In the News

Based in Evanston, Wyoming, the Sims Sheep Company is a thriving business that has supported seven generations of Sims. Mike Sims said that his great, great, great grandfather homesteaded in the Evanston area around 1865. Much later, his grandfather made the trip from Wales and along with some Mormon pioneers, homesteaded the valley. According to Mike, “They (the original settlers) raised sheep, cattle, chickens, pigs, horses – they raised everything here.” The Sims family even had a dairy farm until after World War II, when they moved their focus to sheep.

The Sims Sheep Company consists of 10,000 sheep, 500 mother cows and 800 acres of crops which is mostly hay. Mike Sims doesn’t manage the company alone. He has a lot of help from his sons, Shaun and Steve, and 20 hired hands which are mostly Peruvian nationals in the United States on H2A visas. Mike finds that herders from the high Andes are the best at herding sheep because of their experience on sheep farms. “The men are better and they already know how to herd sheep. Up in the high Andes they herd sheep, and if you can get guys from the high Andes, a lot of times they don’t know horses, but they can herd sheep,” said Mike.

The sheep run all over the southwest corner of Wyoming from Kemmerer to Lyman to the home place in Evanston. It’s a spread out Wyoming ranch. Mike said they try to trail 100%, but truck a few cows. Most of the time, they are a foot. “It’s more fun,” he said.

Because the Sims raise both cows and sheep, they are able to withstand much of the market volatilities. Mike has his favorite though. “I love the sheep. The sheep business is a pick-up truck and a horse,” he said. “The cow business is hay, feeding hay, irrigating and running sprinklers.”

Mike and company try to keep their expenses to a minimum. Mike’s wife, Lauren Sims, manages the business part of the sheep farm. She completes all of the paperwork for the H2A employees, pays the bills, and gives support to the herders when needed. Some operations will choose to get legal assistance when it comes to the H2A visas – not the Sims.

They choose to take care of all the paperwork themselves. “We think by doing it ourselves we save about $12,000-$14,000 a year,” Mike said. “I’m guessing Lauren spends 45 days a year doing paperwork for the visas.”

To read the full spotlight of the Sims Sheep Company in Evanston, Wyoming, click here

Source: Fall 2015 FenceLines