Bill Donald is a lifelong, 3^rd generation Montana Rancher who owns and operates a family ranch near Melville, Montana. The family has owned the ranch for almost 100 years, purchasing their first plot of land  in 1909.   The ranch is now shared by Bill, his sister, and their families.

 Bill has a long history of advocacy, serving on the boards of major livestock trade associations on state and national levels.  Currently, Bill serves on the board of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) as Chairman of the Policy Division.  He also has worked as a Voluntary Leader with Undaunted Stewardship, a program co-created by the Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana State University, and the BLM in 2004 to help Montana ranchers preserve historic sites on their land and develop sustainable range management plans.  In 2006, Bill served as president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA), an association whose mission is to champion Montana ranching.

 I had the opportunity to talk with Bill recently about these associations and their work, as well as his observations on how ranching has adapted over the last decades.

 

Your family has been in the ranching business on the same land for nearly a hundred years.  How have you seen ranchers adapt to the large changes in property value and fuel prices?

Ranches that have been in business for many years have faced challenges during every generation. Successful ranches have faced those challenges head on by identifying them, formulating and implementing plans that deal with the challenge in such a way that the most successful possible outcome is reached.

The challenges of skyrocketing property values manifest themselves in different ways. The increase in property values make it more difficult to not only expand, because there is no way to pay today’s prices for land with the production from that land, but also makes it more difficult to pass the ranch on to the next generations. Expansion of existing ranches today requires either some land be sold to afford the purchase of more or some sort of lease. Successful multigenerational ranch families utilize every possible tool to accomplish the generational transfer; trusts, wills, gifting, insurance, and purchase by the incoming generation. First and foremost it requires effective communication, coupled with a solid plan formulated with the advice of accountants and lawyers. The inheritance tax is a hurdle that many ranch families cannot clear. In many instances paying that tax requires the sale of some or the entire ranch, ending the ranch legacy.

A ranch is not like a chain of stores. In many cases it is not possible to sell a portion and end up with a viable unit. Ranches are all about balance. It is important for a ranch to have a good balance of summer and winter range as well as a solid hay base to be sustainable. Selling off a portion can disrupt the balance and result in a ranch that is no longer sustainable.  The elimination of the inheritance tax would be one giant step for protecting the family ranching heritage of the United States. Another adverse impact of high land values is when some siblings who have ownership in a ranch live off the ranch they may well be disinterested in selling when land is a few hundred dollars an acre, but multiply that times ten and they are more tempted to want to be bought out, forcing the sale of some or all of the land.

The return on investment for a ranch is very low. Ranching is a land rich, cash poor enterprise. High fuel prices are causing challenges by making the ranching operation even less profitable. Moving commodities such as cattle and feed require the use of large trucks. The sharp increase in fuel has forced some changes in the way ranchers operate; sometimes it means reducing production, which in turn lows income. It can cause a very difficult downward spiral. Successful ranchers are finding ways to reduce fuel use without cutting production.

 

 

How did Undaunted Stewardship come together?

The impetus for Undaunted Stewardship came in April of 2001 the afternoon of the day on which the front page of the Great Falls Tribune reported on a press conference Bruce Babbit had had the previous day with Max Baucus and Stephen Ambrose.  They had just floated through the wild-and-scenic stretch of the Missouri, and Babbit announced his goal to create a national monument.  The basic idea was to find a way, no matter how the Missouri Breaks Monument issue would need to unfold, to piggyback on the Lewis & Clark imagery and upcoming bicentennial, to further amplify in a much bigger way the message that ranching keeps Montana what it is.  It stemmed from the thought that Babbit wouldn't regard the Breaks as worth "saving" if ranchers in effect hadn't already saved it just by being who they are.

 

The partnership of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, the Bureau of Land Management, and Montana State University in Undaunted Stewardship is a unique alliance between agencies. What successes have you seen come from his partnership?

Over one million acres of private rangeland on scores of ranches in 18 counties have been certified for their stewardship.  We've got 10 interpretive displays about history/ranching across the state, the only significant such displays on private land in the U.S., most with a preserved historic site or resource in view.  The video we produced on the program won both an international and a national award.

 

What is the focus of the educational component of Undaunted Stewardship?

The public education tries to work in several directions at once: to help ranchers improve their stewardship and their bottom lines; to build awareness/support among urbanites of ranching's inherent environmental significance to Montana's quality of life and culture; to provide documentation that allows heightened pressure on public land decision-makers to improve their public land management; and to bust myths about ranching and increase consensus re: ranchers/non-ranchers.

