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My Ranch, Too: A Wyoming Memoir
For many outsiders, the word “ranching” conjures romantic images of riding on horseback through rolling grasslands while living and working against a backdrop of breathtaking mountain vistas. In this absorbing memoir of life in the Wyoming high country, Mary Budd Flitner offers a more authentic glimpse into the daily realities of ranch life—and what it takes to survive in the ranching world.
Some of Flitner’s recollections are humorous and lighthearted. Others take a darker turn. A modern-day rancher with decades of experience, Mary has dealt with the hardships and challenges that come with this way of life. She’s survived harsh conditions like the “winter of 50 below” and economic downturns that threatened her family’s livelihood. She’s also wrestled with her role as a woman in a profession that doesn’t always treat her as equal. But for all its challenges, Flitner has also savored ranching’s joys, including the ties that bind multiple generations of families to the land.
My Ranch, Too begins with the story of her great-grandfather, Daniel Budd, who in 1878 drove a herd of cattle into Wyoming Territory and settled his family in an area where conditions seemed favorable. Four generations later, Mary grew up on this same portion of land, learning how to ride horseback and take care of livestock. When she married Stan, she simply moved from one ranch to another, joining the Flitner family’s Diamond Tail Ranch in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin.
The Diamond Tail is not Mary’s alone to run, as she is quick to acknowledge. Everybody pitches in, even the smallest of children. But when Mary takes the responsibility of gathering a herd of cattle or makes solo rounds at the crack of dawn to check on the livestock, we have no doubt that this is indeed her ranch, too.
Some of Flitner’s recollections are humorous and lighthearted. Others take a darker turn. A modern-day rancher with decades of experience, Mary has dealt with the hardships and challenges that come with this way of life. She’s survived harsh conditions like the “winter of 50 below” and economic downturns that threatened her family’s livelihood. She’s also wrestled with her role as a woman in a profession that doesn’t always treat her as equal. But for all its challenges, Flitner has also savored ranching’s joys, including the ties that bind multiple generations of families to the land.
My Ranch, Too begins with the story of her great-grandfather, Daniel Budd, who in 1878 drove a herd of cattle into Wyoming Territory and settled his family in an area where conditions seemed favorable. Four generations later, Mary grew up on this same portion of land, learning how to ride horseback and take care of livestock. When she married Stan, she simply moved from one ranch to another, joining the Flitner family’s Diamond Tail Ranch in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin.
The Diamond Tail is not Mary’s alone to run, as she is quick to acknowledge. Everybody pitches in, even the smallest of children. But when Mary takes the responsibility of gathering a herd of cattle or makes solo rounds at the crack of dawn to check on the livestock, we have no doubt that this is indeed her ranch, too.
234 pages, Hardcover
First published August 20, 2018
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106 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 17, 2018
Mary Budd Flitner has been part of prominent ranching families in Wyoming for more than fifty years, writing often in various publications about the work, as well as the joys, of several generations on big working ranches. This series of memoir essays discusses topics familiar to any western rancher.
Yet while many ranchers have continued working through temperatures of 50 below zero, through divorce, debt and disillusionment, most have not written about their experiences, being too busy to record or reflect. This articulate ranch woman has given voice to generations of women—and the men and ranches they married. She is particularly astute as she discusses the indignation with which a woman who once was a "little bitty cowgirl" expresses herself when she is told, at ninety, to stay out of the corral she owns—because hired hands fear she'll get hurt.
She understands the changes wrought by age. "I thought I'd be more graceful," she writes, "more accepting of change. I thought the handoff of responsibility and authority would be more reciprocal, and more gradual." She doesn't want to be sad or angry or fearful; she wants to let go with grace.
Thus she writes how a ranch "belongs" to women who are still considered second-rate in ranch country. In spite of the fact that sheep were an integral part of her ranching experiences (my father scorned them), and that her family's ranch land was many times larger than mine, Mary Flitner and I, along with hundreds of other silent women, share a knowledge of cattle, land, horses and ranchers limited to only a few. I've loaded bales on a horse-drawn hayrack, and driven the team while my father fed with a pitchfork. We've both felt the despair when cows, reacting to some human stupid behavior, throw their tails straight in the air, run, and have to be gathered again.
