Photo by Elliott D. Woods
Ranching Life on the High Plains of Montana
A thunderstorm dumps rain on the Little Rocky Mountains in the distance. In the foreground, a stock pond formed by a dam on a parcel of Bureau of Land Management land adjacent to the French ranch, in Phillips County.
Craig French, right, greets his neighbor and friend Jim Orahood on the morning of a cattle branding at the French ranch.
Jessie Orahood chases down a loose calf at the French ranch.
Cows and calves in a corral at the French Ranch.
A coffee break before the branding work begins.
Two teenage boys wrestle a calf during a branding at the French ranch.
Craig French, 53, heats branding irons before getting to work.
A close-up of the branding irons.
Two young boys watch the action.
Detail of Jim Orahood’s chaps.
Two teenage boys helping out at the cattle branding.
Jim Orahood looks on.
Elliott Woods is an award-winning Montana-based writer and photographer focusing on the intersections of environmental, cultural, and political conflict.
Co-published with The Guardian.
