Colorado Sheep News
Colorado Lamb Featured at Whole Food
(November 1, 2009) As part of Whole Food’s “I’m a Local” campaign which promotes buying local produce and products from farmers and producers, Dani, Anthony and Angelo (Butch) Theos were on hand at the Cherry Creek Whole Foods store in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 3 promoting their Colorado-grown lamb with a lamb tasting. To watch a video about the “I’m a Local” campaign which highlights the Theos’ sheep operation, visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3TvMvW-hA.
Pictured below: Danelle Theos, Anthony Theos and Angelo Theos of Theos Swallow Fork Ranch, Meeker, Colorado.
Sheep, Cattle And Family Make Raftopoulos Brothers’ Success
By Colleen Schreiber
Photos contributed by Becky Talley
As Article appeared in Livestock Weekly, P.O. Box 3306, San Angelo, TX 76902 September 9, 2010
CRAIG, Colo. — “Dream big, plan well, work hard, smile always, and good things will happen.”
That’s the motto that John Raftopoulos lives by. Those words scrawled in barbed wire are proudly and prominently displayed on the family’s summer ranch home just outside the door.
“Isn’t that cool? It’s true,” remarks Raftopoulos.
This easygoing, down-to-earth man is one of the largest ranching operators in all of Colorado. He is an innovator, risk taker, entrepreneur, land developer, cowman, and a steward of the land, but the description he most closely associates with, the one he is most proud of, is father and husband. It is his family that he cherishes the most.
John and his brother, Steve, operate Raftopoulos Ranches partnership, an operation that encompasses some 65,000 acres of deeded land and another 400,000 to 500,000 acres of BLM, Forest lands and state and private leases, making them one of the largest holders of grazing rights on public lands. All together they run 12,000 Rambouillet ewes and 3000 head of Angus and Angus cross cattle, of which 550 or so are registered.
It doesn’t stop there. The family is also extensively involved in the lamb feeding and lamb processing business, and until this past year they were also part owners in two feedlots in Nebraska. John has since bought the family out.
The brothers are admittedly typical Greeks — stubborn and hardheaded — and yes, John says there is a lot of truth in that old saying, “Two Greeks, three opinions.” Yet the brothers have always had a strong bond and a good working relationship.
Though they are equal partners, Steve is in charge of the sheep operation and John handles the cattle operation. It’s what suits each of them the best, and it’s worked out ideally.
“We talk every day, but we each handle the respective businesses in the way we feel is best. Steve trusts what I do, and I trust what he does.”
One does not grow an operation as large as theirs without having a lot of inner drive. It’s something, John says, which they largely inherited from their mother.
“Mom didn’t miss much. She was a tough woman, hard-working and aggressive.”
The brothers grew up on a sheep operation. Their parents, Georgia and George Raftopoulos, immigrated to the U.S. from Kaloscopie, Greece, a small mountain village in north central Greece. Georgia came to the U.S. as a young bride. Her first husband, Steve Simos, also from Koloscopie, came to the U.S. in the early 1920s.
A large Greek community had immigrated to Price, Utah, to work in the coal mines, and it is here that Simos first came. The Greeks, however, were largely sheep people, and like many, Simos worked in the mines only until he had the financial wherewithal to buy a little band of sheep. (Photos by Becky Talley. Sheep Industry News Associate Editor Shipping in the fall at Theos Swallow Fork Ranch, Meeker, Colorado)More...
Sheep and a Jeep: Recreationalists and Agriculture Come Together at Unique Event
By BECKY TALLEY
Sheep Industry News Associate Editor
(October 1, 2008) The herder communicates with his dogs, pointing them in the direction of strays he wishes to round up and get off the road. He sends out a call, urging the sheep to move away from the vehicles that are slowly making their way through the flock. (Pictured at the right is Ernie Etchart and his dog.)
You might have witnessed a scene like this many times on rural roads throughout the United States. But, it is guaranteed that this event is a little different than what you are familiar with: the vehicles moving through the sheep are almost all Jeeps and this whole scene is taking place on a much more rural road than you are used to – its on top of Engineer Pass in southwest Colorado, way above tree line, at around 12,800 feet.
Engineer Pass is part of what is known as the Alpine Loop, a combination paved and four-wheel drive road that loops through the high country and mining districts of southwestern Colorado. The four-wheel drive road is jam packed almost every day in the summers with backcountry enthusiasts looking for the thrill of driving Jeeps over boulders and up mountainsides to remote places that most people will never see.
