The Etchart Livestock operation began with Martin Etchart, a French-Basque immigrant, who came to the Uncompahgre Valley in western Colorado to herd sheep in 1947. From the Pyrenees Mountain region in France, he was recruited following WWII, when there were no jobs, no money and little opportunity in his home region. He and his five brothers were born in the small French town of Lasse, on the border between France and Spain, in the Basque Pyrenees. His older brother Arnold had come to America in 1945 for work, and two years later, sent Martin $440, enough money to pay for Martin to join him.

Martin landed in Montrose, Colorado to work for another Basque sheepman named John Allies. He herded sheep for 9 years straight without a vacation, saving every penny he could. By 1954, when an elderly sheep rancher nearby wanted to retire, Martin had enough money saved to buy into the sheep business. They signed the necessary paperwork, and Martin became one of the first Basque herders in the Montrose area to go out on his own. With the deal came several thousand acres of private land leases and a lease on some irrigated farmland near Montrose, 1500 ewes, a desert permit for winter range in the Canyonlands near Moab (which is now Canyonlands National Park), and high country permits with summer range in the San Juan Mountains.

He couldn’t afford to hire a sheep herder, so for several more years, he continued doing all the work on his own, herding his own sheep, moving his sheep camps, irrigating the farmland, and lambing out his sheep on the open range until he was better established.

In 1958, his younger brother Emil, came from Europe and worked for Martin for the next 6 years. The only break Martin took in all those early years was a quick trip to Europe in 1960 to find a bride. He had been corresponding with a young woman he had grown up with named Marie Guecaimburu. As time was of the essence and Martin had to return to his business, he and Marie were married within a couple weeks of his arrival in Europe. They returned to America, and Martin was back with his sheep. By 1970, his sheep numbers were up to 2700 ewes. By then, Martin and Marie had three sons, Jean (who passed away at 18 months of age), Ernie who was born in 1963, and George in 1966.

Martin added farm land in 1986 where the current headquarters is still located, and they have gradually made some adjustments to the lands they graze and manage.

Ernie and George grew up with the sheep. They started going with their father, packing into their summer ranges in the mountains by the time they were old enough to ride. When Ernie was 15, Martin had a heart attack, and that summer, Ernie became responsible for herding all the sheep. Ernie wasn’t old enough to have a driver’s license yet, so he made the trip between their allotments on both sides of the mountains with a pack string, unable to haul sheep. George’s experience was similar, herding sheep all summer for the first couple years out of high school, until he went to work full-time in the family business.

Ernie and George officially took over the operation in 1988 when their father retired. They purchased an additional farm in 1994 in the Shavano Valley south of the headquarters. Today, Ernie and his wife Chris (daughter Hannah and son Nate), and George and his wife Jackie own and operate Etchart Livestock, and each family has two children. Currently, George and Jackie’s two sons, Justin and Jacob, are working in the operation. The Etchart Livestock sheep operation looks secure for the future.

The Etchart family knows that raising sheep is more than a business; it’s a way of life they love. To the very end, Martin claimed that he loved the sheep business as much at 80 years old, as he did when he came so many years ago.