Ranchers figure out the amount of hay each cow needs to maintain body weight and provide nutrition for her calf, both before and after birth. Each morning, we start the feed truck and load up the hay.  Generally we feed round bales with a Hydrabed—this is a metal contraption mounted on the back of a pick-up with arms that rolls out the bale.  This year, some of our alfalfa hay was in large square bales that weighed about 1000 pounds per bale. Because our bale feeder isn’t set up for large squares, we had to use a pitchfork to fork to get the flakes off while someone slowly drove the pickup through the field. This photo was taken of a friend of ours feeding at our ranch. It was 22 below and snowing.

I am always amazed how well cows and calves do in inclement weather. If they have food and  some type of shelter—whether it’s a manmade windbreak, trees or a coulee— usually they survive well.  We roll out a lot of fluffy, dry straw before and then after a storm so the calves can burrow into it.  We are fortunate enough usually be able to check all of our livestock after a storm to make sure they are all doing all right.

Of course, it’s imperative to keep water open and flowing so the animals have plenty to drink no matter what the temperature. This year in January we had our well pump go out and had to call a well repair service.  He had to pull the well and put a new pump in.  We might have been able to get by without water in a house for a day or so, but we absolutely HAVE to get water to the livestock no matter what the weather or circumstance.

Our livestock’s comfort definitely comes before our does every time!

Jim and Gretchen Schubert, who ranch near Huntley, MT, work together daily to care for their animals.

“We have a cow-calf ranch, which simply put means we have cows that we breed to our bulls, and they have calves,” notes Jim Schubert. “Although Gretchen grew up on a ranch that raised Black Angus, about about ten years ago we decided to start raising all Red Angus cattle, and about four years ago to increase heterosis, [heterosis is defined as “the tendency of a crossbred individual to show qualities superior to those of both parents”] we started using Red Angus/Simmental bulls. This has helped us increase our weaning weights and improve our herd, in general.”

Both Jim and Gretchen share feeding chores and help with calving in the early spring. In the fall, they market their calves through Superior Livestock instead of physically shipping the calves to a sale barn and running them through the ring for a bid.

“For the past 10 years we’ve gone through Superior’s video auction, but this year we opted to use Superior Livestock’s internet auction. It worked out well,” Jim says. “Today, there are many different market options for producers to choose from.”

Jim makes sure their cattle not only have high-quality, abundant forage and feed, but a good balance of minerals.  “We are constantly making adjustment to our nutrition program due to weather conditions and other factors that affect the overall health of the animal,” he says. “Just like humans, it’s important that cows nutritional needs are met, which results in a healthier animal.”

The rancher notes that he and Gretchen strive to have cattle with good dispositions.  “Since we do 98 percent of our animal work and care, it’s important to us that our cattle are easy to handle. If they’re not, we sell them.”

It’s apparent from all of the time they spend ensuring their animals are healthy and content that livestock is a rancher’s number-one priority.

Ted and Lisa McFarland along with their girls Ainsley and Kamdyn

Ted and Lisa operate a farm/ranch Northwest of Billings in the Molt area.  The McFarland’s run a cow/calf operation along with a custom feedlot.  Ted produces most of the feed for their cattle on both dry land and irrigated farmland.  They raise alfalfa and grass hay along with, wheat, barley and corn.  The McFarland family also runs McFarland Custom Works, which is a custom harvesting and farming business, where they custom harvest small grains and corn and swath and/or bale hay for their customers.

Besides helping Ted on the ranch and with the farming, Lisa also works in Billings at an electrical engineering company in project controls.  In her spare time, Lisa is also the current President of the Yellowstone County Farm Bureau and the Co-chair of the District IV Women’s Leadership Committee for the Montana Farm Bureau Federation.

Ted has spent his entire life on the family ranch because it is what he loves to do.  Ted can look across the pasture and tell you which cow is which without looking at their identifying ear tags and can tell you who her mother and grandmother are.  This is proof that he truly cares for his animals.  What does Ted do in his spare time?  He doesn’t have any, farming and ranching pretty much means 365 days a year when you combine both vocations.  Having livestock does require work every day during certain times of the year and that means working even if you sick, hurt or want to go on vacation.    If he does have any spare time, he can be found searching the most current weather sites and New Ag Talk, a website for Ag related topics.

