Dennis Brown named 2023 'Ranch Hand of the Year'
#Last weekend, Robert “Dennis” Brown was presented with the 2023 “Ranch Hand of the Year” award before the kickoff of the 34th annual Ranch Hand Rodeo.
#The event was held Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5, at the Winnemucca Event Center.
#Agricultural District No. 3 Chairman Kent Maher said Dennis rose to the top of his board’s list within a matter of minutes for his many contributions to local ranching life.
#“When you see what Dennis has done and who he has associated with, it’s easy to see he deserves this honor and the chance to stand alongside all those who have strengthened our local ranching heritage.”
#Dennis was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, to Robert and Audrey Brown. His sister, Penny Lynn, was born two years later. His paternal grandparents, Charlie and Fern Brown, owned a farm in Buhl, Idaho, and his maternal grandparents, Walt and June Bitton, had a store and post office in Imlay, Nevada.
#When Dennis was three years old, his family moved to Imlay where he attended school until he began high school at Pershing County High School in Lovelock, Nevada, graduating in 1964.
#From his earliest days, Dennis wanted to ride horses, learn how to rope, and be a cowboy. When he was a young boy, he would ride the train from Imlay to Wells where his grandparents would pick him up to spend the summer in Buhl at their farm.
#“They had mules, milkers and worn horses and my Gram had a 7-acre garden—not quite my idea of being a cowboy, but I loved being with them.”
#When Dennis was 10 and for the next few years, he found a “sorta” ranch job for the summers riding and branding. “I was pretty little but I gave it my best,” he said. The men at the ranch were good and kind to Dennis—and the boss’s wife was a great cook. But the first problem he had was getting there.
#He borrowed a horse and saddle and then borrowed a pack mare from his Indian friends and rode over the mountain; from Imlay it was 20 miles or so to the Dolly Hayden Ranch, which was located south of Winnemucca in Grass Valley.
#“I’d come back when school was about to start; there wasn’t a phone and no one came to check up on me all summer. I can’t imagine a parent these days letting a kid do all that, but things were different then.”
#When Dennis got to high school, he wanted to rodeo. Roping was his passion so he hired on summers for Marvin Meyers in Unionville, Nevada. Marvin had a large ranch with lots of work starting colts. “I can’t tell you how many times I got bucked off in those first weeks.”
#Finally, Marvin got one of his saddles and said Dennis would have better luck staying on, and he was right. “But after a while, Marvin said, ‘Dennis, you gotta quit spurring those horses in the shoulder; I’ve got to ride them eventually.’ I laughed. He’s the one who taught me to rope and every chance we got we were chasing wild horses and roping wild cattle.”
#When Dennis graduated from high school, he wanted to go to a bigger ranch so he set his sights on the 25 Ranch in Battle Mountain. He worked there for Everet Jones and started all the ranch colts; he was there until he was 21 and that’s where he met his future wife, Sharon. They were married one year later on February 20, 1969.
#At that time, the ranch didn’t have family accommodations so the newlyweds went back to Imlay and started to work for the Nevada Department of Transportation’s maintenance station. Dennis spent the next five years at NDOT until he got in a bad truck wreck outside of Orovada, Nevada.
#He was stopped on the edge of the highway when a fully loaded double cattle truck hit his truck going 80 miles per hour. “Someone upstairs must have been watching out for me, as I survived. But before I came to, I heard cows bawling and I thought I was at a team roping; I thought that heaven is not too bad and I’ll get to see all my friends that have passed.”
#That ended Dennis’s highway job; he didn’t want to do that anymore, so he went back to ranching, taking a job as a cow boss for Nevada First Corporation in Paradise Valley, Nevada. The family moved to the Stonehouse Family Ranch. By this time, he and Sharon had two children, Tommy and Celeste. That’s where Dennis was when he and Chris Bengoa won the Big Loop in Jordan Valley, Oregon, in 1974.
#In 1979, the family moved to Winnemucca and bought a place. “I had always wanted to see if I could make a living catching mustangs, so that’s what I did for the next few years, mostly by myself with my best dog, Luke, and sometimes with Garley Amos, Harold Chapin or John Zabala.” He always jokes that when it stopped, that ended his best job.
#Dennis and Sharon decided that instead of working on ranches or construction, they would lease a ranch and they did that for the next nine years at the Porcupine Ranch. Dennis went to work for UPS, driving triples to Salt Lake City or Los Angeles, and Sharon went to work at the Rocky View in Orovada.
#“We were burning the candle at both ends, running the ranch and both working, plus hauling our son, Tom, to high school rodeos.”
#The couple decided leasing wasn’t for them so they went in search of a ranch to buy and eventually found one eight miles from the Dolly Hayden Ranch where Dennis got his start as a young boy. “I guess I had come full circle.”
#Dennis bought a Polaris side by side so he didn’t have to ride too much. Now, he said, “When it’s cold and frosty, I just load the dogs, jump in, turn on the heater and gather or move cows and check water. When it’s hot outside, I just turn on the air conditioner!”
#The “Ranch Hand of the Year” award is sponsored by the Agricultural District No. 3 as a way to recognize those women and men who make their living in the ranching industry.
#Past recipients include Frank Loveland, Loui Cerri, Harold Chapin, John and Tim DeLong, Buster Dufurrena, Jane Angus, Larry Hill, Louie and Frank Bidart, Sammye and Dan Ugalde, John Falen, Lilla and Woodie Bell, Garley Amos, Buck Tipton, Jack Warn, Ross Zimmerman, Diana Vesco and Chris Bengoa.