La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association

09/01/2026

The La Plata–Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association is excited to partner with the Colorado Department of Agriculture and CSU Extension for Empowering Growth: Southwest Colorado Agricultural Grant Workshop on Thursday, October 1, from 4–7 PM at Fort Lewis College, Skyhawk Station Room 118.

This free workshop is a great opportunity for local producers and agricultural community members to learn more about funding opportunities available through the Colorado Department of Agriculture, including Climate Resilience Grants, Soil Health Grants, the Ag Stewardship Tax Credit, Climate Smart Market Grants, and more.

CSU Extension will also provide practical grant-writing guidance, proven templates, and hands-on support to help attendees better understand the application process and get questions answered in real time.

A complimentary dinner will be provided.

We encourage our Cattlemen’s members and other local producers to take advantage of this opportunity and plan to attend!

Advance registration is required. Please RSVP by scanning the QR code on the flyer or clicking here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfslN4Bow9UDqWsLZxwacgf4hLM-PRatuf9ZnwX6CiLwdoiiA/viewform

📅 Thursday, October 1, 2026
⏰ 4:00–7:00 PM
📍 Fort Lewis College | Skyhawk Station 118

We hope to see many of you there!

08/26/2026

Please join us for this important evening supporting the future of agriculture in our community. 🌾🇺🇸

The La Plata County Farm Bureau has put together a wonderful event with an incredible guest speaker, Jeff Hunt, and conversations that matter not only to farmers and ranchers, but to everyone who cares about the future of agriculture and rural Colorado.

Our agricultural community is stronger when we show up for one another, and we’d love to see a great crowd there. Please read the original post for all the details and reach out to the La Plata County Farm Bureau with any questions or to get your tickets. 🤎

🌾THE FUTURE OF COLORADO AGRICULTURE MATTERS 🇺🇸
and continues to be shaped right now. At this year's dinner, Jeff Hunt will speak on the challenges facing agriculture, the impact of government overreach, and why protecting our freedoms and agricultural future will require all of us to pay attention and get involved.

Join your La Plata County Farm Bureau on Saturday, September 12th for our annual event featuring special guest speaker Jeff Hunt.

Jeff will tackle some important topics facing Colorado and agriculture today, including:

🌾 The importance of agriculture to Colorado
🇺🇸 Protecting individual freedom and the future of agriculture
🏛️ Government overreach and its impact on rural Colorado
🚜 Why it matters for all of us to get involved

And while the topics are serious, Jeff is anything but boring. A daily syndicated 4-hr talk show host, Jeff brings a mix of insight, humor and real-world perspective that makes him engaging and entertaining to listen to.

This evening is about more than agriculture. It’s about community, food, rural Colorado and the future we’re building for the next generation.

✨ Enjoy an evening with friends and supporters of agriculture
📝5:00 PM – Annual Meeting begins for FB Members
5:30 PM – Doors open for non-members
🍽️🎤 Enjoy dinner and hear speaker, Jeff Hunt
🤝 Meet your local La Plata County Farm Bureau
🎟️ Participate in our Silent Auction

And you do NOT have to be a rancher or Colorado Farm Bureau member to attend. If you care about preserving and supporting agriculture in Colorado and right here in La Plata County we'd love for you to join us!

📅 Saturday, September 12, 2026
📍 LePlatt's Pond | Bayfield, CO
🎤 Featured Speaker: Jeff Hunt

Tickets are available now! 🎟️ Get yours today!!

👉 https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/laplatacountyfarmbureau/2026

08/26/2026

What a wonderful Chuckwagon Rendezvous! 🤠

It takes an incredible number of people working behind the scenes to bring this event together each year, and we are so grateful for every person, family, business, and organization who gave their time, talents, and support to make this year’s Rendezvous such a success.

Most importantly, an enormous thank you to the historic chuckwagons and their crews who traveled from across the country to join us. These wagons are truly the heart of the Chuckwagon Rendezvous, and without their dedication to preserving this piece of American history, this event simply would not exist. They travel a long way, bring their equipment, spend countless hours preparing and cooking over open fires, and generously share this tradition with our community. We are incredibly grateful to each and every one of them. 🤎

Our Historic Chuckwagons:
Canyon Trails Ranch
Rafter 76
Beracah Ranch
Durango Cowboy Church
Rafter P Chuckwagon
El Puchero
Curley Cue Camp