Lisa grew up on a sugar beet farm south of Hardin so she is no stranger to the lifestyle she married into.  While Lisa admits that being married to a farmer or rancher isn’t for everyone, she enjoys what she does. She is happy that their girls get to grow up learning about the facts of life and how to care for their animals and farmland.  The girls are already investing in their future by starting their own small cow heard from bucket calves they have raised with the help of mom and dad.  This has really helped them understand the value of money.  When they want to busy something, it is in terms of “how many cows will it cost to buy that?”  “Do you want to sell Ginger (Pink Tag Cow 501) to buy that or would you rather keep her?”  Luckily at this stage of the game, their cows are way more important to them than any swing set they want.

Ainsley and Kamdyn will be headed back to school this fall as a 2^nd Grader and 1^st Grader respectively.  When they aren’t busy helping mom and dad take care of the cows or buckets calves and helping with irrigating, they are busy being avid soccer players and 4-H members.   They are very helpful in explaining to their classmates about agriculture and life on the ranch as they are the only kids in their school that live on a “real farm”  The girls are quick to point out the pink tag cows and calves in the pasture that are for their “college money.”  Ainsley’s wants to be a veterinarian and dog trainer when she grows up and Kamdyn’s goal is to be a MSU Bobcat cheerleader.

Bandel Farm, Floweree Montana

With Ed Bandel, farmer, dad, grandpa, husband and Montana Farm Bureau District 8 Director

Our farm is located north of Great Falls in the Golden Triangle. We grow mostly winter wheat, spring wheat and recently have started to grow field peas. Our wheat is used mostly for bread, with the majority exported overseas to India, China and Japan. Wheat grown in Montana’s Golden Triangle tend to have consistent quality and higher protein which sets it apart from hard red winter wheat grown the rest of our country.

Peas are a rotational crop to help break the disease and insect cycles that can occur when you plant the same crop year after year. Once the peas are harvested, they are shipped to China and used for snack food much like our potato chips.

We seed our winter wheat in September, with peas seeded either in late March or early April. Our spring wheat is planted later in April. All of our crops are harvested between July and August.

We have a family farm. My great grandmother homesteaded part of the farm 1915, so we’re 99 years on this place. I’m the fourth generation and my son, Jess, is the fifth generation to farm the homestead.  We’re hoping our grandkids have the opportunity to make that choice if they wish to become the sixth generation farming here.

I know there’s a lot of talk about how great it would be if nobody used chemicals to grow and protect their crop, but we need those chemicals to be able to raise quality and quantity of food we do. If we didn’t have those available, food would be in short supply and much more expensive.

You may also have heard people talking about farms getting bigger. The reality is we need to. We personally have had to expand our farm. We have to because of the increase in our production per acre costs. Think of this: a combine now costs what it used to cost to buy a farm. Combines now are bigger and have a lot more technology, so they are now priced between $300,000 and $400,00. A combine in 1970 cost $17,000. You need to get bigger to absorb those costs.

One thing the public might not realize is how much time we spend marketing our grain. We don’t set our price, we have to take what is offered. This is all dependent on the world grain trade rates. Not only do we have to follow the grain market but we have to follow the fertilizer and fuel markets. If the price changes there, it can make a major difference.  Whether I am buying or selling, marketing is a huge part of my day. My grandpa and father made their money by spending hours in the field. We make or break our business by what happens in the office.  Wheat prices can fluctuate 50 or 60 cents a day—that can make or break your year.

One of the reasons I farm is because I get to be my own boss and there is a great sense of accomplishment when you harvest your crops and see the results of your labor.  I’d say the real reward is since we have a family farm, we’re together. We spend a lot more time in our shop working on our machinery and spend time working around the yard. The kids and grand kids are with us.  I feel privileged my family is part of my life even when I’m working.

Mott says that his calling in life is to work cows. He loves the lifestyle, and especially working with the cattle and horses. (The Nomad Cattle Company uses horses for all of the ranch work, except feeding cattle during the winter which is done with a tractor.) The way his ranch operates is to have cattle on the ranch in the winter and for calving, and then ship them (haul them in specially designed cattle trailers pulled by semi-trucks) to summer pasture for six months, May 1 until October 1.

