AgriCULTURE | Marie McClaren 

Marie McClaren’s great-great-grandfather, William Julian and his brother came to the United States from England in the late 1800s. 

“When they were 12 and 14 years old, they started working for a sheep man in the Salt Lake City, Utah area,” Marie said.   

For their labors, the two young men were paid –at least in part –with sheep. Once William Julian had a sizeable flock built up, he took his sheep to Wyoming, homesteading near Sage (now a ghost town between Kemmerer and the Utah border). Family lore says that a Native American showed him the spring where he homesteaded. 

“William and (wife’s name?) had 12 children, and as the number of children went up, the sheep numbers went up,” Marie said. “As soon as each boy became old enough to herd sheep, he went out with a herd.” 

Don Julian, Marie’s great-grandfather, attended school through the eighth grade, then went out on the range to herd sheep until his first child, Marie’s grandfather, Truman Julian, was born.  

“My grandpa Truman went and got his masters’ degree in range science at the University of Wyoming, worked for the Game, Fish and Parks and the Forest Service, and eventually moved back to Kemmerer and took over the Julian sheep ranch,” Marie said. “He bought out a couple of his uncles’ sheep allotments, including horses, sheep, wagons, camps and other equipment. He built the place up to what it is now, and built up to around 10,000 head of sheep.” 

Marie’s uncle, Dave Julian and her mother, Trudy Julian have since taken over and run the ranch together. Two of Dave’s children, Garrett and Lexi, are also involved in the operation along with Marie. The family currently runs around 9,000 sheep. 

Marie McClaren’s heart and heritage are both deeply rooted in the mountains of southwestern Wyoming.  

“Simply, I just love it. I truly love just being out on the range. I love the sheep; I love working with the dogs. I find so much joy in just being out on my horse with a herd of sheep; I could be out there all day.”  

The word “legacy” may get overused in the ranching world these days, but McClaren knows that the land, livestock, traditions and wisdom passed down to her through the generations is truly a legacy 

“I truly feel called to continue this ranch,” she said. “It always breaks my heart to see ranch kids not want to continue in the family operation, or have to leave, sometimes not by their own choice. I know how much work my grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents put into building this ranch, all the work and time and dedication. To let that go is heartbreaking.” 

McClaren is also passionate about advocating for the sheep industry. 

“So many people view sheep wagons out on the sagebrush or range with a big herd of sheep as a scene of the past,” she said. “We’re still living it. We’re keeping the past alive by having sheepherders on the range with the sheep. This historic scene is still living.” 

For McClaren, advocacy means being a voice for the sheep industry, a facet of American agriculture often overlooked. 

“We’re still here; we still matter,” McClaren said. “We’re producing a very sustainable product: the wool from the sheep and the meat from the lambs, and providing jobs. My family alone provides jobs for 20 Peruvians and this keeps their families going.” 

Informing, educating, and sharing her story is as much part of McClaren’s job description as lambing or shearing, she believes. These are all reasons behind the blog she started writing in Xear? 

“I really enjoy writing and wanted to start writing stories about sheep herding,” she said. “I started to blog to teach people about sheep ranching and what’s going on out here on the vast ranges of Wyoming.” 

Although she has often felt like she was “born in the wrong generation,” McClaren believes God put her “here for a reason” in this time and place.  

“There is still value in the ‘old school’ way of living,” she said. “I always felt like I would have fit in better with my mom’s or my grandpa’s generation; they were more old school back in the day. That’s what I want to keep alive. If we have no more modernized stuff, we will be fine.” 

McClaren said people want to get out of the bustle of city life, and this is part of the drive behind agri-tourism. 

“People want to experience ‘old school’ life on the range, disconnect from cell phones and internet, be out in nature and be with animals,” she said. 

Some visitors suggested that people would pay to come out to the Julian ranch and experience life on the range. 

“I decided it was maybe not such a bad idea,” Marie said. “People who read my stories can come experience my stories, stay in a sheep wagon and get firsthand experience learning what it’s like.”  

McClaren shows guests what sheep ranching is like, and feeds them lamb while they’re visiting.  

“I’m a big advocate of the sheep industry.” 

“I feed people lamb while they’re here,” she said. “That’s another way of promoting it and getting people buying it.” 

McClaren welcomes guests on a custom basis between May and October every summer, whether for a weekend stay or a full week on the ranch. 

