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SALT LAKE CITY — It is hard to imagine a time when 17,000 head of cattle grazed in fields across Salt Lake County. But it was only 50 years ago in 1964. Today, that number has dropped to 3,000 head. The Cross E Ranch is trying to meet the challenge of raising cattle and farming in 21st century Salt Lake City.
On a couple hundred acres of land at 3500 North and 2200 West, a sixth generation of farmers is coming of age working the cattle and the crops on the Cross E Ranch. Olivia Limon is the daughter of one of the ranch owners. She's been raised on farms and as a freshman at Utah State University is studying agri-business. "There's a lot of problem-solving, and right now, we're learning about how tractors work," she said.
Olivia Limon wants the Cross E to be a working farm well into the future. However, the biggest problem her family is facing these days are plans for a new state prison on land the Cross E has been leasing for cattle grazing for years now.
Heather Limon is a co-owner of the Cross E Ranch. "Every year my dad would fret, for the last five years of his life, oh this is the last year we're going to be here, this is the last year we're going to be here. And now, it finally looks like the prison will go there," says Heather.
If that happens, Heather believes that "it will probably be the end of our cow-calf program in Salt Lake." But hopefully not the end of the 250-acre ranch Dave Hinckley and his family have worked to improve and maintain for more than 50 years.
Hinckley died two years ago but his kids and grandkids are determined to keep his dream farm alive in the shadow of a sprawling city. Dalon Hinckley is a co-owner of the ranch. He wonders, "How do you embrace that change rather than being discouraged by it?" It is the biggest challenge facing the family.
Kris Faux is another co-owner of the Cross E. This fall she says, "We wanted to open up the Cross E Ranch for the community to come out and bring their kids and see what it's like to be part of a real working ranch."
During the month of October, the Cross E is hosting its first Fall Festival to raise money and awareness of the importance of farms and ranching. "People will come and they'll enjoy it, and it's a peaceful place to be," Heather said.
Last week, families and school groups took the short drive out to the ranch from Salt Lake to get a taste of life on a farm. "Kids come and they don't really know what a calf is. They don't know that a goat's not a dog," Heather said.
And they had no idea you can make corn angels in a big sand box. You can also harvest pumpkins for carving and eating right out of a field on the farm. "I think that we need to know where our food comes from and I think it makes us better people. It makes us more appreciative," Heather said.
Heather and her siblings appreciate the committment to farming and love of ranching passed down to them by their late father. "He woke up in the morning thinking about it and went to bed at night thinking about it. He just farmed," Heather said.
"There is this weird, addictive nature to farming that I'll do it as long as we can and I think we'll do whatever we can to keep it," Dalon Hinckley said. One way to keep interest and money flowing into the farm is to open it to the public and dress it up for Halloween.
Faux shows off part of what the ranch has put together for its Fall Festival. "This is our hay maze and we're actually using our feed that we'll be feeding our cows with all winter."
Visitors can also get a look at the 250 head of cattle that bear the Cross E brand. "We'll take guests out through our cows and to look at some of our equipment," Faux said.
It is a new fall tradition that grandkids like Olivia hope to continue for many years. "I like ranching and the agricultural side of stuff," Olivia said.
Her mother, Heather, strongly believes "we have to remember that agriculture is a base, it's a base of our survival and so we need to have farms."
The Cross E has secured another one-year lease for the 3,000 acres they use to graze their cattle.
The Fall Festival runs through Halloween and anyone interested in visiting the Cross E over the next few weeks can go to the ranch website at http://www.crosseranch.com/.
