Ask Jessica Holmes how old she was when she began working cattle with her family and the fifth-generation rancher has this response.
“Oh, wow, I honestly can’t remember because I would have been a toddler thrown on my mom’s horse, or just around, not really sure the age I was really helpful working cattle - I wouldn’t be able to put an age on it. Kind of forever I guess,” Holmes said.
This fall day, Jessica and her husband, Casey are preg-testing a group of cattle the family moved home for the winter.
In addition to learning pregnancy rates and due dates through ultrasound, when the cows are in the chute they receive a vaccination, fly control treatment, an identification tag and a brand.
With about 200-head to work before dark, Jessica’s three children, Tommi, Trey and Chase; her parents, Joe and Cindy Painter and employee, TK Koen are all in the corral helping out. And the family’s other fulltime employee, Ty Tope is driving into the yard with the last load of cattle to work.
“There is a lot of teamwork that goes into working cattle. Generally, the more people you have the smoother it goes,” Holmes said.
Jessica and Casey left successful careers in Rapid City to work fulltime with her parents on the family’s Harding County ranch 10 years ago because this is where they wanted to raise their children.
“It is truly an awesome lifestyle. It is a lot of work, but it’s different than an office job. You might have to put in 100-hour weeks sometimes, and then the next week you may need to make time – for example I’m able to coach my daughter’s basketball team,” Holmes said.
Jessica’s mom, Cindy Painter can relate.
“I got to raise my own children. We worked together every day – even at a young age, we worked together every day. … We feel so blessed that Jessie and her husband came back with our three grandchildren. Although, I’d like to have the other two, but I know it’s not always possible to have them all come back,” Cindy said.
Cindy and Joe’s grandchildren are the sixth generation to continue the Painter Ranch legacy. It’s a legacy that goes back nearly 130 years, explains Joe Painter.
“My great-grandfather worked for the CY Cattle Company and he rode into this country in 1895,” Joe said.
By the time Joe’s grandpa Joe and dad, Paul, took over the ranch, the operation had grown from the original 160-acre homestead claim to 6,000 acres.
“Bear in mind, this country, in those days they didn’t have hay, so it took about 35 acres to raise a cow-calf unit in a year,” Joe said.
Today the Harding County landscape hasn’t changed much. But thanks to improved grazing management and the ability to put up or purchase hay each growing season, the Painters can raise 1 cow-calf pair on 22-acres.
Even so, Joe says it’s taken grit, determination and a little outside help to keep things going.
“Times were so tough when we got started, Cindy had a degree in accounting and I had a degree in business management with a minor in money and banking, and we just about had to leave and go to town to get jobs. The banker would not work with us. Without my grandma Painter lending us $10,000 for feed one winter, we would not be here,” Joe said.
Joe says the fact that Jessica and Casey and their family are here today, make all the sacrifices and challenges worth it.
“That is our whole goal. Otherwise, you really would not be pushing or expanding. You don’t expand for yourself; you expand thinking about the grandkids,” Joe said.
As he reflects on the future of Painter Ranch, Joe’s Quarter horse Clifford is by his side. Raising and training horses for ranch work and rodeo is another family tradition.
Joe’s great-grandpa raised and trained horses for the Army. His mom, Marilyn Scott, was the first Miss Rodeo America. Jessica, her brother, P.J., and sister, Joey Williams, are all either National High School, Regional College or College National Rodeo champions. The siblings all received scholarships to compete in collegiate rodeo.
“It is what we do daily anyway, we ride and work cattle. It’s fun to do because also we get to do it as a family. My kids rodeo now, and my dad still rodeos a bit. We don’t hit the trail real hard because we still have a lot going on but whenever we have a chance, we definitely go to smaller rodeos around here,” Holmes said.
Come March, the Painter family won’t have much time for rodeos. That’s when the cows processed today are scheduled to begin calving.
The Painter Ranch will be featured in an upcoming Dakota Life episode.
