Landowners across the West are often considering how to share and manage working landscapes that sustain people, livestock, and wildlife, which can include reducing conflicts with large carnivores such as wolves. While there are many ranching and wildlife management practices that could be used on private working lands to reduce wolf-livestock interactions, stockmanship techniques rooted in Bud-Williams principles can play a role in decreasing herd vulnerability.

In this two-day workshop you’ll learn from both ranchers with extensive experience running cattle in wolf country and wolf conservation experts who also have training in stockmanship, herd management, and range riding. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to apply the demonstrated techniques on a herd of cattle, giving you the space to participate and practice before heading home to your own operation.

This workshop – hosted by Working Circle, the Upper Arkansas Conservation District, Chaffee County Cattlemen’s Association, and Quivira Coalition – will show that stockmanship practices can help reduce conflict risks while also supporting resilient and economically-viable ranch operations.

Discover how stockmanship techniques can impact your ranch and improve:

– reproduction success

– morbidity and mortality rates

– herd productivity and feed conversion efficiency

– operational efficiency and ease of handling

– overall health and welfare of your animals

– wolf-livestock conflict risk reduction

 

Some workshop highlights include:

– Understanding the role of stockmanship in effective range riding

– Gaining techniques and strategies that can be put into practice on your ranch

– Spending time with practitioners who have extensive and direct experience ranching with wolves

– Becoming familiar with current state agency programs, funding, and resources

– Learning about additional opportunities for direct on-ranch support

Agenda:

June 24, 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. (classroom day) at Hutchinson Ranch – presentations and discussions on effective stockmanship, understanding and reducing wolf-livestock conflict, herd health, nutrition, and wolf conflict resources.

June 25 , 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.(field day) at Lewis Lazy L Ranch – stockmanship techniques and outdoor cattle work

Dawn Hnatow, owner and founder of Cattle Up Stockmanship, was born into a ranching family in Canada. She has worked with livestock her entire life and spent numerous years under the mentorship of Bud Williams, becoming one of the few true successors to his work and legacy. Their many years together forever changed the trajectory of her life and she now spends her time passing on the wealth of knowledge she gained during those countless experiences. Dawn specializes in effective and efficient cattle handling that increases productivity while decreasing stress, shrinkage, morbidity and mortality, and provides tangible solutions for reducing wolf-livestock conflict.

 

Mike Ensley, a lifelong rancher with extensive experience running cattle in active wolf country across the West, leads Working Circle’s field efforts. Following Bud Williams’ stockmanship principles, Mike works with individual ranchers and ranch operations to reduce the risk of wolf-livestock conflict through practices that increase ranch viability.

 

Working Circle’s co-founder and executive director, Karin Vardaman, has over 40 years of experience in non-profit leadership, wildlife conservation, and environmental education, including 16 years focused on wolf conservation. She has extensive hands-on expertise in wolf and wildlife tracking, monitoring, and conflict mitigation, including conducting on-ranch risk assessments and developing conflict-reduction plans. Karin also brings a decade of training in stockmanship, herd management, and range riding in active wolf country. She has worked with diverse ranches across California, Colorado, Montana, and Oregon and served on the California Wolf Management Stakeholder Working Group.

 

Maddie Munro is the program director at Working Circle, where she manages an array of field programs including outreach, workshops, and on-the-ground activities. Serving as the organization’s primary point of contact, Maddie is a key liaison between wildlife agencies, producers, and NGO partners. In addition to a B.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati, she has experience deploying game cameras, implementing non-lethal wolf–livestock conflict deterrent tools, and tracking wildlife. Skilled in logistics coordination, community engagement, backcountry fieldwork, nonprofit operations and on-the-ground strategy management, Maddie plays an essential role in Working Circle’s daily operations.