An Up Close Look At The Frigid 2022 Calving Season In Wyoming
These are the hard days when you just want a little sunshine to warm up these mamas and babies, but beauty is found even on the hard days. -Kelsey Stephens
Calving season in Wyoming is notoriously brutal, after all, the chances of having any days above freezing in late February and early March are slim to none.
The 2022 calving season has been especially frigid with temps dropping to almost -30 for days on end.
Wyoming ranchers found themselves having to be extra vigilant to ensure that the newborn calves survived the cold.
Those that had calving barns were able to more easily make sure that the newborn calves stayed warm and safe, but other ranchers found themselves placing calves in the cab of their pickup truck, or into their homes.
The negative temps really put lots of added stress to both us and the animals. When a cow would calve we would let them lick their calf off and nurse and then we would grab the calves and take them into the house to get warm and dry so they could stand a fighting chance in the negative temps. This meant round the clock 24 hr watch between my two brothers, myself and my husband. -Whitney Darr
Calving season is exhausting physically and emotionally, and a true labor of love.
We wanted to honor all of our hard-working Wyoming ranchers by sharing some pictures from this year's calving season.