Co-owner Kathy Wood helps cattle into a shipping truck at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Thursday, July 27, 2023. Today, Wood now co-operates the multi-generational family ranch, feeding the 1600 head of cattle, boxing beef to send to about 2,000 families, scheduling cattle to be shipped, and reaching personal goals every day at Christensen Ranch outside the cozy home she grew up in. “Growing up, it was idyllic, [the ranch] was a good place to grow up,” Wood said. “I knew I wanted to raise kids here. It all went back to ‘A job is a job. What do you want your life to play out as?’”
Children in the community participate in a ranch horse practice held at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Sparked by Wood’s daughter Kirsten’s beginnings in ranch horse competitions, the family started having practices on their ranch in 2011, giving kids opportunities to practice skills with cattle for upcoming competitions for free.
Co-owner Kathy Wood looks toward children in the community participating in a ranch horse practice held at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Before fulfilling more roles on the ranch, Wood experienced obstacles being a woman in the field. When Wood went back to work on the ranch at 25 years old, an “old-school” employee from Missouri internally struggled to work with a woman, especially when Wood out-worked him, putting up 100 fence posts when he put up 50. “I really truly believe he thought women belong in the house, barefoot and pregnant; that kind of mentality,” Wood said. “I knew I had made it when he did not treat me as an oddity or the boss's daughter. He treated me like I earned my place to be working with them.”
Kirsten Wood, Kathy Wood’s 22-year-old daughter, leads cattle during a ranch horse practice at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. With Kirsten’s experience riding horses before and during her time at West Texas A&M University, both Kirsten and her mother said providing a free space for children in the community to learn skills is special and important, especially in an expensive hobby where working with a trainer could cost over $1,000 a month. “I think [ranch horse practice] fun, especially right now we have a great group of kids that have kind of grown up together really,” Kirsten said. “All of them that are in it right now a lot of them go to school together or even are related.”
Staff members move tires from a tarp on a pile of silage at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. With help from her cousin and co-owner, Eric Christensen, her children Kirsten and Connor, and the small but tight-knit staff that consists of eight staff members, Wood has continued running the ranch since the early-2000s.
Jeff Norris and Kirsten Wood stand in front of a packed cattle truck at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Thursday, July 27, 2023. Kirsten said agriculture and gender diversity aren’t fully equal today, but obstacles on the ranch present themselves as a challenge to show that women can do everything men can do. “You're always gonna run into the issue that we can't always do the same things guys can,” Kirsten said, “I mean for me in particular, I'm not strong enough to do some of that stuff. But I think finding a way to do it, and kind of for me, it's sometimes proving a point that I can do it and I don't need help to do it.”
Co-owner Kathy Wood grabs beef from the freezer at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. Wood’s daughter Kirsten said people sometimes assume her mom is a secretary when answering the phone for the business, asking to speak to the owner about issues. But, that didn’t stop Wood from working to make her mark in the industry. “When [Wood] was getting into it, agriculture was kind of one of those things where it was definitely a male-dominated field,” Kirsten said. “And so by the time she got into it, I think she was pretty determined to change that and make people see that it wasn't just a male field to be into.”
From left; Connor Wood, Allie Christensen, Eric Christensen, and Kathy Wood eat lunch at The Last Stand in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. The family often takes lunch breaks at The Last Stand, ordering sloppy joes or large, colorful salads.
Co-owner Kathy Wood finds shade to take a phone call at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. Kirsten Wood said she looks up to her mother because Wood came back to the farm to work hard during a time when agriculture was heavily male-dominated, paving the way for Kirsten to make a decision to come back to the ranch and work without feeling subordinate.
Co-owner Kathy Wood takes a phone call while operating a machine at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. Wood said looking back at the struggles women endured in the ‘60s and into the ‘80s, things still aren’t fully equal today, but, more and more women are entering the agricultural field. As of 2017, female producers make up 36 percent — about 1.2 million — of the nation's 3.4 million producers.
Co-owner Kathy Wood walks toward the multi-generational house that she grew up in at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. Wood’s philosophy is “What goes around comes around, and you put good out into the world and it comes back to you.” Wood finds this life philosophy present every day, hosting ranch horse practices and helping neighbors with tasks.
The sunset near Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Kathy Wood said growing up in the rural agriculture setting was a great place to grow up, where neighbors are just about as family as true family members.
From left; Berrie Archuleta, Archuleta’s daughter, Adaline, and Connor Wood listen to Kathy Wood in the offices at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Thursday, July 27, 2023. Kathy Wood said the ranch operates smoothly with the staff they have, especially with Kathy’s deep understanding of the ranch after living on the same land for decades. “I think we were all work well together,” Wood said. “Growing up, you learn expectations of what the job entails.”
Co-owners Kathy Wood and Eric Christensen harvest oats at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 12, 2023. The cattle at Christensen Ranch are pasture-raised, growing in the plains. In the feedlot, cattle are fed a corn-based diet with crops that have family grown on their land for multiple generations.
Co-owner Kathy Wood feeds cattle at Christensen Ranch in Weldona, Colo., on Thursday, July 27, 2023. Wood said she is lucky that previous generations carried out sustainable practices that set Wood up nicely to continue those practices. “If you're an agriculture and you're in it for very long, especially if it's multi-generational, you've been doing sustainable agriculture your whole life,” Wood said. “Sustainable agriculture, all of that, it just makes sense. And to be profitable and make it work, you're probably going to be doing it anyway.”
Community members gather at Christensen Ranch during a ranch horse practice in Weldona, Colo., on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Kirsten Wood said she wants to give back to the community that made her who she was. “As I got older and once I got out of 4-H, I always wanted to go back and help at practices just because I felt like I could help those younger kids and kind of give them the same opportunities that I had,” Kirsten said.