 

What advice to do have for a young person who wants to get into the ranching business?

There are two areas where young people interested in getting into ranching should focus, education and experience. Today’s ranch manager needs to be knowledgeable of animal science, plant and range science, political science, economics, marketing, communication, and psychology. While all of these things can be learned by experience, it takes a lifetime. A focused education from a good Ag school will jump start a young person by giving the tools needed to get started. There are also seminars and specialty schools that focus on specific aspects. While the school education is very helpful, it needs to be coupled with experience. Getting actual work experience on ranches is imperative to becoming a successful ranch manager. Schools do a good job of teaching the theories but there is no other way to learn the practical than getting ones hand dirty. If a person is not from a ranching background, this can be accomplished by summer jobs or internships.

 

Tell me about the mission of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association?

 The National Cattlemen's Beef Association’s mission is to work to increase profit opportunities for cattle and beef producers by enhancing the business climate and building consumer demand.  The NCBA is comprised of two divisions. One division is the Federation of State Beef Councils. The state beef councils collect the mandatory $1 per head check-off. Of each dollar they collect, they send $ .50 to the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB), which is a 104-member board, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. The CBB contracts with different groups to fulfill its obligations under the Beef Promotion Act of 1985, which are to promote, educate and fund research to enhance the beef industry by increasing demand. The NCBA is the CBB's largest contracting association.  The other NCBA division is the Policy Division. I am currently serving as the Chairman of the Policy Division. The Policy Division is funded by membership dues and its role is to enhance the business climate by lobbying Congress and working with regulatory agencies.

 

The Montana Stockgrowers Association is about to reach their 125^th Anniversary. How has their role in the state’s activities evolved?

 The Montana Stockgrowers Association was founded in 1884 by some legendary ranching icons including Granville Stewart. The issues of the day were predators, both human and wild, and a lack of infrastructure. Predators, drought and harsh winters have always been and will always be a challenge for ranchers. The next generation was faced with a world war, the depression. The following generation had to deal with another world war, rapid increase in technologies, massive exodus from farms and ranches to cities. The current generation is facing the challenges of skyrocketing input costs and land values. We are also challenged by the fact that constituting less than two percent of the population we are a very small minority. Because the 98 percent of the country that is not involved in agriculture has slight or no knowledge of our lives and challenges, we must educate them about the importance of the food and wealth we produce for the nation and the world.  That was one of the founding principles behind the Undaunted Stewardship Program and it is why MSGA has an extensive communications program.

 

Is there anything that you have seen in your activities with Undaunted Stewardship or the Stockgrowers Association that has made you particularly proud?

I am very proud to have served on the board and as an officer of the Montana Stockgrowers Association because of integrity exhibited by the membership. They are passionate about this industry, resolute in their convictions and dedicated to insuring Montana ranching is sustainable. While MSGA policies may not always be popular, they are well reasoned, well debated and well executed. I am proud of the policy development mechanism of MSGA. It allows all members to have input and gives enough time to insure all angles are considered. While there are times it is necessary for an outfit like MSGA to react to various incidents, Undaunted Stewardship is a great example of how MSGA can also be proactive. I believe that has been the key to the outfit’s 125 years of success.

 

 

 

 Bureau of Land Management Wins Chairman’s Award for 

Federal Achievement in Historic Preservation

 

 

Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana State University, Senator Conrad Burns Also Honored For ‘Undaunted Stewardship’ Effort that Opens Private Lands to Heritage Travelers

 

 

 

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Undaunted Stewardship, a Montana program created by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana State University, and U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, today received the Chairman’s Award for Federal Achievement in Historic Preservation.

 The announcement and award presentation took place today in the Maryland State House during the spring business meeting of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).

 “Montana’s landscape today vividly recalls the pristine country traversed by the Lewis and Clark expedition 200 years ago, in large measure because of wise stewardship on both private and public lands,” said John L. Nau, III, chairman of the ACHP. “Just as public land stewards protect and provide reasonable access to sites important to our heritage, private landowners in Montana are encouraging appropriate heritage travel to historic sites on their property through the Undaunted Stewardship program while preserving and enhancing cultural and natural resources. This is a wonderful model for similar partnerships across the nation.”

 Undaunted Stewardship was originated by Montana’s ranching and agricultural community and officially began in April 2001. It is experiencing steady growth as more landowners join the program, which recognizes and encourages stewardship of natural and cultural resources by private landowners. Undaunted Stewardship spurs development of management plans. It also assists landowners in creating information kiosks and other interpretive resources for public visitation and education on private lands containing historic sites, and other associated efforts.

