Riding for the Brand: Whitney honored for his CLA service
Recently retired Colorado Brand Commissioner Chris Whitney was honored for his service to the state’s livestock industry by the Colorado Livestock Association at their recent meeting in Black Hawk. In a statement, CLA said Whitney has exemplified a profound understanding of the intricate balance between producers, sustainability, good business practices and animal stewardship.
Whitney jokes that how he became the commissioner is a bit of a mystery to him. He grew up on the Walking Horse Ranch in Ridgway, Colo., a Western Slope Hereford operation but after graduation, found himself in Vietnam in the Air Force.
“I’ve been so lucky in my life, it’s just disgusting,” he said. “When I was in college, I took undergraduate and graduate degrees in Russian language and studied politics, foreign policy and Eastern European politics and foreign policy.”
When his tour in Vietnam was about to conclude, he received orders to report to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb., to be a photography analyst, studying high resolution and high-altitude photography.
He was a First Lieutenant at the time, and said he sent a Telex correspondence, which he said he had no business doing, to Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
“I said, ‘listen, guys, this is the military, I get it,” he said. “If you tell me to go to Offutt Air Force Base, that’s where I’m going, but I have a master’s degree in Russian language, politics, and foreign policy and it didn’t cost you a nickel. I did that all on my own dime. I would love it if you could find something where I can put that to use where it would be useful to you.”
The next thing he knew, he said he was a translator on the Emergency Communications Links, known as the hotline, at the Pentagon during the Nixon administration years from 1969 to 1973.
“Totally lucky,” he said. “Who pays attention to some dopey First Lieutenant in Vietnam and says they messed up and we’ll change your assignment? And they did.”
BACK TO COLORADO
He returned to Colorado in 1996 and practiced law. When former Commission of Agriculture John Stulp called and asked if he would serve on the Brand Commission representing the equine industry, he agreed. Whitney had been the president and served on the board of the Colorado Horse Council and was a horseman and the vacancy was, as it’s loosely known, the horse seat. He served on the commission and practiced law until 2011 when he became brand commissioner.
“I served until 2023,” he said. “It’s been a bit circuitous, but when I was a kid ranching in Ridgway, I loved it and even though I took a 40-year detour, I never lost my appetite for the industry or lost my respect for the people in it. I was glad to get back to it.”
While Russian linguistics may not have served him daily as the brand commissioner, he said the varied experiences didn’t hurt one bit.
“You certainly can’t draw a straight line between being a presidential translator and a brand commissioner, those two things have little to do with one another,” he said.
Whitney is quick to credit the quality and professionalism of the brand inspectors around the state for the success during his tenure. He said he only had one rule.
“People were kind enough to give me room to let me have it and nobody ever challenged me on it was that our job was to protect, promote, and nurture the industry and we’re not going to bow to any political whims and we’re not going to go along to get along,” he said. “So if you’re looking for us to do something different, because you have a different life view you can forget about it because we’re not going to do it.”
PROTECTING THE INDUSTRY
The Brands Division, he said, is different, is independent, doesn’t play games, and has a job to do despite trends and whims and social changes because those factors have nothing to do with protecting the agriculture industry. During his tenure, he worked under Agriculture Commissioners John Salazar, Don Brown and Kate Greenburg.
He said the division’s move from the Exchange Building to the current Colorado Department of Agriculture location in Broomfield was one he was vocally opposed to.
“But you’ve got to love the irony,” he said. “CCA is going back, CLA is going back, CSU is going back. Everybody’s going back to National Western and we’re sitting out in Broomfield.”
He has high hopes for the restoration of the Exchange Building and fond memories of the days when the market reports were handwritten on a chalkboard and radio legends like Evan Slack were recording their radio reports in the building.
“It’s sad to see it now,” he said. “They call it progress, I guess. In the old days you would go to that building and they had that chalkboard and the safes and the gorgeous marble steps that were so used and so old that they were worn in the middle. How you wear down marble suggests how much activity there was. It had character and history.”
He said he’s proud of Colorado’s agriculture history and future and said there’s something grounding about working with livestock that improves a person.
His background as an attorney, primarily international law, business, and employment law, and his understanding of the law, however, was beneficial in his role as commissioner, though he’s quick to clarify that being an attorney isn’t necessary for a commissioner. During his tenure there was a cattle theft case in Moffat County that involved Monty Pilgrim.
He often joked “on the stump” that the brand division remembers well the days when cattle theft was a hanging offense and the notion of taking the crime seriously is alive and well. The successful prosecution of the Pilgrim case was important, he said, to remind people in the increasingly urban environment that livestock laws matter.
In that case, Brad Ocker, the brand inspector, was notified in 2011 by a neighbor who recognized his own brand on a calf in Pilgrim’s herd. Eventually, the inspector determined cattle had been stolen from nine neighbors with one neighbor alone recovering 16 cows and 14 calves. According to the Craig Daily Press, in the summer of 2012, a Moffat County District Court jury found Pilgrim guilty on five counts of theft of agricultural animals, a Class 4 felony; five counts of concealing strays, a Class 6 felony; and five counts of wrongful branding, a Class 6 felony.
There were nine alleged victims in the case and a total of 27 counts, but the jury returned not guilty verdicts for four of the alleged victims. Pilgrim’s sentence included three years of supervised probation; 50 hours of useful community service for each year of probation for a total of 150 hours; letters of apology to the five of nine victims he was convicted; payment of restitution, fines and court costs of more than $14,000; and incarceration of 90 days at the Moffat County Jail.
Whitney said the use of technology that can be utilized in isolated, rural settings is at work under current brand commissioner Todd Inglee that he anticipates will help deter and prove livestock theft. At the end of the day, though, he said much of the success is due to the work of inspectors, local law enforcement, and local prosecutors. Part of the challenge is teaching young prosecutors what livestock laws are and how to prosecute a livestock case.
AWARD FOR SERVICE
Whitney has been honored by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Colorado Livestock Association for his service to the industry. He said it took some time to go from punching cows in Ridgway to serving the industry as commissioner, but the time that lapsed in between wasn’t lost. He learned leadership skills that he was able to apply training people, helping people work through problems, and learning from those people. He said he is certain there was some concern among the 70 inspectors around the state since Whitney didn’t serve as a brand inspector.
Kenny Rogers, immediate past president of CLA said when Whitney became commissioner, there wasn’t the level of familiarity among ranchers that existed with some previous commissioners. Rogers said it was both a surprise and a relief that Whitney did, in fact, ride for the brand.
In accepting his award from both associations, he encouraged those in the industry to keep applying pressure against forces inspired by politics, trends, and society.
“The thing I like about our people, ag people, they’re just good people. They put their nose to the grindstone, they don’t have any axes to grind, they’re not looking to be famous, they’re not looking to get elected, they’re just trying to make a living in a very tough industry, and they just want to be left alone to do that,” he said. “At some point even the goofballs we deal with on a daily basis figure that out. The ag industry continues to be what it is and continues to remind people what it does. We’ll be ok… Trends come and go. Feeding people doesn’t come and go.”