While remoteness can be found amongst the mountain peaks and alpine meadows, backcountry recreationalists are not alone in their use of the mountains. Most of the four-wheel drivers and hikers use trails that are located on grazing permits of sheep ranchers in the area, and the two come into contact regularly – sometimes with acceptance and enjoyment, sometimes not – but all too
Often without much understanding of public lands grazing and its place in the sheep industry and environment.
It’s an issue that Edna Mason, U.S. Forest Service, had noticed and hoped to help solve. With some ingenuity and help from local sheep ranchers, she came up with a unique event that brought together sheep producers and recreationalists to have an open, honest and informative discussion about their interests and questions.
Sheep Day, the brainchild of Mason, was first founded in 1999 and was held most recently on Aug. 6, 2008, with the help of Montrose, Colo., sheep producer Ernie Etchart and his family. According to Etchart, the event has drawn hundreds of people who stopped by to learn more about the sheep industry in past years.
During this year’s event, Etchart’s wife, Chris, cooked up samples of lamb, a flock of sheep belonging to producer Juan Inda grazed nearby, a few lambs and a sheep camp were at the site for hands-on experience and several producers and public land management personnel were on hand to answer questions.
All of this is done to target the recreation crowd, specifically the many four-wheelers who come over the pass every day, in hopes of promoting the U.S. lamb industry and opening up the lines of communication between the different land users.
“There is just a lot of perception out there that isn’t factual. This is a proactive approach to shed some light that there is a science behind what we are doing,” Etchart says of the event.
The science of grazing in the San Juans has been honed over decades of employing the practice.
Sheep were predominantly brought into the area to provide miners with lamb and wool, but as the mining boom slowed to a crawl, the sheep remained and thrived grazing the alpine tundra, which is a fragile ecosystem of grass and forbs perfectly suited for sheep.
In fact, sheep, when properly grazed, stimulate root growth of alpine vegetation, control weeds, help distribute seeds and encourage vegetative production as grazed plants become more vigorous.
Which is exactly the message that was spread during the Sheep Day event, as well as many other answers to the various questions posed by four-wheel enthusiasts who dropped by.
According to Edna, over the years, she has answered the most questions about payments, acquisitions and boundaries of permits, as well as queries about grazing itself and how it works.
“The biggest misconception is that sheep ruin everything they have been on,” she says.
“Sheep have been grazing up here as long as mining has existed. You can see the scars from mining, you can’t see any from grazing,” Etchart says, adding, “People who don’t like grazing won’t be able to move us off for resource reasons, that’s for sure.”
Jim Lovelace, Bureau of Land Management, manages recreation in the area and focuses on telling people about the many uses of the high country and how they can work together for everyone’s benefit.
“Recreation is just one of the uses – sheep grazing is a traditional use,” he says.
“By and large, the sheep don’t impact the people’s recreation experience,” he says. “The sheep herders are good about keeping sheep off of trails and anywhere there would be a conflict.”
In fact, according to Mason, there are several people that are disappointed when they don’t get a chance to see a flock of sheep in the backcountry.
That unique opportunity to see sheep in action was a driving part of the popularity at this year’s event, drawing in both those recreators who drove up the pass for the first time and those that come to the event year after year.
Burton and Judy Gregg, of Tulsa, Okla., saw the advertisement for the event and decided to drive up to participate.
“We are always up for an adventure,” Judy said. “To me, seeing the sheep is a very serene and calming thing.”
Carolyn and Stuart Burchett, of Weatherford, Okla., had heard about the event over the years and decided to see what it was all about.
“I had questions about permits and how the permitting process occurs,” Stuart related. “Edna explained it all to me.”
The benefits of the event are not limited to the four-wheelers that attend – the U.S. sheep industry is benefiting as well by extending a hand to the urban population and gaining their support.
People were given the opportunity, through the lamb samples, to see the end product of what grazing can provide – an all natural, nutritious product, raised in an environmentally conscious manner.
“We get to give people samples – they get to try it and then they might go out and buy it,” says Etchart’s son, Nathan, who, along with his sister Hannah, help Etchart promote the lamb industry at the event each year.
“Sheep Day is really a neat day. It would benefit a lot of livestock operators to reach out to the public to help them understand the industry,” said Mason.
Etchart agrees, saying that it is important to address issues, promote understanding and encourage more people to get out and support the industry, whether they live on ranches or in cities.
“If there’s an issue, I ask them to bring it up,” says Etchart. “Because here in the West, without public lands, we won’t survive.”