Our fathers understood "good help" and treated us with respect when we earned it. Their worst insult was to call a man who thought he was a cowboy a "farmer." We both loved our horses; she thanks 129 them, whereas I loved a tenth that many. We know there are few conversations in ranch country about "gender equality." We write, knowing our words will affect some readers, some women. We acknowledge women's books about the lives we lead, and respect their achievements.
Irony: the real truths of western ranch life are written by women, not by the men in broad-brimmed hats and jingling spurs who talk about "my ranch" to the banker from whom they are borrowing money.
My greatest disappointment with this book centers on its structure. Mary Budd Flitner is analyzing, recalling and commenting on fifty years of ranch life, and her prose is fascinating. I wish the book had been published as the foreword, or afterword, to an edited version of the diaries that were her source. Surely a life like hers should be shown to us in more detail, particularly as we move into an era when fewer and fewer people know how to do the daily work of producing the meat that most of us relish.
by Linda M. Hasselstrom
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Yet while many ranchers have continued working through temperatures of 50 below zero, through divorce, debt and disillusionment, most have not written about their experiences, being too busy to record or reflect. This articulate ranch woman has given voice to generations of women—and the men and ranches they married. She is particularly astute as she discusses the indignation with which a woman who once was a "little bitty cowgirl" expresses herself when she is told, at ninety, to stay out of the corral she owns—because hired hands fear she'll get hurt.
She understands the changes wrought by age. "I thought I'd be more graceful," she writes, "more accepting of change. I thought the handoff of responsibility and authority would be more reciprocal, and more gradual." She doesn't want to be sad or angry or fearful; she wants to let go with grace.
Thus she writes how a ranch "belongs" to women who are still considered second-rate in ranch country. In spite of the fact that sheep were an integral part of her ranching experiences (my father scorned them), and that her family's ranch land was many times larger than mine, Mary Flitner and I, along with hundreds of other silent women, share a knowledge of cattle, land, horses and ranchers limited to only a few. I've loaded bales on a horse-drawn hayrack, and driven the team while my father fed with a pitchfork. We've both felt the despair when cows, reacting to some human stupid behavior, throw their tails straight in the air, run, and have to be gathered again.
Our fathers understood "good help" and treated us with respect when we earned it. Their worst insult was to call a man who thought he was a cowboy a "farmer." We both loved our horses; she thanks 129 them, whereas I loved a tenth that many. We know there are few conversations in ranch country about "gender equality." We write, knowing our words will affect some readers, some women. We acknowledge women's books about the lives we lead, and respect their achievements.
Irony: the real truths of western ranch life are written by women, not by the men in broad-brimmed hats and jingling spurs who talk about "my ranch" to the banker from whom they are borrowing money.
My greatest disappointment with this book centers on its structure. Mary Budd Flitner is analyzing, recalling and commenting on fifty years of ranch life, and her prose is fascinating. I wish the book had been published as the foreword, or afterword, to an edited version of the diaries that were her source. Surely a life like hers should be shown to us in more detail, particularly as we move into an era when fewer and fewer people know how to do the daily work of producing the meat that most of us relish.
by Linda M. Hasselstrom
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
August 27, 2019
My Ranch, Too A Wyoming Memoir
: Mary Budd Flitner
This is a nice Memoir about ranch life in Wyoming. Mary shares memories through adulthood. She shows strong female partners that aren't afraid to get down and dirty. I enjoyed this book very much. I spent my first eleven years on the other side of the state. I was a town girl, but had friends that were ranch kids.
The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed. Cindy Piller gave an excellent performance. It felt like she was telling her own story.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
: Mary Budd Flitner
This is a nice Memoir about ranch life in Wyoming. Mary shares memories through adulthood. She shows strong female partners that aren't afraid to get down and dirty. I enjoyed this book very much. I spent my first eleven years on the other side of the state. I was a town girl, but had friends that were ranch kids.
The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed. Cindy Piller gave an excellent performance. It felt like she was telling her own story.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
October 17, 2018
Good read
I enjoyed this book. This was written very well. It was fun to read about people and places I know.
I enjoyed this book. This was written very well. It was fun to read about people and places I know.
