"Bruce and I have been married 37 years. I did it with my family before that," says Janice. "It's just one of the things you grow up with."

The Clegg family has owned this land, "since my great-grandfather came with the pioneers in 1849. We've had a ranch here ever since," says Bruce. That makes theirs the oldest family operation west of the Mississippi and the 14th-oldest in America, he says.

True, they started out with sheep. "When wool was valuable, sheep were the thing. But when synthetics came in, it was harder to make any kind of profit with sheep. They converted to cattle in the 1940s."

Not that cattle are much easier. Ranching is and always has been a precarious proposition, dependent on fluctuating beef prices, weather, disease, government regulations and now plagued by encroaching civilization.

"With all the growth out here, ranching around people gets harder and harder. People in houses and cattle don't get along very well," he says.

When the herds are brought in from the winter range, they now have to get people from the sheriff's department to stop traffic, so they can cross the highway. "We didn't have to do that, but now there's too much traffic," says Joy Clegg, a sister-in-law. There are also grazing permits, brand inspections and other regulations — and some misperceptions — to deal with.

"Some people think grazing damages the ecosystem, but if it is done properly, it is beneficial," she says. "We have to come back the next year, so the goal is to make it better next year. Our goal is to always leave it better." But that means a constant shifting of herds from pasture to pasture.

All told, "there's more vice than virtue in it," Bruce says, not entirely tongue-in-cheek, but more seriously adds, "you have to love it to do it."

It's easy to tell that love of the land, love of the lifestyle runs deep in the Clegg family. Bruce and Janice have four daughters and two sons. "The girls do as much as the boys," says Janice. Now there are 17 grandchildren, and as soon as they get old enough — about 6 or 7 — they pitch in, too. Before that, there are always cowboy games: playing with lassoes, chasing around the corral, and, of course, riding horses.

"It teaches kids responsibility," she says. "They don't grow up sitting in front of the TV or playing video games. Kids need responsibility."

It was a great way to grow up, says daughter Amie. "I was happy to be brought up the cowboy way. It was always adventurous."

"I love it," says grandson Dustin Clegg, 16. "I learn new stuff every time." This time, he says, he learned "how to throw down a calf and stay out of the way."