad started running cattle with his dad, and now that’s what I’m doing.”
He also notes the operation is unique in that they have moved away from machinery and do the majority of their work with teams of draft horses and mules.
“We have six teams of horses, mostly Shire and a few Percherons,” Lupher says. “We do all of our feeding in the winter with our horses and mules, and we use them to mow and rake hay.”
“We have always used horses and had a team or two on the ranch,” Lupher explains. “My dad started using tractors awhile back, but we ended up moving back to using teams of horses.”
He continues, “We like using them because they are more fuel efficient and we don’t have to spend so much money on fuel and parts.”
On top of the efficiency, Lupher also notes it is just more enjoyable to be around the horses all day, instead of sitting in a tractor.
“Being out around the horses and the livestock is my favorite part of being on the ranch,” Lupher says. “I just really enjoy it.”
Future of the family operation
“When it comes to the future, I just want to keep running this family ranch,” Lupher states. “Hopefully, my sisters will come back as well. I think they will, and I hope will.”
Lupher also notes he is dedicated to keeping the ag industry alive by educating the general public.
“The most important thing we need to do as ranchers to keep the ag industry alive is to educate people who are trying to come at us in all sorts of different ways, because they don’t know what we do,” he says. “We need to invite them out to our ranches, teach them what we are all about and show them we care about our land and our animals. Not only will this show them we aren’t as bad as they think we are, it might also get them interested in getting in involved in the industry. And we always need more friends in this business.”
Hannah Bugas is the assistant editor for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