 For more information on the Undaunted Stewardship program, visit www.undauntedstewardship.com.

 

ABOUT THE ACHP: The ACHP, an independent federal agency, promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of the nation’s historic resources and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. It also provides a forum for influencing federal activities, programs, and policies that impact historic properties. In addition, the ACHP has a key role in carrying out the Administration’s Preserve America program. Visit www.achp.gov for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A life-long rancher and writer, Linda Hasselstrom is the award winning author of several books of non-fiction and poetry including, Between Grass and Sky: Where I Live and Work, Feels Like Far, Land Circle: Writings Collected From the Land, Windbreak, Bison: Monarch of the Plains, Dakota Bones, and the Wrangler Award winning Bitter Creek Junction, among others. Linda was also the co-editor with Gaydel Collier and Nancy Curtis of the Wind Anthologies, a three-book collection of writing by Western women. From the intimate perspective of one who has spent most of her life working outdoors on her family ranch in South Dakota, Linda’s writing reveals a deep knowledge of what it means to make a life from the land and to be part of a third and forth generation ranching community on the High Plains. In describing her work as a writer she says, “I began studying and writing about rural and ecological problems from my own experiences in the Great Plains…. As my knowledge expanded, I encouraged ranchers and farmers to adopt better practices to help keep more rural people employed in agriculture. I wanted to help inform the American public about the ruinous costs to all of us of the kind of development we've seen in agriculture over the last fifty years.”

The Grass-fed Party Platform states a strong support for artists and storytellers “who reflect agrarian life, the history of the land, and the people who have dwelled on it,” believing that this storytelling is, in itself, an important and effective form of landscape preservation. So after reading one of Linda’s essays in Ranching West of the 100th Meridian, I contacted her for an interview, feeling that her rare wisdom would offer great insight to issues we discuss here, while her work demonstrates a form of preservation that we advocate for here. She writes: “I consider my primary responsibility to be working to preserve the territory I love, including not only the land but its inhabitants, human and otherwise, and their stories."

In this interview, Linda was able to share her thoughts with us on the changing landscapes of High Plains ranching communities, language in the ethics of ranching, and the work she is doing both as a rancher and writer to aid in the preservation of the prairie.


What is lost in a rural community when a family ranch is sold into
development?

1. Intimate and long-term knowledge of the ecology of the area.

2. Knowledge of the human strengths and weaknesses that supported and
enhanced the community cooperation and allowed neighbors to work together
for mutual survival.

3. To put this another way, I'll refer to a note from a friend, Hobie
Morris, whose column "The Musings of a Simple Country Man" in the West
Winfield (N.Y.) Star of Nov. 19, 2008, concerned "How Rural People Survive
in Tough Times." Hobie lists some of the recent news in his neighborhood:
the chicken-n-biscuit bake sale benefit for Ken and Kate, the Whitaker
Benefit for FOOD King, the Annual Firemen's Dinner. Hobie says that when
tough times strike his neighbors and friends, the built-in community support
system responds immediately and generously. "Helping others is a fundamental
belief in rural New York-and America," says Hobie, adding that "It's a
historical fact that rural Americans far better survived the horrible
conditions of the Great Depression in the 1930's." In some rural areas, he
suggests, recessions are not only nothing new, they are a permanent way of
life, so rural people learn by trial and error to live within their means.
Rural people, he says, survive better because they are multi-talented,
without a college degree; they can fix a car, cut wood for heat, grow
gardens, fix broken pipes or lawn mowers. If they don't know how to do a
job, they ask a buddy, and barter for his expertise.

My observations of subdivision and ranchette clusters indicate that little
of this kind of cooperation happens there- at least so far. Perhaps a
deepening depression will remind people that clusters of homes in the
country used to be villages where everyone worked together to survive.



What positive changes have you seen in your ranching community in your
lifetime?

More women are being acknowledged as making important contributions to all
phases of the ranching life, especially our interactions with the public.
Women have always been essential, of course. The minister at my father's
funeral was a woman, which would have horrified him. She said ranching began
when God established a garden "over east in Eden," but ranching really began
when God created woman to help man.

