Opinion by Del Tinsley
In the beginning at the Wyoming Livestock Roundup by: Del Tinsley
It’s been 25 years. Wow, time travels fast as we look back. The Wyoming Livestock Roundup was 18 months old when I purchased half interest in it in 1990. We had about 1,034 paid subscribers and mailed out some 1,500 complementary issues a week. Aside from partner Bill Glanz and myself, we had two full time employees. At that time, we were located in Worland.
I had always loved agriculture, and growing up in eastern Wyoming and working on ranches, I got my first ranch job the summer I turned 14. That summer, I worked for a rancher on Horseshoe Creek west of Glendo for three dollars a day, plus room and board.
In the early 1960s, I took a job with the Wyoming Stockman Farmer – a monthly based out of Cheyenne – selling advertising. About five years later, I was offered a job with The Record Stockman in Denver, Colo. It was a big change for a young man who had never spent time out of rural Wyoming. I traveled Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, mostly, and I soon learned that Wyoming has some very good cattle. After seven years of traveling, I wanted my children to grow up in Wyoming and experience the things I did as a child. I sold my one-third interest in the Record Stockman and purchased 25 percent interest in Stockman’s Livestock Auction in Torrington where I spent the next 11 years selling commercial cattle.
When the opportunity to purchase half interest in the Roundup came my way, I jumped all over it. After a few years, I was offered the chance to buy out my partner and later, we moved the headquarters to Casper.
If you think that technology has changed over the last 25 years at your place, just imagine how much computers, internet, cell phones and printing presses have changed in the publication business. Terms like engravings and paste-up used then have since been replaced with words like offset, scan, email and digital.
The reason the Wyoming Livestock Roundup was an instant success is the people in Wyoming agriculture who gave the publication overwhelming support. Along with FFA, 4-H, Stock Growers, Woolgrowers, UW, Farm Bureau, Conservation Districts, Hereford and Angus Associations, livestock auctions, ag banks, implement dealers and more all came on board with support.
Over the years, I had a number of people work for me. If they were good help, they always got offers from larger publications, and some of them moved on. I learned early on that if I hired someone right out of college, they needed to have an ag background and should have studied agriculture in school. It was a real great experience watching them grow in their abilities, along with great work ethic.
Change was not only in the huge in the publication technology. There was a big change during my career in the seedstock industry. In my working lifetime, we went from Herefords and a few Angus breeders to the continental breeds, and back to Angus and Herefords in a matter of about 40 years. We also saw shifts from hardly any record keeping to a string of acronyms as long as your arm.
Looking back over my publication career, the one thing I enjoyed my 15 or so years at the helm of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup was my employees and the industry people. I really miss that part of my life.
I couldn’t have found anyone better to pass the reins to than Dennis Sun, who is taking the publication to a whole new level. Thank you, Wyoming agriculture, for all your support.
