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January 6, 2013 12:00 AM
New Idaho Speaker Scott Bedke, a cattleman from Oakley. 0106/2013
Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke loads hay raised on the family's ground, near the Idaho border with Utah and Nevada near his home in Oakley Dec. 13, 2012. Bedke and his four siblings spent summers working at the Jew's Harp cabin.
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Scott Bedke's been coming to the Burley auction yard since he was small child, accompanying his dad. "It's a good place to watch people. This whole place runs on subtlety."
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Small gestures can mean more than a casual observer thinks, says Bedke at the Burley Livestock auction. "Don't wave your hand, you'll buy a cow."
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Bedke gets news of his son Mitchell's 94 score on his accounting final on his cell phone, during the Burley auction. "Good job, very good job," he texts back.
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Oakley's historical buildings are a source of pride for Bedke and his neighbors, who hold their biennial Historic Home Tour on June 15. He drives through the small Southern Idaho town Dec. 13, 2012 pointing out some of the more historic homes and buildings.
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Sadie, a kelpie blue heeler mix, easily leaps to the truck bed and helps keep the cattle in line when called upon.
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Bedke followed the example of his parents, taking his children to the Jew's Harp Ranch to help put up hay in summer. Grown now, the four Bedke children are all married.
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Cattleman Scott Bedke loads hay to feed his cattle Dec. 13, 2012 at his ranch near the Idaho, Utah, and Nevada border. In March 2011, Bedke had a wall of hay fall on him while operating equipment that lacked a safety bar. He's since replaced the loader. "I almost lost everything," he said.
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Scott Bedke points out his family's grazing allotments near Goose Creek Reservoir, where he used to jump off cliffs and roll rocks in high school.
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Bedke said dealing with legislators requires patience, too. "You can't run any of these legislators at the gate, either. You gotta explain it, you're gonna walk 'em through it, answer their questions, modify your deal to address their concerns."
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At 6-foot-2, Bedke played basketball and football at Oakley High School. "But there are no records with my name on them."
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With the original Bedke homestead in the hills outside, Bedke makes breakfast in stocking feet. "I'm the egg fryer," he said.
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Scott Bedke helps load cattle for sale, saying he generally employs a gentle touch. "You don't run a cow at a gate. Yeah, you can rope and drag each cow through, but it's way less wear and tear on you and your horse to let her look at it, then decide to walk through."
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Eric Bedke, left, a 50/50 partner in the ranch, jokes that Humberto Solares, the truck driver who can't seem to get free of his cell phone, reminds him of brother Scott. "You'd think he was in the Legislature," cracks Eric.
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Speaker Bedke chats with Phil Munsee, left, a longtime friend of his late father, and Mike Munsee, a cattle dealer at Burley's Livestock Auction Dec. 13, 2012.
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Scott Bedke is a big fan of Monsanto's triticale, a rye wheat hybrid planted in August that he feeds his cattle through the winter at his ranch near Oakley.
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Preparing to load the last calves of the season for sale, Bedke strides over some of the 750 acres of land owned by the family on a cold December day.
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