Although ranching has been Matt Avery’s life and passion for decades, there was a time in the 1970s when he almost chose a different career.
Growing up on a ranch, Avery had always wanted a motorcycle, but his parents wouldn’t let him have one. When he was in his early 20s, he traded in a snowmobile for a motorcycle. He then took a correspondence course on motorcycle mechanics, went into town and worked on motorcycles that didn’t work.
For a couple of years, he flirted with the idea of leaving the ranch life, moving to the city and becoming a mechanic.
“But I woke up one morning, I was sitting on the edge of the bed, and I thought, ‘What am I going to do with my tack and my horses?’ You just can’t turn your back on those kinds of things,” he said.
Matt Avery walks past his horses on his ranch Tuesday near Rozet. Avery was selected to the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame and will be inducted in October.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
He hasn’t turned his back since, and this fall, Avery will be inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Avery is one of two Campbell County cowboys to be inducted this year, along with George Amos.
The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame, formed in 2014, aims to “preserve, promote, perpetuate, publish and document the rich history of Wyoming’s working cowboys and ranching through research, profiling and tribute to the people who opened the first roads and introduced that culture to this state. ” according to their website.
Avery spent the early years of his life on a ranch in Montana. At age 8, his first task on the ranch was to take care of the dairy cow every morning. He would go to the field on his pony and look for the cow. When he found her, she couldn’t rush back to keep the milk intact, so she had to take it slow.
His father, Dee Avery, was strict but fair.
“He said, ‘Never go in without it, otherwise I’ll beat you up and send you back there,’” Matt said. “I never entered without the cash cow.”
A photo of Matt Avery’s father hangs on the wall next to his desk Tuesday near Rozet. Avery’s father was a lifelong cowboy and instilled in his son a commitment to hard work and a passion for ranch life. Thanks to the lessons passed on to him by his father, Avery was selected for the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame and will be inducted in October.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
Two years later, I had the responsibility of caring for the horses every day before breakfast was served at 6am.
“Those fools liked to hide from you,” Avery said. “My dad told me, ‘Never come in here without those horses.’ And I knew he meant it.”
Avery got to know the horses’ favorite hiding places and even outshined some of the hired hands, finding the horses within minutes when they were unsuccessful after hours of searching.
From a young age, Avery felt that the outdoors, and ranching in particular, were calling to him.
“I just never had any other desires,” he said. “He was a very poor student at school because he was always looking out the windows, thinking about all the things he could do outside.”
Matt Avery, a lifelong cowboy and experienced saddle maker, stands at the workbench of his saddle shop Tuesday near Rozet. Avery was selected to the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame and will be inducted in October.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
During high school, Avery never had college on her mind.
“All I wanted to do was get out of there and go home and work with my dad,” he said.
From time to time he thought about doing other things, but his heart was never in it.
From 1963 to 1991, Avery grew up and worked at Faddis-Kennedy Cattle Company north of Gillette.
He credits his wife of 50 years, Diann, for helping them “survive” financially. The ranch income goes directly to the ranch.
So to pay living expenses, Diann worked as a custodian for the school district for 39 years. That’s what puts the clothes on her back and the food on the table, Matt said.
“It’s been rewarding for me, because I always wanted to marry a cowboy,” said Diann, whose family has been ranching in Campbell County since 1910.
“Actually, he was a rich cowboy, but he missed the rich part,” Matt joked.
Longtime cowboy Matt Avery is surrounded by bridles inside his tack shop on his ranch Tuesday near Rozet. Avery was selected to the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame and will be inducted in October.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
In 1991, Diann’s Rozet parents retired from ranching, so she and Matt moved to the ranch. They have lived there ever since and today run the Avery Graham Ranch with her daughter, Tina, and her husband, Marty Graham.
“It’s very rewarding to see that what we’ve made our lives, the next generations are following in our footsteps,” Diann said.
Avery said variety in daily tasks is what makes life interesting. As the seasons change, so does the work.
In the spring, it’s 45 to 60 days of 24/7 calving, because “just because the sun sets doesn’t mean the cows stop having calves.”
In summer, hay season comes and there will be days when you will cut hay from 7 a.m. to midnight.
Longtime cowboy Matt Avery holds up an old photo Tuesday near Rozet of him riding his trusty horse Brown. Avery and Brown were returning from roping calves and had been in an accident earlier that day.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
Both Matt and Diann said the most rewarding part of ranching is going to the sales lot with their animals. It is the culmination of the months of hard work they put in each year.
“It’s comforting and exciting to see buyers compete against each other because they know their livestock and they like it,” Matt said.
Growing up in the ranching lifestyle, Avery quickly learned about life, death, and everything in between.
“When you’re giving birth, you see life come to life and you see life fade away,” she said.
Sometimes calves die during birth because you can’t get to them fast enough. You’ve seen it happen countless times, but that doesn’t make it any easier when it happens.
“Some people say, ‘Oh, $500 was gone.’ No, it’s ‘a life went there,’” she said.
Matt Avery’s horses graze on his ranch Tuesday near Rozet. Avery was selected to the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame and will be inducted in October.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
Avery has played many other roles. He was a volunteer firefighter with the Campbell County Fire Department for 35 years. Every month he plays guitar at Primrose Retirement Community.
And in the late 1990s, Avery began getting into leather work. From November to April she will have the afternoons free and that will be when she will go down to her workshop and make saddles. It’s an art she has worked meticulously on over the years.
For Matt and Diann, maintaining the ranching lifestyle is important. His grandson Selby Graham works on the ranch and has two young sons who Avery hopes will follow in his footsteps.
“It’s rewarding to see as we get older, the younger generations come in and have the same love for life that we do,” Matt said.
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