Message from the President

A fourth-generation rancher, ready to tackle ‘issues of the day’

BY MARK PRATT ICA President

Working with fellow cattle producers and Idaho families will be an honor, so please share your thoughts

Fifty Christmases ago, Santa graced me with a brand-new lever-action ricochet rifle. It had a simulated wood-grain stock with a little speaker that blurted “puwow” when you pulled the trigger.

On the way to meet Grandpa at the feedlot, Dad warned me not to shoot it around the calves. He should have known better than to think I could resist the temptation. I lasted for a while … and then as I squeezed the trigger, there were two ricochets that happened simultaneously: the rifle and the calves off the back fence.

I got a lot more careful from then on.

Favorite things change as we grow older. But raising cattle has been a family favorite for several generations. I’m the fourth generation at my place. My grandfather was born in the same house where our son and daughter-in-law now live with their daughter.

As with many ranches, ours started with a 160acre homestead. Each generation, with help from the previous ones, has added on to the ranch. I

PROVIDED BY MARK AND WENDY PRATT Mark Pratt and his children — from left, Seth, Anna and Callie — get ready to feed the cows on a ranch that’s been in the family for several generations.

guess you could say we’re in it for the long haul. At least as long as blessings and reasonable management can keep us afloat. Grandpa would say, “A cow will take care of herself and you, but she won’t cover many mistakes.”

As I humbly take the reins of our association, I

As with many ranches, ours started with a 160-acre homestead. Each generation, with help from the previous ones, has added on to the ranch. I guess you could say we’re in it for the long haul.

think about all who have gone before me.

In his first address to the newly organized Idaho Cattle and Horse Growers’ Association in 1916, then-president Clay Vance said, “While this association has for its purpose many other features, yet I consider the conservation of the range of this state one of the biggest objects we have to accomplish and one that will mean much to Idaho’s future wealth and standing.”

For Vance, conservation was meant to go hand in glove with making a living from the land.

If we’re picking favorites from the wide array of issues we face as cattle producers, range conservation would, admittedly, have to be mine. I have, however, learned that there’s a lot more to this job than that, and I hope you know that I’ll be working to represent the membership-directed stance on all issues while serving in this role.

PROVIDED BY MARK AND WENDY PRATT

Please join me as we work to address the “issues of the day” over the course of the upcoming year. I look forward to meeting many of you and am always happy to talk with my fellow producers.

Here’s wishing you a great new year, and in the words of humorist Garrison Keillor: “Be well, do good work and keep in touch.”

B o v i B o x

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