Race King is the hard-working ranch manager at the La Cense Ranch.  When I talked to him today, he had just come in from getting more straw bales out to the cows for shelter from the wind.  He said that it had been below zero last weekend, getting down to 30 below at night, and they were preparing the best windbreaks and strawbale shelter for the cows and calves in the lowlands.   In this interview, Race talks about the La Cense Ranch, the value of rotational grazing, how grass-fed practices preserve the heritage of ranching, and the quality of character found in the ranching community.

What makes the La Cense Ranch unique?

I think it’s a combination of many things that make us unique.  It’s the landscape, the size of our operation, the managed intensive grazing, the high quality forages found in our area, the low-stress animal handling, the natural resources available for the wildlife that provide a natural well-balanced system, the Angus genetics, the time honored ranching practices we utilize.  One of the big things we have is the strong commitment from the people here at the ranch, from the management to the people out doing the every day things.  We have an operation where we can raise the animals, and package them and send them on, and that’s very unique.

How is grazing necessary to maintaining a healthy ecosystem on the La Cense Ranch?

Well first of all, we’ve been able to use managed rotational grazing to increase plant health and plant density while increasing grass production on the ranch and additionally have a positive impact on the creeks and streams.  It’s just not realistic to not rotational graze.  It’s totally necessary.  Otherwise we’d have rampant wildfires.  Grazing needs to be managed and we do that by allowing rest periods between grazing.  We believe grazing is important for the overall health of the landscape.  If we can ensure a good quality pasture to where it stays healthy, we will also help the wildlife as they pass though.  They’ll have good quality forage, with our warm and cools season grasses.  With the managed grazing, we’re also able to put more pressure on noxious weeds.

How did you know you wanted to go into the ranching profession?  Did you grow-up on a ranch?

I did.  I grew up on a family farm and ranch operation.  From a very early age I knew that my passion lied in ranching.  I liked working with livestock.  I admire the strong moral character and work ethic of ranching.  I enjoy it, and it allows me to raise my family in the midst of that, and it’s something they can share as well.

What barriers may prevent other Montana ranchers from being able to produce or sell grass-fed beef?

I think the biggest thing is the marketing side of it.  I think many of the ranchers in the state could produce the product.  The costs are a little higher, but we could get more out of it.  As the market grows I think there will be more who could step up and produce it.

When we talked recently, you said the La Cense Ranch is “preserving the heritage of ranching.”   What wealth lies in the heritage of ranching?

Well it’s part of our lifestyle.  My family has been involved in agriculture as have a lot of us in this country.  When you step back and look at how to do things in a more sustainable manner, and then you do research on the history, you’ll find out you’re doing it a lot like they did fifty, or a hundred years ago.  We’re focusing more on the range and the pasture.  We really have become grass-farmers, if you will.  If you look back, they had a little bit of hay put up for feed in the winter and that was all.  I think this is how we’ll be able to preserve the heritage.  It’s allowed us to come back to the roots of ranching.

There have been technological developments that have allowed us to blend old and new and come up with a sustainable concept.  And with that, we’re able to lower costs, we have less inputs, and we can increase animal health and performance.  There have been some good technologies to build on the roots of our heritage.  I think the bottom line is that ranchers and farmers in this country are good people; we care about our animals and the quality of our products.  As we produce more of these sustainably raised products, people will be board and more family farmers will be able to switch over to sustainable production.   People will have to pay a little more to get this, but for now we’re satisfied to reach a few folks who share our philosophy.

What do ranchers bring to a community?

Well first of all, ethics, values, they’re just strong people.  If you live in a small town it’s nice to have the scenery, but it’s the people around us who affect who we are.  It really takes a whole community to raise a child and the kids who come out of these communities do a great job wherever they go.  There’s a strong work ethic they come out with. 

 The number one industry in Dillon and Montana is still agriculture.  Not only is it the heart of the economy, but it's also socially who we are.  I guess you’d say it’s the backbone.  I don’t want to see us getting to the point where all our food is imported.  I know the people who are making our food and I think that it’s important to keep that industry here in America.

La Cense Ranch cowboys and kids at the recent Ranch Christmas Party, photo by Armelle Buvron 

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.

Family Run Dairy Farm in Treadwell, NY

As we focus on regional grass-fed farming, we would like to have our weekly issue posts express the unique challenges that each region faces. Whether it is environmental or economic, grass-fed farms need to be in tune with the land and the community they reside in.  In the Northeast our challenges are mostly economic because our environment is extremely conducive to grass-fed farming.

As a farmer’s daughter and a native upstate New Yorker, I have seen the traditional family farm disappear and in their wake I have seen mega dairies emerge in western New York. I have also seen a new type of farm appear, one that harnesses the sun and delivers real profit for family farmers and this is grass-fed farming. Yet, there are still real obstacles in our way. Lack of policy initiative from our elected officials, access to markets and USDA inspected slaughterhouses stand in the way of real grass-fed change for the Northeast. On a positive note demand is at an all time high.    People are starting to not only ask for grass-fed meats and diary, they are demanding it. Where there is demand, supply will follow but because so many family farms have disappeared we have to revive farms and rebuild dying rural economies to supply this demand.  Northeast politicians, especially Senators, have not been advocates for farmers like their Western and Midwestern counterparts---it is not really their fault rural votes are small compared to  vote-rich cities and suburbs. When I was an intern in DC I sat in on many an agricultural committee meeting and all the members were from Kansas or Nebraska. Where were the Congressmen from Connecticut and New York? I was only 19 at the time but I knew that this had implications for the farmers in my community.  As a result of this, family farms have left the Northeast because pressures on them have been ignored. Slaughterhouses have been bought by large packers and closed, milk prices have become lower and lower and costs higher, and subsidies have been mismanaged helping larger farms not smaller ones.  We have an opportunity to bring small farms back, New Yorkers and Bostonians have begun to vote with their forks, supporting local farmers and producers, but we still need governmental support. We need politicians to address the fact that access to markets and slaughterhouses is instrumental for the success of small farms and we need to revisit our agricultural subsidies. Most simply put we need a voice for Northeastern farmers.