LaHarpe ? Mamas who won’t let their babies grow up to be cowboys haven’t met Ross Umholtz.

Umholtz, who has done everything from raising quarter horses to forging hunting knives and other metalworks as a blacksmith, has packed quite a bit of cowboy living in his 76 years.

Now, Umholtz’s life as a ranch hand on the famed Vermejo Ranch in New Mexico is featured in the Winter 2003 edition of Range Magazine.

While the article encompasses much of what Umholtz did on the ranch primarily in the early 1950s, his life elsewhere is just as notable.

‘Long, hard work’

The son of a wheat farmer, Umholtz grew up helping his family in the wheat fields, milking cows or working at a local saw mill. The family only rented the land, however, and when the opportunity arose to buy some property in Woodson County, east of Yates Center, the family jumped at the chance.

Umholtz remembered the long summer hours of hauling hay bales.

“Those were the days of the stationary pickup balers,” he recalled, where crews had to pull hay to the device so it could be baled and hauled away. “That was some long, hard work,” he said.

On to the ranch

It was there that Umholtz, then 24, read a feature article about Vermejo Ranch in Look Magazine. At about 500,000 acres, Vermejo was one of the largest ranches in the country. Intrigued about life as a ranch hand, Umholtz wrote a letter to W.J. Gourley, Vermejo’s owner.

“He really only owned the ranch as a hobby,” Umholtz recalled.

Ross Umholtz stands with one of the horses he raises on his farm near LaHarpe. Umholtz's life as a farmhand on a New Mexico ranch has been profiled in the Winter 2003 issue of Range Magazine.

Gourley already had made his millions manufacturing oil pump supplies and making artillery shells for the Navy during World War II.

Umholtz didn’t work much with cattle or horses in his early years at Vermejo, situated in the far northeast corner of New Mexico. Instead, he worked primarily as a mechanic or blacksmith, welding fences or building irrigation ditches. After a two-year stint in the Army, from 1949 to 1951, Umholtz returned to the ranch.

Occasionally, he would be recruited to help tend to the cattle, from branding 400 cattle a day, to helping castrate or inoculate the animals. “It was hard, but I really liked the work,” he said.

Career change

One problem. Umholtz’s duties meant working long hours under the broiling hot sun, or the frigid wintry snow for little money. Umholtz left the ranch in 1954. He moved to Hesston, then back to Yates Center, as he spent life on the road as part of a bridge construction crew. Again, Umholtz often worked from sunup to sundown at a paltry wage.

While living in Yates Center, Umholtz met Marian, who would later become his wife. Unwilling to continue working on the road with a wife in tow, Umholtz decided to quit his road construction work.

The Umholtzes bought a tavern in downtown Iola.

“That place drove me nuts,” he said with a laugh. “We lived upstairs from the bar, but it still wasn’t much money.”

Back to horses

To supplement his income, Umholtz again dabbled in road construction before he and Marian decided to move again — this time to LaHarpe. Umholtz raised cattle for a few years, while also working part-time as a welder for Nelson Quarries. In the early 1960s his interest shifted from cattle to horses.

“As a kid, I had always been interested in horses,” he said. “I thought I could really make some money if I raised race horses.”

Those thoughts eventually subsided, primarily because of the lack of his horses’ success. Umholtz raised and trained 10 race horses. None won a race.

With his lessons learned about thoroughbreds, Umholtz decided to focus solely on quarter horses. In the 40 years since, he has raised and bred about 200 horses.

And although Umholtz has slowed a bit, he still can be found trying to break a young colt, or eyeing a young mare at a horse sale. “I don’t get out as much if it’s real cold,” he said. “I guess I’m getting a bit lazy.”

He often jokes with his girlfriend — Marian died in the early 1980s — that it’s time to slow down, “since I’m 184 years old.”

Umholtz also continues to dabble in foundry work. With a torch, a pipe and a bucket of oil, Umholtz can build a hunting knife out of little more than a piece of metal.

“It’s fun,” he said. He continues to work occasionally for Nelson Quarries if a welding job needs to be done.

“The Nelsons have been great to me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed working with them.”

The key to being a successful horse trader, Umholtz said, is honesty.

“If you aren’t fair with the people you work with, you’re just not going to last long,” he said. “Honesty pays, that’s for sure.”