Told from the unique perspective of a woman, mother, environmentalist, cowboy, and rancher, this work of literary nonfiction conveys the joys, challenges, heartbreaks, and qualms of contemporary ranching in the American West.
On nineteen thousand acres of combined public and private land in southwest Colorado, Kathryn Wilder and her son, with the help of additional family members, run Criollo cattle, a heritage breed that originated in Spain. Smaller by hundreds of pounds than other European breeds, these cows are uniquely adapted to the desert. In The Last Cows Wilder considers whether the integrity of her program-Criollo cattle, holistic management practices, and organically raised, grass-fed-and-finished beef sold through local markets-is enough to support a regenerative relationship between cattle and desert. And as Wilder approaches seventy, she considers how long she can maintain the demanding physical labor and complex schedule that have been part of her life's work.
In this engaging and thoughtful narrative that blends biology, geology, natural history, and human history into her personal story, Wilder offers an intimate view into the inner workings of a rancher's heart.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Kat Wilder knows cows in the way that leads her to write in an unlabored eloquence that expands bovine to define wild landscapes and deep love for a hardscrabble way of life. Disappointment is Wilder's valley of contentment, and her writing will become the fortunate reader's joy. The Last Cows sings with a sense of Westernness that lends itself to a longing for her arid country."-J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature "In Kathryn Wilder's new offering, The Last Cows, there are cows, several kinds of cows. . . . What I didn't expect was an ecological journey of fine attunement to the land, to the elements, to the living inhabitants of the ranch area, and a penetrating spiritual awareness that can happen with the grueling everyday work that it takes to care for and run a cattle ranch in Disappointment Valley."-Joy Harjo (Mvskoke), twenty-third U.S. poet laureate "Kathryn Wilder is a wonderful writer with some crazy good stories to go along with it. Reading this passionate book is a pleasure. Wilder is writing about a life that's very different from most lives-and decidedly not an urban one. These stories of a woman on the land are so damned refreshing. The Last Cows is captivating, courageous, and full of love."-Janisse Ray, author of Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World beyond Humans "The Last Cows presents amazing, gritty detail of cattle ranching from the unique perspective of a woman's life experience. Ride along with Kathryn Wilder and her three-legged ranch dog in her Toyota pickup or with her trusty horse, Savanna, and immerse yourself in amazingly detailed descriptions so clearly written that the reader can visualize being in one of the truly wild places left in the West."-Bob West, author of Twenty Miles of Fence "In beautifully crafted language, Kathryn Wilder gives us a genealogy of place that reminds us that the pulse of the earth-of all her creatures-was once indistinguishable from our own. Each hoofbeat, each fluttering wing and flash of fish, reminds us that we belong to the earth. Rooted to an ancient family, we are saplings struggling to survive. The Last Cows offers shade and life-giving water. Read each line as you might trace the tributaries of a river on her way to the ocean. Destiny, and our future, demands no less."-Page Lambert, co-founder of Women Writing the West and author of In Search of Kinship "I just unsaddled and I've been thinking all morning about what to say about Kathryn Wilder's new book. Agriculture is not homogeneous, a truth that applies especially to ranching. With her stories of family history that include her love of cows, land, and wild things, Wilder brings to life an important examination for the times we live in. I think her words are exactly what our world needs right now."-Amy Hale, award-winning author of Rightful Place and Ordinary Skin "For me, one of those who disdains cattle grazing on public lands while still enjoying my rib-eye ritual, Kathryn Wilder's The Last Cows is complicated. Did my meat come from the bull that charged her, sending her flying across rocks, soil, and cheatgrass? Or Bandito, with the black rings around his eyes? Now I cannot separate my steak from its story, which I want to know."-Brooke Williams, author of Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-enchantment "Part personal story, part history, The Last Cows is an altogether compelling book. Kathryn Wilder brings the reader into her world of cows, cowboys, relationships, life changes, and more cows. She weaves historical accounts into her contemporary experiences to create a layered story that makes you want to reflect and keep reading at the same time."-Jolyn Young, author of Never Burn Your Moving Boxes
Kathryn Wilder is a writer and rancher in Dolores and Disappointment Valley, Colorado. She is the winner of a 2025 Western Heritage Award and the author of Desert Chrome: Water, a Woman, and Wild Horses in the West, coauthor of Forbidden Talent, with Redwing T. Nez, and editor of Walking the Twilight: Women Writers of the Southwest, volumes 1 and 2.
List of Illustrations
Prologue: Tumbling
1. The Last Cows
2. Another West
3. The Colors of My Familiar
4. Desert Friendly
5. Birth of a Ranch
6. Labor
7. Shadow Side
8. This Is When I Want to Cry
9. In the Rut
10. The Truth I Cannot Tell
11. Headwaters
12. Ode to Rain
13. Abandoned Meander
14. Eddies
15. Wild Life
16. After Birth
17. Between You and Me
18. The Last Fall
Epilogue: Landing
Acknowledgments
