Cottonwood Ranch Welcomes RCA

After more than a year of preparations, a group of RCA students were invited to Nevada where they visited the Cottonwood Ranch.   Tom and Alecia Maxey, who are part owners of the beautifully serene (and vast) property are dear friends of the Academy and wanted to share their second home with us. 

The weather was unseasonably cold for early October (it actually snowed)!  But students were given warm gear – coats, hats, gloves, and scarves - in order to brave the elements.  As we quickly learned, cold weather doesn’t stop real cowboys or cowgirls.  

Chores each morning consisted of feeding hay to the horses and milk to each baby calf.    Immediately following morning chores, it was time to ride!  Each student was paired with a horse that matched his/her personality.  Prior to riding each day, students learned how to properly saddle their horses and the right way to mount and ride them.   After getting to know our horses (lots of practice within the practice circle), we were off!  

It was time to heard cattle.   Hay rides, storytelling around the fire inside the tee-pee, lasso lessons, and line dancing were all part of this wonderful experience.   RCA students expressed feeling exceptionally free – being so remote from the rest of the world.  Many described it as a unique bonding experience.Many thanks to the Smith family and to all the extended Cottonwood family for making our stay so special!

About Cottonwood RanchIn 1915 the Ox Yoke Livestock Company bought the land that had belonged to a well-known western family - the O’Neils.   Horace Agee was president and manager of Ox Yoke until 1935 at which time he bought out the other members of the company and became sole owner with holdings from O’Neil Basin in Northeast Elko County to Steptoe Valley in White Pine County.  He eventually sold his holdings in White Pine County and bought The Hubbard, Vinyard and Bridge Ranches just east of O’Neil Basin.In 1952, Horace Agee died at the age of 79.  His properties were divided among his three living sons and two daughters.  He willed Cottonwood Ranch to two of his grandsons, Horace and Talmadge.  Both grandsons were in the service at the time, serving in the Korea.Horace and his wife Renie (Irene) and their one-year old son Agee moved to Cottonwood Ranch upon his discharge from the Naval Air Force in November of 1952. They moved into the little cabin on Cottonwood creek and immediately began to create a home and a ranch.  They eventually bought Talmadge’s interest in the ranch.  Over the years the hay meadows were expanded, the cattle herd grew and four more children were born and more rooms were added to the little cabin to become a comfortable home for the growing family. Horace broke his own horses and the kids all grew up riding horses and working alongside their parents to build the Cottonwood Ranch. Because of Horace’s love of hunting, he and his father-in law established a commercial hunting business in order to augment the family finances.  In 1953 they began guiding hunters into the Jarbidge Mountains to hunt mule deer. This became a very successful part of the Cottonwood Ranch business.  In the 1980’s the family expanded the business into summer recreation inviting folks to come and share in a true western ranch adventure. In 2001 Alecia and Tom Maxey became partners in the ranch and have invested in many improvements to the ranch, including lodging, housing and water developments.  The ranch has flourished with their partnership.  Alecia had come to Cottonwood as a guest in 1988 and had continued to return to the ranch each year.  She has become an expert ‘cowgirl’ and one of the top ‘hands’ on the ranch. She now spends her summers at the ranch, riding the range every day, checking cattle and horses.  She also helps entertain guests who arrive from all over the world. Tom comes to the ranch whenever he is able to get away from his business demands.  At the present time the ranch runs cattle, and horses and entertains the many guests who come to experience a western ranch vacation.  The Smiths and Maxeys take great pride in their horses which are almost all bred and raised on the ranch.  Horse lovers who come to the ranch on vacation are always impressed by the beautiful Cottonwood horses.Since 1995 under the leadership of Agee Smith (eldest son of Horace & Renie) Cottonwood Ranch has been involved in a new way of operating the ranch called ‘Holistic Resource Management’. Under this method cattle are managed under a ‘timed grazing method’. This method is designed to protect and promote the health of range land.  In order to improve and maintain the land the cattle are grazed in smaller areas for shorter periods of time. There is constant movement of the cattle from one area to another which helps prevent over grazing of the grass land or having excess use of the creeks.  They are also handled in a low stress manner to insure the health of the cattle.  All of this requires a great deal of riding with long hours spent in the saddle riding through the beautiful range land of O’Neil Basin, and the magnificent Jarbidge Mountains.  Because of the cooperation between the ranch and Federal Land Agencies this program has been highly successful.  Because of the success of this grazing method and the great improvement in the range land on the Cottonwood federal grazing allotments, the ranch has received several awards for their range management practices.  They strive to use the best knowledge available.