More ranchers are speaking out in public about their work, trying to educate
urban dwellers. More ranchers are banding together in groups to work for the
political change they need. Perhaps the media is paying more attention, or
perhaps there are simply more media outlets that are connected in some way
with rural life, and part of this can be attributed to some of the changes
we deplore: people moving into the country who don't know its history. They
ask questions, and many of them are just as interested in adapting and
learning as their ancestors- like my cobbler grandfather, who became as good
a rancher as it's possible to be.



How is your work as an artist/rancher essential to the preservation of
ranching itself?

In my writing, I try to explain and show how important the prairie is, not
just to a few ranchers who make a living here, but to the country. I was
horrified to learn recently that some of my friends, faithful readers of my
books, still think grass-fed beef is "tough." I've distributed a dozen copies
of Jo Robinson's book Pasture Perfect, and will be distributing more, as
well as quoting her more often in my own writing, and referring people to
her web site and others that discuss the perfection of grass-fed meat.

Do you think the custom of "western silence" is a barrier to sustainable change in the cattle industry?

Yes. Ranchers are bundles of contradictions. We'll leap to help strangers
in trouble, but we don't share information enough. Many of my neighbors are
automatically suspicious of anything connected with the government-despite
being willing to sign up for various benefits. We insist that we believe
what we can see, but while we'll go to a Stockgrowers meeting, we won't go
near the Sierra Club. But I hear stories of exceptions to all these comments, and I know that ranchers who want their ranches to continue being part of the landscape are working hard to broaden their perspectives and learn from others. Sometimes it’s hard to find the time, and know who to trust.



What measures are you currently taking to improve or manage the ecosystems
of your land?

1. My land is leased to neighbors, and the leases impose certain
restrictions:

--limit the number of cow units that can be placed on each pasture,
depending on the condition of the grass;

--prohibit shooting coyotes or poisoning prairie dogs or other animals, and
require that hunters walk to hunt only legal game. I make sure neighbors
know it is illegal to shoot predatory birds and the herons which have a
rookery along Battle Creek.

--require weeds be controlled by cutting rather than spraying chemicals.

2. With the help of the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, I have fenced a
riparian area along the only flowing creek on my property, Battle Creek near
Hermosa, South Dakota. Cattle are kept out of the area to protect wildlife
habitat and the creek banks.

3. I am encouraging and paying for the replacement of invasive alfalfa with
native grasses on my hayfields.

4. I encourage grazing hayfields for pasture rather than harvesting hay
where feasible, saving fuel and damage to ground.

5. In each writing retreat I conduct at Homestead House, I furnish reference
materials about the shortgrass prairie and its flora and fauna, and talk
about how a well-conducted ranching operation can enhance and protect
wildlife habitat. I allow and encourage resident writers to hike alone or
with me through the pastures to observe conditions for themselves.



As a rancher, do you feel an intrinsic moral obligation to the well-being of
your land and animals?

Yes, but I'd never put it that way in talking with my neighbors. Sadly, I
think most of them would be embarrassed and deny "an intrinsic moral
obligation" even while they felt it. So much in our relationships regarding
the land depends on language, and of course I don't expect well-educated
people whose language includes those terms to try to adopt another language
to speak to ranchers- that would be interpreted as "talking down to them"
anyway. But some of the ranchers I know would think they were being pompous
if they used those terms.

My dad never went to church, though he made me go with my mother, and
occasionally he'd talk to us about what we got out of the experience. He
said he hoped that God understood that while we were in church, he was out
taking care of God's land and cows, and that God would count those labors
just the way He supposedly added up hours spent in prayer and other
Christian works.

 

Photo of Linda on her Land in South Dakota by Tamara Rodgers

 

Cows grazing in the Pioneer Mountains (Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest) Photo courtesy one of our Grass-fed Party members: Roundup.

Preserving traditional ranching in the West is something that the Grass-fed Party is whole-heartedly committed to. We really feel that grass-fed farming can not only help to keep family-run and independent ranches profitable and alive, it can also help to preserve rural communities.   In the West, rising land prices have threatened to end  family-run ranching, and this is something that is bigger than grass-fed farming vs. feedlots; it is really about the rural character of the West and our country.

Franny shared with me a fabulous Paul Starr quote that speaks to the importance of protecting family ranchers: "If we cannot make the ranch work in the 21st century, then I would say we will have proved we cannot have a rural future in the urban West."  Without ranches, the backbone of rural communities are gone, also gone are the businesses that cater to ranchers.   This has already happened in the high plains where communities have been abandoned because family’s have stopped farming their land: when the farmer’s leave there is nothing to sustain small towns, and they fail.