July 18, 2025
This book has some of the most beautiful storytelling I’ve ever read — my understanding of this area and my work has deepened soooo much by reading this. I loved it
February 9, 2024
Mary Budd Flitner writes beautifully about ranching life. She describes the never ending work, ongoing crisises and the rare moments of rest that comes as one works their land.
December 6, 2020
Loved this book. I am lucky to have been in the company of Mary and her family many times years ago so this book felt a bit like coming home to a familiar and warm place. I knew Mary was a class act the first time I met her and I loved getting to learn about her incredible work ethic and commitment to ranching.
Because I have experienced the Diamond Tail Ranch I was drawn back to wonderful memories of the beautiful landscape through her words and stories. My favorite is being in the Flitner home on Christmas Day when I experienced my first white Christmas. For this Texas girl, it was a special day with a very special family. I also enjoyed memories of attending their annual branding event and loved Mary’s perspective in the book on all of that activity and community connection. Thanks for the step back in time and for allowing me to see into a window of your wise and wonderful world.
Because I have experienced the Diamond Tail Ranch I was drawn back to wonderful memories of the beautiful landscape through her words and stories. My favorite is being in the Flitner home on Christmas Day when I experienced my first white Christmas. For this Texas girl, it was a special day with a very special family. I also enjoyed memories of attending their annual branding event and loved Mary’s perspective in the book on all of that activity and community connection. Thanks for the step back in time and for allowing me to see into a window of your wise and wonderful world.
January 6, 2024
The Author of this book is the younger sister of a dear friend of ours. While I had a little awareness of our friend’s ranching past, I now have a much greater appreciation of the ‘true grit’ of multi-generational families across the Western United States who have been, and who still are, committed to this harsh but incredible ranching lifestyle. This book, wonderfully Authored by Mary Budd Flitner, offers a warts-and-all ‘visible’ insight to the hardships, joys, failures,and happiness, entwined with capturing the natural beauty of the vast landscapes, strong essence of animal care, and the honest-to-goodness lives of real hardworking good people and the ranching business. It’s fascinating, heartwarming, heartbreaking, happy, sad … but, very very real, very genuine, very hopeful! I feel extremely privileged to have been able to read it!
December 9, 2021
This well-written memoir paints a detailed picture of ranching in the west during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Placed in north-central Wyoming, near Shell and Greybull, the Flitner Ranch dates back four generations and the author’s family ranch dates back five generations. How did they survive the swings of the livestock markets and weather? How did the author make a place for herself in a man’s world? How did they successfully pass these ranches from generation to generation? Mary Budd Flitner answers these questions as she shares the truth of what it takes to run cattle and sheep on 1000s of acres of land. A very informative narrative written in a voice the reader easily trusts.
July 8, 2020
Mary Flitner's charming memoir is a series of intertwined short stories that give us insight into life on a ranch. She grew up on a ranch, then married into another ranch. I really enjoyed her clear, honest descriptions of the characters, challenges and rewards of ranching. She has a wonderful style that sums up a story in her final sentence, that does not feel formulaic. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to interviewing her for the podcast.
March 27, 2020
Beautifully written memoir. Kind of found it by accident browsing the bookshelves in the library. I am more of an urban girl and found reading about the ranching life fascinating. I was kind of sad when I finished it because I wanted more stories... Stories are taken from journals she had kept over the years, things she thought of that were ordinary to her. Little did she know.
September 5, 2018
Cowboy as a verb
Records. Memories. This is a well written account of that rarity, a real working cowboy, who happens to be female. Ride along in the pickups. On the good horses. Experience cows - families. Enjoy.
Records. Memories. This is a well written account of that rarity, a real working cowboy, who happens to be female. Ride along in the pickups. On the good horses. Experience cows - families. Enjoy.
June 19, 2024
Beautifully written, this memoir of a woman's life in ranching lays out its joys, hardships, and complexities in simple, moving prose that will make you feel her love and longing for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
August 12, 2019
loved it!
October 21, 2019
Loved this well written, very true to life book.
January 28, 2022
Well written and colorful memoir of Wyoming ranch life. Thoroughly enjoyable!
October 18, 2020
Feel the leather and smell the horses. Good read.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews