Letha--Over 4,000 sheep are running through sheering sheds at Soulen ranch outside of Emmett. Rancher Harry Soulen says it was an easy season until last week with all the storms, but he says his operation made it through the winter and now looking forward to spring and greener pastures.
"We’re sheering right at 4000 hundred head of sheep here in Letha. We're in the second day of sheering and the sheering crew is getting through about 800 head a day," said Soulen.
Soulen says they usually run about 10-thousand head but changing times have forced reduction of livestock on the range.
"Its a reduction of what we used to sheer, we used to sheer about 10-thousand head of ewes and yearlings, but with the loss of summer range due to the bighorn situation, this is the herd size we are limited to. because its the whole piece of the pie and if you have a portion of one thing it affects your whole operation, so we’re down to where we can only run about 4500 sheep tops," said Soulen.