Diverse Operation: Broadbent family’s multi-generational ranch has run cattle and sheep for over a century

The Broadbent family has been in Uinta County since the early 1900s, ever since two Broadbent brothers, Silvester and David, married Murdock sisters from northern Utah.  

The Murdocks were in the sheep business and their father wanted to make sure his daughters would be well taken care of, so he helped the Broadbent brothers get into the sheep business.

“This all occurred sometime before 1905,” says Vance Broadbent, who currently runs the ranch along with other family members. “We have records going back to the late 1890s and early 1900s showing the family had U.S. Forest Service (USFS) permits for sheep.” 

“David and Silvester ran sheep in Uinta County, expanding operations throughout the years with my great-grandfather Sylvester who introduced cattle,” Vance continues. “His son JR later bought him out and increased the ranch holdings.”

A family affair 

After graduating from Southern Utah University and working for a natural gas pipeline company for nearly 13 years, Vance had the opportunity to return to the family ranch in 2007. 

“After I had the opportunity to come back to the ranch, my dad Joseph Broadbent was tragically killed in an accident in October of 2013,” Vance shares. “I was fortunate to have been able to come back and learn from his mentorship while he was still here.”

Vance notes Joseph and his twin brother Ray were business partners, and the two families are still partners in the livestock operation today.

“My uncle Ray has been a great partner and mentor, especially as I took over the management. I work closely with him,” Vance says.

Vance further notes there is another generation currently coming on board.

“I have two boys. My youngest son Lott is married. After he and his wife graduated from college, they came back to the ranch. My brother Matt also returned to work on the ranch several years ago,” Vance says. 

Working closely with family members is one of the most important things for those running today’s agricultural operations, since there are so many tough challenges to face in the industry.

“There are many outside influences we have to deal with – environmental groups, government agencies, labor shortages and, sometimes, even family challenges,” Vance shares. “My management style has had to change from my dad’s time. He dealt with things like the Bureau of Land Management, but today there is so much more we have to deal with in terms of political pressures and governmental and environmental issues.” 

“I have to spend a lot more time in the office than I do out on the range, often doing tasks I don’t enjoy, but it is only necessary,” he continues.

Current ranch operations

As far as ranch operations go, the family has maintained the sheep business, as well as a cow/calf operation while custom grazing yearlings during the summer.  

Vance explains his grandpa JR would buy calves and send them to California for the winter, then bring them back to southwest Wyoming for the summer to sell in the fall.

“After his death in the 1990s, we started taking in outside cattle to custom graze, rather than owning them all,” Vance says, noting most of their custom grazing operation takes place on private land.

The cattle on the ranch today are primarily black baldy commercial cattle. 

The cow herd is headquartered on one of the Broadbent ranches near Manila, Utah. During the summer, cows and calves run on range pasture across the state line into Sweetwater County. They are gathered in the fall and come back to Manila, Utah where the calves are weaned and shipped. 

While the cattle are on summer range, hay is harvested from the meadows to feed through the winter, and this is where the cows calve in the spring.   

The operation also pastures yearlings during the summer and fall months.

Today, the Broadbents’ sheep are still grazed on USFS lots in the summer and H-2A sheepherders from Mexico and Peru take care of them. 

“We have been fortunate to get a lot of good herders through the H-2A Visa Program,” Vance shares. “Most of them stay with us and keep coming back, but they have to go home for a while, per program rules.” 

The sheep operation stretches from Granger to Evanston, and during summer months the sheep are moved toward Evanston and surrounding areas. Some of them run on forest permits in the Uinta Mountains. 

After shipping lambs in the fall, the ewes are sorted into winter herds and begin the trail back to their winter ranges near Granger.

“Our ewes never get on a truck until they are sold,” Vance states. “We sell lambs and cull ewes in the fall. The flock is trailed from winter range to spring range and summer, and then we trail them back to the winter range.”

Vance says, “We are also fortunate to have several ranch foremen who have been with us for 20 to 30 years. This helps maintain the stability of our ranch family and business. We really enjoy having family members come out to the ranch to help with shearing, docking, branding and processing the yearling cattle when they arrive in the spring. This is their heritage, and we want them to be a part of it. We plan to continue on for many more generations.”

Getting involved

After returning to the ranch, Vance attended some Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA) meetings with his dad Joseph and became active in the group.  

“I also attended winter meetings with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA). I was WWGA president and an officer for a couple of years,” Vance shares. “After I finished my term there, former WSGA President David Kane reached out to me because one of the regional vice presidents had moved out of the state. This left an open position which needed to be filled.”

Vance accepted the commitment to fill out the rest of the term.  

He feels strongly it is important to be involved in agricultural organizations and is willing to take a turn to help support them.

Heather Smith Thomas is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.