Herding Cattle, Working the Land Grows Into a Family Affair

KILLDEER, N.D. — For the Yogerst family, there's something satisfying about being in the wide open, green spaces under crystal blue skies herding cattle and tilling the land.

Alyssa Yogerst, along with her husband Brian, spend many springs and summers doing just that at Brian's aunt and uncle's 20,000-acre ranch bordering the Badlands. In May, Alyssa and Brian spent time on the ranch herding cattle, pairing cows and calves, looking for broken fences and helping out with a neighboring ranch's spring branding. Both are staffers at CUNA Mutual Group. Alyssa is a communications strategist and Brian is a financial reporting manager.

Alyssa is also an avid horsewoman, who serves on the board of directors for the Upper Midwest Missouri Foxtrotter Association, a regional group dedicated to promoting the fox trot as an ideal training horse for riders. Brian is an occasional rider who spent much of his childhood in the North Dakota countryside and said he is always happy to return to the ranch on the banks of the Little Missouri River.

“I was riding before I could walk,” Alyssa said. “My mom had horses in backyard. It's on file, a one year-old on horseback.”

On the ranch, the work is hard and nonstop, Brian said. This year, the Yogersts came in right after the annual cattle branding. Ranchers from all around came together to help out with branding and to give injections to prevent diseases. There were about a handful of people and a couple of dogs moving roughly 90 cattle down dirt roads to pastures. The migration can be trying under the blazing sun with hardly any shade to provide cover, Brian pointed out.

During their most recent stay, several calves were born, which required the family to make sure mothers and babies were okay. Their daughter, Madigan, 2, experienced her first trip to the ranch this year and in the course of 24 hours went from, “Mama, cows scare me,” to shouting, “Move along, cow” from horseback.

–msamaad@cutimes.com