“I love meeting new people, building relationships and hearing their stories,” she said. “I customize visits to individuals, and I’m very flexible.” 

Guests get to experience whatever’s going on, whether that’s docking lambs, working sheep through the corral, or moving sheep camps in the mountains. 

“Whatever we have going on they get to be a part of,” Marie said.  

McClaren is considering the idea of hosting retreats or workshops on the ranch. 

“I’m open to having retreats, whether it’s a church group, a writing workshop or an art workshop, where people can stay in sheep wagons, but mom tells me I need to focus on one thing at a time,” she said. “I like to have lots of ideas and irons in the fire. But for now, when people come to the ranch, I keep it to two; that’s how many I can fit in the cab of my pickup!” 

McClaren is part of the Wyoming LEAD program, and spent time in Washington, D.C. this spring.  

“We visited with people in the USDA, the FSA, the Public Lands Commission and the National Cattlemen’s Association, as well as meeting with both of our Senators and our Representative,” she said. “We are learning more about what is going on in D.C., how to advocate, who to talk to, and getting those connections made.”  

McClaren feels that advocacy work fits her personality and skill set. 

“I like to meet new people, build relationships, and I enjoy getting to talk to people about what I’m really passionate about,” she said. “I learned that I like it!” 

McClaren also holds a leadership role representing the Wyoming Woolgrowers, is on the board of the Wyoming Food Coalition, and has played a part in founding the Wyoming Sheep and Wool Festival, now in its third year. 

“We’re putting the Festival on in Buffalo this year,” she said. “The purpose is to educate people about the sheep industry, get people together to sell our sheep related products, have a fun time and celebrate the sheep industry and what we have going on.”  

She attends meetings to stay up to date on Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and political issues relevant to public lands ranching and the sheep industry. Her stepfather teases her about quitting her “politicking” and staying home and ranching. 

“I don’t see in today’s world that we can do that and keep the ranch; in today’s world we have to be advocating to keep the ranch alive,” she said. “If I have to leave the sheep and my dogs and go to D.C. and Cheyenne to advocate for it, I will. If I don’t tell the stories, people will make up their own stories about what they think is happening on the ranch. They need to hear it directly from us.” 

“If I don’t tell the stories, people will make up their own stories about what they think is happening on the ranch. They need to hear it directly from us.”- Marie McClaren 

Marie loves the time she can spend up in the mountains with the sheep. 

“My most favorite place in the whole world is called Mt. Isabel,” she said. “It’s a big mountain on the north end of our sheep allotments in the Forest. We take the sheep up there to graze, and getting to go up there is the highlight of every summer. When you ride up to the top, you’re at just over 10,000 feet elevation. It’s the highest point on our allotment, with crazy rock cliffs off all directions from the top. But once you get up, it opens up into grassy meadows, and there’s a spring that comes out of the top. It is immaculate, and you can see forever.” 

Sitting on her horse and listening to the ewes and lambs blatting at each other is something she can do for hours. 

September is McClaren’s favorite month of the year.  

“We count all of the herds before we start trailing them out of the mountains,” she said. “Mom and I are on horses for a week, getting them all counted, staying up on the mountain in tents, talking to the guys, cleaning trails and getting camps ready for the sheep to dome out of the mountains.” 

When the sheep are home again, they spend two weeks working all of the herds through the corrals, sorting off lambs, sorting wethers into the corral, moving ewe lambs to pasture, and mouthing and bagging the ewes.  

“It’s such a fun community feeling, having our Peruvian sheepherders all together,” she said. “It feels celebratory, everyone’s home and we drink beer and visit at the end of each long, dusty day.” 

Seeds of faith have been planted deeply through the generations of McClaren’s family. 

“Having a strong faith has helped my family through hardships, keeping the ranch together and keeping the family together,” she said. “I don’t think any of my family would have gotten through the really bad winter we had a few years ago, and other bad years if not for our faith in God and many, many prayers to get us through. It doesn’t mean you don’t have hardships. It means you have God at your side and the peace of knowing this is God’s will and we will make it through with Him.” 

Marie knows that this heritage of faith is something to be proud of right along with the ranch that has been passed down through generations.  

“My grandparents built that into their children and down to their grandchildren,” she said. “I will never forget my grandpa telling me that ‘raising sheep is more than just that, it makes us more like Jesus –we are shepherds like Him.’ I strive to be a good shepherd like my grandpa, my mom, my great-grandma Josephine, and Jesus.”