A special thank you to Cheyenne Autum Munns with Autumn Photography, our official La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association photographer for the event. Cheyenne and her family not only documented the day for us, but also showed up to help our committee and volunteers with setup. We are incredibly grateful for her talent, generosity, and support of our agricultural community. 📸

Our Chuckwagon Committee & Volunteers:
Paul, Krii, C**t & Arabella Black
Larry Zauberis
Jerry Zink
Chelsea Rey Ransford
Kam Engstrom
True West Royalty
Barb Jeffries
Wayne Jeffries
Terry Jeffries
Will Jeffries

Our Historic Chuckwagon Sponsors:
Happy J Ranch
Basin Co-op
Southwest Ag
Gosney Ranches
First Southwest Bank
Rocky Mountain Meats, Inc.
Bank of Colorado

Friends of Agriculture:
TBK Bank
Lewis Mercantile | A True Value Store
Tucker, Bechtol, & Associates, P.C.
Fresh Off the Press
American Ag Credit
Sunnyside Meats

Industry Partners:
Autumn Muns Photography — Event Photography
Coca-Cola — Beverage Partner
Rocky Mountain Meats, Inc. — Beef Provider

And a special thank you to the businesses and families who sponsored our Reserved VIP Tables:
Beaver Creek Enterprises
Cugnini Greenberg Livestock
The Parkey Family
Kennon & Pam Decker
True Western Roundup
Central Bank

To everyone who sponsored, volunteered, cooked, served, performed, helped set up, and joined us for an evening celebrating agriculture and the history of the American West—thank you. This event simply would not be possible without a community willing to come together and support it.

Save the date for the 25th Annual Chuckwagon Rendezvous — August 21, 2027! 🤠 We can’t wait to welcome everyone back.

08/14/2026

Seven local businesses stepped forward this year to sponsor the historic chuckwagons that will gather at LePlatt's Pond for the 24th Annual Chuckwagon Rendezvous — and their support means so much more than helping us put on an event.

The significant contributions of our Historic Chuckwagon Sponsors allow the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association to raise more money for our Youth Scholarship Program, continue dedicating funds to beef advocacy and agricultural education, and promote agriculture throughout La Plata and Archuleta counties. Their support also strengthens our ability to work alongside the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, which advocates for Colorado agriculture and cattle producers at the state level.

We are incredibly grateful to our 2026 Historic Chuckwagon Sponsors:

• Rocky Mountain Meats
• Basin Co-op
• Happy J Ranch — David & Jacque Johnson
• Bank of Colorado
• First Southwest Bank
• Gosney Ranches — Don & Kellie Gosney
• Southwest Ag

We are also grateful for the businesses that stepped forward to support this year’s event as Industry Partners and Friends of Agriculture:

Industry Partners:
• Coca-Cola
• Autum Photography

Friends of Agriculture:
• TBK Bank
• Tucker, Bechtolt and Associates
• Lewis Mercantile
• American Ag Credit

These businesses chose to invest in something bigger than a single evening. They invested in our youth, our agricultural community, our ranching heritage, and the future of an industry that remains deeply important to Southwest Colorado.

So we have one simple request of our community: **please help us thank them.** If you see these businesses, do business with them, or know someone who works for them, let them know their support is noticed and appreciated. And when you have the opportunity, please consider bringing your business to the businesses that so generously support ours.

From all of us at the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association — thank you for helping us keep this tradition, and agriculture in our communities, strong. 🤠

08/14/2026

🤠 MEET THE WAGONS 🤠

This year’s Chuckwagon Rendezvous is bringing together an incredible group of wagons and crews, with some traveling from across the country to join us right here in Southwest Colorado!

From Texas and Wisconsin to Nevada and communities across Colorado, seven chuckwagon crews will roll into LePlatt’s Pond at L-J Ranch on August 22 — each bringing a unique piece of Western history with them.

🤠 Rafter P Chuckwagon — Cleburne, Texas
Featuring Prairie Rose, a circa 1905 Emerson-Brantingham wagon rescued and restored in 2021.

🐴 El Puchero — Webster, Wisconsin
A reproduction 1870s Army supply wagon, once used as a movie prop and painstakingly restored to its natural wood.

🔥 Curly Cue Camp — Las Vegas, Nevada
A restored late-1800s Peter Schuttler chuckwagon and a family crew with a passion for Western antiques, history, and good food.

🏔️ Canyon Trails Ranch — Cortez, Colorado
A 1911 Weber Damme wagon and World Championship chuckwagon cooks who took top honors in Ruidoso in 2012.