“Ranchers are grass managers,” Mott explains. “We don’t have enough grass in Custer to feed our cattle here all year and keep the land productive. In the winter, generally starting in December, we start feeding hay to the pregnant cows, or “heavies” as we call them. Our first-calf heifers (two year old female cattle who have never calved before) begin calving (calving is a term that describes “giving birth” or “parturition” in the bovine species) in early February, and our cows (three-year-old or older female cattle who have calved in previous years) begin calving in early March and end in late April. A lot of our time is spent checking the heifers and cows to make sure they are okay when giving birth; and when he is born, we give the calf a vaccination so he doesn’t get sick, just like people make sure their kids are vaccinated so they don’t get sick. We also give the calf an ear tag with his mom’s tag number so we know he belongs to her. That way if they get separated, we can help them get back together. In April, we brand our calves and in early May, we load them on a cattle truck that my brother owns, and start shipping the calves and their moms to summer pasture about 50 miles east of us. We put the bulls out with the cows the third week of May, and take the bulls out the third week of July. The cows and calves spend all summer on our summer lease pasture. In mid-October, we do what’s called pre-conditioning, which means the calves get another vaccination to make sure they stay healthy when they are weaned from the cows. Keeping our animals healthy is a top priority. We generally wean the last weekend of October (Halloween! HalloWEAN!) . The steer calves (castrated males) go to the sale in Miles City, and we select some of the heifers, or young females, to grow our herd. We keep them, and they will be bred when they’re a little more than a year old. They will have their first calf at two-years-old. We bring all of the mother cows home to our ranch in Custer and the cycle starts all over again.”

“That’s what so great about agriculture. It’s just a big cycle. The seasons play such a significant role in your life.”

We were all born nurturers, not only to our own families and children, but to the livestock and the land too. We have the opportunity to raise our kids in the way that teaches them responsibility, respect, with integrity and character. We teach them how and what to do in possible dangerous situations. These kids are around ranch work from the time they can get in a backpack on Mom’s back or in the play pen outside of the corrals while we are working cattle. They are taught the values of taking good care of the cattle and the land. With that comes the work ethic that employers are looking for today and pride of being able to be a partner in a productive agricultural business that feeds America and other parts of the world.

Our silent partners, (our kids and the animals we raise) need us as parents to be responsible for their healthy upbringing, protecting them from sickness and disease. We teach our kids to make good, healthy food choices and eating habits and that quality of life is worth something.

We make decisions, like if our children should be vaccinated or not, to help prevent some of the diseases that are out there. We do the same for our cattle, to prevent them from getting illness and disease and treat them accordingly for any sickness that may keep them from becoming a high quality product for our consumers.

We make sure that our kids are eating a rich in nutrient diet, vitamins and minerals for growing strong bones and muscles, to help them have a long and healthy life. We want the cattle to have a healthy quality diet too so we can produce the highest quality of beef, high in protein, and nutrients such as iron that help make the people who end up eating the meat healthy too. We supplement our cattle with minerals and salt after obtaining knowledge of what our soil and feed have in it so they can have a healthy diet.

We find out what is needed in order for the cows to have a higher fertility rate and healthy calves…just like we give our children extra vitamins and mineral if they can’t get a good balanced diet.

We protect our children from the hazards of farming and ranching, just like the urban people protect their children from the different hazards that are in the city. It’s what you grow up with in your environment; it’s what you teach them for the different circumstances that should pop up. We train our children the safe and correct way to do things with each individual task just as they are trained in any job they are about to tackle in any geographical area and lifestyle they choose.

We protect our cattle from the hazards of living in the wild on private property, by fighting for our private property rights. We are accountable for our livestock by keeping the fences up and intact the best we can. Wolves, free-roaming bison and elk pose a real threat to Montana ranchers and we fight for our property rights in order to keep our own cattle from being exposed to diseases such as brucellosis, which bison and elk carry.

If we had the opportunity to choose again what our lifestyle and what we instill into our children would be, we would not change a thing! We are proud of whom they have become, and they work hard and believe that what they do is for the betterment of other people.

The Taylor Ranch runs a commercial herd of predominantly black Angus and black baldies with a few full bred Hereford cows. The ranch puts up 1000-2000 tons of hay per year depending on how much rain they receive in a year. Peter explains that they keep about 150 to 200 replacement heifers (heifer calves who will eventually raise their own calves and replace the older cows who are taken out of the herd) per year, and will usually keep their light steers (castrated male cattle raised for beef) on the ranch at least until they are yearlings (one-year-olds) before they are sold. The replacements and lighter weight calves are fed hay on the ranch during the winter and then turned out into large grass pastures as early as possible in the spring. They have to wait for the snow to melt and the grass to grow sufficiently before they can turn the yearlings into the large pastures so they have enough to eat without supplemental hay feeding.

