06/17/2026
Fatherhood on the Ranch: What My Boys Have Taught Me
Summer break has officially begun for our two boys, and with it comes a sound I didn’t realize I missed until it returned — their laughter echoing across the ranch. It’s a reminder that for the next three months, I won’t be working alone. I’ll have my buddies with me again.
Winter and fall are quiet seasons out here. Too quiet sometimes. When I’m working solo, my pace is fast, my focus narrow, and the only conversation is usually between me and the wind — me cursing it, and the wind howling right back. But when the boys are home, everything shifts. The silence is replaced by a steady stream of questions that always start with, “Where are you going?” and end with, “Can I come ?”
Watching them grow — not just in size, but in who they’re becoming — has been one of the great privileges of my life. Every summer, I hand them a little more responsibility, building on what they learned the year before. We started with the basics: learning the land, the boundaries, the gates, the two-tracks that stitch one pasture to the next.
Then came water systems, fencing, and four-wheeler safety.
This year, for the first time, they moved the herd on their own.
Written by Colton Jones Colton Jones
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