Cover story: Learning from Dad, the ICA’s new president

After spending weeks in the barn getting good scratches, this calf came to the pickup truck daily when Mark Pratt drove in the calving field.

my Our leader, dad

COVER STORY

BY ANNA PRATT LICKLEY For the Idaho Cattle Association

Meet the new ICA president, a lifelong learner and teacher from a longtime Idaho ranching family

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE PRATT FAMILY Mark Pratt enjoys another blustery Southeast Idaho day with his daughter Anna, his son Seth and Seth's wife, Leah.

Happy New Year! I hope you and your family had a safe and happy holiday season.

I’m Mark Pratt’s daughter, Anna. Being raised by Mark is a blessing that I, my brother Seth and my sister Callie get to share. And we’re better for it.

Our family’s operation is located among sand hills and spud fields, and includes some mountain range ground around the Blackfoot River. It began in 1904, and Mark’s grandparents, Bonnie and Eldro, and his parents, Gary and Anita, worked on the ranch their whole lives. Countless herding dogs, horses, and friends and family help us get the job done.

Mark was a high school agriculture teacher and college instructor for 15 years before choosing to ranch full time. He finds joy in the process of learning and is a student of ranching. From business management to calf health, he approaches each element of the operation with curiosity, and as we grew up, Dad seldom missed an opportunity to help us understand and excel in the world around us.

The most important lessons revolved around how to handle cattle, build a trusting relationship with your horse and treat people respectfully.

“Holistic Management,” the Merck Veterinary Manual and Bud Williams’ courses are important staples of my parents’ continuing education, and Dad made sure we all learned right alongside him. Pressure and release, talk quiet in the calving barn, create movement, correct quickly, pay attention. We were expected to do our best, and we suffered our own defeats without the fear of criticism.

The most we’d hear was, “Intelligence plays a role in things,” or “Experience is cheap, no matter the cost.” Sometimes he’d slip up and say more than that, but not often. Mark is very patient.

FROM FFA TO 4-H, A RANCHER WHO IS INVOLVED

We spend a week in the late spring trailing cattle to mountain range ground. I don’t recall the trail drive going very smoothly when I was little, and my siblings and I were easily flustered. Scrunched-up gloves, cold feet or crooked saddle blankets will do that to a person, and my parents got an earful. Instead of reprimanding us, Dad knew the dust, horses, cattle and

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Dad showed us what it looks like to embrace our responsibility to the whole ecosystem around us – people, land, animals all included.

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weather would straighten us out. By day three we were just part of the crew. We’re better help nowadays.

Mark was very active in 4-H, rodeo and FFA in high school, and passed his loves along to us children – minus rodeo. Dad was our 4-H leader. We were usually late for 4-H practice. We’d rush home from checking cattle in the mountains, unload our horses and head for the arena. The length of evening practices depended on the ranch horse we were riding that year,

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Ranching is a group effort that we are lucky to share with family and friends at the Pratt operation. and Dad made sure we didn’t head to the county fair unprepared.

Like anyone who appreciates a well-rounded horse, he encouraged us to compete in as many events as possible. Practicing was less of a priority for the state fair, though. By that time, we were back in school and FFA activities usually took precedence.

I wonder how many times the walls of my parents’ house have heard the words of the FFA Creed: “For I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life, and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.”

He was my sister’s ag teacher and was pseudo FFA adviser to my brother and me. The ranch came first, but Dad is a strong advocate of youth leadership programs, and always supported us in FFA competitions and events.

CONTINUED, PAGE 33

‘YOU’RE HELPING JUST BY BEING HERE’

As we grew up, Dad encouraged us to expand our horizons, which led to internships in Washington, D.C., foreign travel, and years in New York City, South Carolina and Nebraska. All the while, he ran the risk of our horizons becoming so big that we would lose sight of home. Dad grapples with this balance in his own life. Luckily, we’re all back in Idaho.

Like most ranch kids, feeding 4-H steers and working with family taught us about our inherent responsibility to other living things. But dad showed us what it looks like to embrace our responsibility to the whole ecosystem around us – people, land, animals all included.

Sometimes he may take that responsibility too seriously, but it’s inspiring nonetheless.

Dad has faith in people and is quick

Dad seldom missed an opportunity to help us understand and excel in the world around us. The most important lessons revolved around how to handle cattle, build a trusting relationship with your horse and treat people respectfully.

to find their value, whether their contribution is big or small. As a little kid I often carried the shovel, refilled syringes, brushed horses and confessed that I wasn’t good enough help. He’d reassure me, “You’re helping just by being here.”

Over the years I’ve realized what he meant. Good company is priceless during a long day’s work.

We’re excited and proud to have Mark serve as the ICA president this year. We all agree it will be challenging, but certainly worth doing. And we know that while visiting all of you, he’ll have good company wherever he goes.

February 22 Oregon Bull & Bred Heifer Sale

Noon • Baker City, Oregon Selling: 200 Bulls • 100 Bred Heifers

42734 Old Trail Rd. • Baker City, OR 97814 Rob & Lori Thomas - Office: (541) 524-9322 Rob’s Cell: (541) 403-0562 • Lori’s Cell: (541) 403-0561

Cole Owens, Marketing Specialist & Cooperative Manager: (918) 418-7349 www.thomasangusranch.com • info@thomasangusranch.com

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thomas-angus-ranch Also mark your calendar:

January 20 • Wyoming Bull Sale

March 29 • Idaho Bull Sale September 20 • California Bull Sale October 20 • Oregon Bull & Female Sale