One large impediment to the family ranching tradition is the estate tax; ranching is a land rich enterprise, most if not all the monetary wealth of a ranching family is in their land. Land prices have gone up so dramatically in the past decades that many farmers find themselves millionaires but it is the classic case of land rich but cash poor. This becomes an issue when the next generation inherits the ranch because they have to pay a pretty sizable percentage of the worth of the land in taxes.  This becomes a painful decision for all ranching families: they cannot afford to keep the land they have grew up on because it is worth so much and they must sell. Franny interviewed Bill Donald a few months back, who is a lifelong, 3rd generation Montana rancher and he spoke about the challenge the estate tax represents to ranchers:  “Successful multigenerational ranch families utilize every possible tool to accomplish the generational transfer; trusts, wills, gifting, insurance, and purchase by the incoming generation. First and foremost it requires effective communication, coupled with a solid plan formulated with the advice of accountants and lawyers. The inheritance tax is a hurdle that many ranch families cannot clear. In many instances paying that tax requires the sale of some or the entire ranch, ending the ranch legacy.”  What would be a solution? As a farmer’s daughter I would hope to see some sort of exemption set up for farmers, so that families can stay ranching, but I would imagine that this would create a big loophole that could be abused by investors.  It is a pretty complex issue but the fact it is hurting the western ranching legacy can not be ignored.

Rising land prices can also threaten family-run ranches because selling land becomes so enticing, especially now that ranching has become so financially difficult.   Many ranchers are barely hanging on, and need to sell part of their ranch just to get by.  Sadly, we learned at our Montana Cowcus how difficult it has become for ranchers to keep going. Many ranchers have sold their land to developers, leading to less open land, and a decrease in working ranches which has pretty severe repercussions on local communities. One of our members named Roundup wrote an excellent blog entry about a movement in Montana that wants to preserve open working land, in fact, public dollars are being used to buy development rights from ranchers so that they can benefit from the value of their land and continue to ranch it. I really recommend that you take a look at the blog entry.

With rising land prices and decreased profits it becomes more and more attractive for ranchers to sell, especially for younger generations, who do not want to enter into a lifestyle that cannot sustain them. This is why grass-fed farming practices represent a solution because they can help to make ranching more profitable which in turn, makes the pressures of rising land prices not as acute.

 

There is a movement in ranching called Holistic Resource Management or HRM which could be the key to saving the American west's rangeland. Erosion and desertification has become a huge threat and happens when land is overgrazed, over tilled or generally mismanaged. In America alone, 223 million acres have turned to dessert with almost 500 million acres in danger.  American range land  has become a point of contention between ranchers and environmentalists and yet HRM offers a way to satisfy both groups. Ranchers do not want their land to turn to desert and the same is true of environmentalists--- the key is proper grazing.  Intensive grazing of large ruminants, like cattle, is essential to combating desertification. Many scientists warn that the west is becoming drier, with many drier years ahead which makes rethinking and rebuilding our range land even more important. Historically, Bison used to roam the west and were an integral part grassland health.  By employing the holistic resource management method we can use the same principles to ensure that the American grasslands are preserved all the while helping ranchers raise cattle.

The secret to this whole system is movement--- the movement of hooves to be exact.  Allan Savory, a holistic resource management pioneer and African native, was fascinated by the decay process in what he coined “brittle” and “non-brittle” environments. Our northeast, with its lush pastures and cold winters, would be considered a non-brittle environment where the decay process is quick, a cow pie is rapidly absorbed into the eco system, and the pasture is robust.  In the Northeast, a pasture will turn to forest if a farmer does not manage it but in the west it will turn to dessert. The American west is a brittle system where decay is slow and laborious and grassland, without the help of large hoved ruminants, is almost impossible. However, with proper management whether it be with cattle or bison, grasslands can not only prosper, they can withstand prolonged drought. Properly managed grassland are natures defense against erosion and desertification.  The American west was home to bison before the western cattle was introduced, there were severe droughts and wild fires but the grasslands persisted and sustained millions of bison. The reason was that they bison would eat only 75 percent of the grass, and leave fertilizer in the form of bison pies and then  break up  topsoil with their weighty hooves.  In there wake an ideal seedbed was left and the grass flourished. They were helping the “brittle” environment to decay, making the grasslands more productive and staving off the desert. The HRM method of ranching relies on these same principles instead of predators moving the large herds of bison, the rancher does, using fencing and rotational grazing practices that help the decay processes.  It is a beautiful system, one that is based on balance.