In addition to raising cattle, the Taylors raise horses. Peter explains that they raise around 12 Thoroughbred brood mares that have been bred to an Argentine Thoroughbred stud. The offspring of that cross are currently being bred to one of two AQHA studs. Peter notes, “We have worked hard to raise horses with good cow sense, and a whole lot of travel and go. It’s not just important to us that they can travel long miles but they also need to be comfortable for the guy on their back.”

As a young rancher who wants to raise his family on the ranch and eventually pass it on to his children, he feels very strongly about two subjects: the federal estate and capital gains taxes and defending agriculture against all of the current attacks.

“Let’s face it, passing on the ranch to the next generation is critical to keeping food production in our country viable, and for our Young Farmer and Rancher Committee, eliminating the estate tax and reducing the capital gains tax on agricultural lands is a number-one priority,” says Peter. “My grandmother passed away two years ago, and we are still waiting to see what the tax bill is on their estate. I truly believe that both the estate tax and capital gains taxes hurt any opportunity ranchers have to grow their businesses. We have three families living on this ranch now, and our chance to grow is extremely difficult. I don’t see how with my kids and my brothers’ kids will be able to pass anything on with enough production value to be significant to them. Land values are so high, many ranches far exceed the estate tax limit. Some ranchers around here have been forced to subdivide the place just to cover their estate tax bill.”

Peter is also very passionate about speaking out for agriculture. “I see a real need for people my age to be talking to their peers and defending agriculture,” Peter says. “It’s great that groups like Farm Bureau educate younger kids about agriculture in the schools, but if those students go home and their parents believe the erroneous articles in The New York Times and TIME, they’ll just undo all the hard work that goes into those programs.”

Peter says his big push is to use social networking venues like Facebook, to talk to his friends and acquaintances and say, “This information is wrong. Now HERE are the facts.”

One of our passions is taking care of our pastures that our animals graze on; this includes many days of spraying weeds so the weeds do not compromise the grass that feeds the livestock. Our family ranch also trails our cattle to and from summer range each year, moving them to optimally utilize grass at different locations and maximize animal performance to the best of our ability. When we trail cows in the summer we always start very early in the morning to beat the heat and have the cows to their destination before the hottest part of the day. After trailing them we make sure that they are pushed to water so they are able to get rested and something to eat for the next day. If there is doctoring that needs done, our day does not end when the cattle are done, we will take time to make sure all the animals are healthy. We trail our cows approximately 120 miles per year (usually around 10 miles per day for 3 days, or 30 miles at a time). Healthy cattle and land is not simply an idealistic goal, it is necessary in order to stay in business for the long term. In this picture, we are trailing a herd of cattle in preparation for weaning calves in the fall.

Ranching is a rewarding way of life and something that Heath and his wife, Kiley, want to instill in their three young children. It is very hard work and we put in long days, as the livestock come first. Caring for our land and livestock is the most important thing we do on our ranch, if we didn’t we would no longer be able to do our part to provide safe, healthy beef for consumers.

Gretchen and her husband, Jim, raise Red Angus cattle on their ranch.  They are the first of the three generations to raise “red” cattle as Gretchen’s father ran mostly Black Angus.  The cattle shown in this picture with Gretchen are yearling heifers, meaning they are female cattle between the ages of 1 and 2 who have not calved.  At the time this picture was taken, Gretchen had just put the bulls in with the heifers.  Ranchers try to manage their herds so calves will be born at the ideal time of year.  To do that, ranchers like Gretchen allow their bulls to breed heifers and cows (female cattle who have given birth to at least one calf) only during a certain time of the year.  The gestation period of cattle is about 285 days so if the bulls and heifers are together in the beginning of June, ranchers expect calves to be born around the middle of March.

Gretchen is very proud of her cattle and the way she cares for them.  “When a farmer or rancher has animals, it is their duty to care for them and we proudly do it, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because we want to.”

Gretchen is a very busy lady.  In addition to taking care of her ranch duties, she is a part time crop adjuster and the Montana Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC) Chairperson.  As the WLC chairperson, she shares information with the public about agriculture and about eating healthy on a tight budget.  She also informs Montana’s Congressional delegation about important agriculture issues affecting Montana’s farmers and ranchers.  She feels it is important to make time to talk to our legislators in order to help them make informed decisions that benefit Montana.