🤎 Rafter 76 — Westcliffe, Colorado
A refurbished 1915 Peter Schuttler wagon and longtime friends of our association who have competed throughout Colorado and New Mexico.

🥧 Durango Cowboy Church — Durango, Colorado
A ranch-built wagon modeled after the seasonal cow camp wagons used on large Montana ranches in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

🌵 Beracah Ranch Wagon — Durango, Colorado
An original late-1800s Bain wagon built in Kenosha, Wisconsin, honoring the legacy of the classic trail-era chuckwagon.

These aren’t food trucks pulling in for the evening. These are historic and carefully restored wagons, seasoned Dutch-oven cooks, families, ranchers, historians, and crews dedicated to preserving a way of life that helped shape the American West.

On August 22, you’ll get to walk among the wagons, visit with the crews, watch supper being prepared over open fires, and then sit down to a meal cooked the old-fashioned way.

Seven wagons. Seven crews. One unforgettable evening celebrating Western heritage. 🐂🔥

🎟 Tickets are on sale now at Basin Co-op or Online:
https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/LPACA/Chuckwagon2026

08/11/2026

08/05/2026

🎡 It’s Fair Week! 🎡

After months of hard work, learning new skills, and countless hours spent preparing projects and caring for animals, our local 4-H and FFA youth are ready to showcase everything they’ve accomplished. One of the best ways to encourage these kids is simply by showing up. Walk through the barns, visit the exhibit halls, ask questions, and celebrate all they’ve achieved.

This year, the La Plata–Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association was proud to support the beef awards and provide add-ons in both La Plata and Archuleta Counties as an investment in the future of agriculture.

While you’re there, be sure to stop by the La Plata County CowBelles & La Plata–Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association booth! You’ll find Chuckwagon Rendezvous tickets for sale, unique agriculture-themed gifts, hats, BBQ sets, signs, beef stickers, information about our organizations, and this year’s scholarship recipients.

Whether you’re coming for the livestock shows, exhibit halls, Friday night’s Chili Cook-Off, or simply a fun day with family and friends, there’s truly something for everyone.

Most importantly, come support our kids. Your encouragement means more than you know. We hope to see you at the fair!

08/05/2026

REMINDER: If you are planning to attend the WCCC meeting hosted by the LaPlata La Plata County CowBelles and Southwest Cowbelles in Hesperus on August 11, RSVP by August 1. Hope to see you there.

Black Mesa CattleWomen,Delta Cattlewomen, Gunnison Valley Cattlewomens, Mesa County Cattlewomen Association - MCCA, Moffat County Beef, Montrose CattleWomen, Plateau Valley CattleWomen, Rio Blanco Cattlewomen.

04/20/2026

What a night for our cattlemen community!🤠

We were honored to welcome 315 attendees for another incredible La Plata–Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association Banquet. From a packed room full of friends, families, and supporters to our strongest silent auction to date, it was an evening that reflected the strength and generosity of this community.

With more than 60 silent auction items valued at over $11,000, the support from local businesses, ranching families, and donors was truly outstanding. Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped make this year’s auction such a success. 🙌🏽

Another exciting highlight of the evening was the La Plata County CowBelles quilt live auction, which brought the highest winning bid in the organization’s history. Because of that incredible generosity, even more student scholarships will be possible in the near future.

We were also proud to recognize this year’s award recipients. Congratulations to Basin Co-Op as our Friends of the Cattlemen honoree for their longstanding support of agriculture and our local ranching community. Congratulations as well to Gerald and Phyllis Ludwig, named our 2026 Cattlemen of the Year, in recognition of a lifetime of dedication, stewardship, and service to the cattle industry. 🌟🏆

Events like this are only possible through many helping hands. Thank you to our banquet committee, volunteers, board members, and the outstanding team at Sky Ute Casino Resort for going above and beyond to help make the evening special.

We would also like to extend special thanks to Cheyenne Munns for beautifully capturing the evening and for generously serving our organization behind the scenes. Her talent and support are deeply appreciated. 📸

Finally, thank you to our generous VIP Table Sponsors whose support helps make this event possible: American Ag Credit, Basin Co-op, Beaver Creek Enterprises, Four Corners Trailers, Gosney Ranches, Happy J Ranch, High Country Auction, Huntington Ranches, Colorado Independent Cattle Growers, Ludwig Ranch, Pargin Ranches, Taylor Ranch, Farmer’s Fresh Grill, Southwest Ag, and Energy Council.

We are grateful for each of you and proud to celebrate the people, partnerships, and traditions that keep our ranching community strong.