Local Hereford breeder honored at Wyoming State Fair

Alex Hargrave
Posted 8/19/20

Si West was “pretty popular,” according to his daughter, Tammie Jensen

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Local Hereford breeder honored at Wyoming State Fair

Posted

DOUGLAS – Si West was “pretty popular,” according to his daughter, Tammie Jensen.

That’s why he was honored as a legendary Hereford breeder at the Wyoming State Fair Hereford Show on Aug. 13. Jensen and other family members accepted the award in Douglas on behalf of her late father and her mother, Si and Rosamond West, Jensen said.

“My dad was passionate about kids, Hereford cattle and ranchers,” she said. 

Halfway through the show, Jensen said she and her husband Casey, her daughter Amber, her brother Brett West and his wife Vicky West were given a serving tray with Si’s and Rosamond’s names on it to honor their memory.

“It truly was an honor, my dad would’ve been just ecstatic,” Jensen said.

The family was reminded of West’s accomplishments last Thursday. 

West worked for the University of Wyoming Agriculture Extension Service for 32 years, from 1946 until 1978, following a stint in the Marine Corps. Following in his footsteps, Jensen worked as an Agriculture and 4-H youth Extension Educator in Niobrara County from 1994 until her retirement five years ago.
“There’s a lot of people that had him in 4-H or worked with him as producers that thought a lot of my mom and dad,” Jensen said. “He kind of made the extension program in Niobrara County.”

Jensen said West’s first experience in agriculture was with dairy goats during his childhood in Laramie. It wasn’t until the beginning of his tenure as Niobrara County Agriculture Agent that he purchased his first registered cows in 1949.

“This was the birth of S.E. West and Sons Registered Herefords,” Jensen said. “He still owned and loved his registered cattle until the time of his death in 2012, making him a breeder for sixty-three years.”

West was an active member of both the Wyoming Hereford Association and the American Hereford Association, and was instrumental in developing the Eastern Wyoming Hereford Association, where he served as sales manager and secretary/treasurer for many years.

“Next to God, family and friends, Hereford cattle is what our dad lived for each and every day,” Jensen said.