Jean Pierre Etcheverry arrived in New York City in 1929 at the age of 16 from the French Basque town of Bidarray. He immediately made his way to Nevada sheep country to work as a herder for $40 a month. Later, with his new wife Louise Savala, Jean moved to Pocatello, Idaho, where she ran a Basque boarding house and he bought 1,200 ewes to begin his own sheep operation. Two children later, the family moved to Rupert, Idaho, where the sheep operation is still headquartered.

Jean and Louise’s son, Henry Etcheverry, continues to run the sheep outfit today—six bands of ewes and a band of yearlings. The ewes lamb in the family’s lambing sheds north of Rupert from January through March. The ewes and lambs are trucked off of the Minidoka desert to southeastern Idaho in mid-May to spend the summer grazing in the high country of the Caribou National Forest, near Lava Hot Springs and Soda Springs, Idaho. In August and early September, the lambs are shipped to Colorado. Come September, the newly-bred ewes reverse their route, returning to the lower elevations around Rupert for winter.

Mike Guerry is President of Guerry, Inc., a family-owned ranching operation running sheep and cattle on the Jarbidge Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management, the Humboldt/Toiyabe National Forest, State of Idaho, and private lands. The operation now spans three generations, and 112 years of involvement with livestock in the Castleford and Three Creek, Idaho, area. Mike attended Carroll College, the University of Idaho and Boise State University, acquiring his BA in Accounting from Boise State in 1978. Mike came back to the operation full time in 1980, after working for Kafoury-Armstrong & Co., an accounting firm in Elko, Nevada. His bio includes his time as a former Certified Public Accountant, football coach, Secretary and Treasurer of the National Public Lands Council, President of the Idaho Wool Growers Association, Board member for the Idaho Cattle Association, Chairman of the Idaho State FSA Committee, as well as the current Chairman of the Three Creek Rangeland Protection Association and a Board member for the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame.

Liz and Brett Wilder are the owners and operators of Boise River Lamb, a lamb wholesale business based in Caldwell, Idaho. Brett and Liz are 2nd generation sheep producers and 6th generation Idaho ranchers - the property where the sheep reside is recognized as an Idaho Century Farm dating back to 1873. Brett was raised helping in his family sheep operation, Wilder Sheep Company, which his father, Steve, started in 1968. Liz got her start in the sheep industry through participation in 4-H in Pullman, Washington. When Brett and Liz returned to the family ranch in 2020, they founded Boise River Lamb. Brett graduated from the University of Idaho in 2017 with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics and, in 2019, with a M.S. in Applied Economics. Brett spent four years in agricultural lending and now works as an Extension Economist for the University of Idaho where he helps producers learn about farm business management and commodity risk management. Liz graduated from the University of Idaho in 2018 with a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences, Communication, and Leadership. Liz is the President of Wilder Communications, LLC, and the Executive Director of the Idaho Wool Growers Association.