Montana
Montana Ag Network: Bright future for bison ranchers
Montana has one of the largest populations of domestic bison in the country with around 20,000 of the majestic animals living on ranches and farms in the state.
While the number of animals left is just a fraction of what it once was when they were freely roaming the plains, the number is growing, and the industry seems to have a bright future.
Watch the full video of this story below:
Montana Ag Network: Bright future for bison ranchers
“I’ve always had an affinity for bison. They are just awesome animals. I just couldn’t let it alone. I convinced my family that it was a good idea and here we are,” says Ty Stubblefield, who owns Wild Bison Ranch in Carbon County.
Stubblefield is a relative newcomer to bison after putting his money on an old cattle ranch outside of Bridger and a herd of bison from Canada.
“I had no ranching background, whatsoever, so we went and visited a bunch of ranches, talked to a bunch of ranchers, had some great mentors. We went through a course called ranching for profit,” he says.
Bison are the largest mammal in North America, with some of the males weighing up to 2,000 pounds and standing six feet tall. There are a little more than 400,000 of the animals living on private ranches in the United States after they nearly were killed off at one point.
MTN News
“They are not like beef. They’ve got a wild spirit to them. They are just chilling right now, but if we opened the gate, they would be in Yellowstone tomorrow,” Stubblefield says.
Bison also take a lot longer to mature than cattle and get to harvest, about twice as long.
The good news for these producers is that demand for bison meat is growing.
“It’s amazing. Higher in iron and B vitamins, lower in calories, fat and cholesterol then beef or even chicken and salmon,” says Melinda Anakalea with Harlow Ranch Bison Company.
Anakalea is also relatively new to bison, but not to ranching. She and her husband began raising a herd of bison on her family’s century old ranch near Thompson Falls about five years ago.
They sell the meat directly to consumers mostly through their website.
“The supply side of things is where the industry is struggling right now. We have built up a great customer base and people are realizing that they want bison and now to get the bison grown and ready to get on their plate is kind of where the issue is,” she says.
“I think if we can take that middleman out, ranchers will find it more profitable to sell meat directly to the consumer,” says Stubblefield, who also sells his bison meat directly to consumers online.
Around 80,000 bison were harvested in all of 2023 in the United States. That’s less than the approximately 125,000 cattle that the U.S. beef industry slaughters every single day.
MTN News
It is still a relatively small industry, but one that these producers believe has a lot of room for growth.
“We by no means get rich, but we get to live this lifestyle that’s really important to us and our family,” says Stubblefield.
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Clark Fork River has long been a defining feature of Missoula, shaping the city’s culture, economy and outdoor lifestyle.
The river is so closely tied to the area that it helped inspire the well-known book and film “A River Runs Through It.” But local conservation advocates say its importance goes far beyond scenery.
“Without the Clark Fork River, Missoula would just be another town,” said Lisa Ronald, Northern Rockies associate conservation director for American Rivers. “We wouldn’t be the River City. I think we’re known in Montana as Missoula the River City, and it’s really because of the Clark Fork River and its central role in business, in economics, in recreation, that really makes Missoula the town that it is.”
Carmen Murill, a field organizer with Wild Montana, said the river is deeply woven into daily life for people who live in Missoula.
“A lot of us would wonder what to do on a beautiful or a rainy summer day,” Murill said. “I mean, it’s really a lifeforce of town. And I think it’s pretty unique that Missoula, as a community is living and breathing on both sides of the river. It’s really like two downtowns but connected by the Clark Fork.”
Conservation groups say protecting the river begins with community involvement.
Advocates encourage residents and visitors to spend time outdoors, whether on a trail, in the woods or along the river, and to learn how they can become better stewards of the environment.
MISSOULA — Sam Forstag edged out Ryan Busse to secure the Democratic nomination in Montana’s 1st Congressional District.
Busse conceded the race to Forstag on Wednesday morning. Forstag had trailed behind Busse Tuesday evening, but he made up ground as the votes were counted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The other two candidates in the race, Russl Cleveland and Matt Rains, are sitting at third and fourth, respectively.
Forstag leads in close race for Montana’s 1st Congressional District
Forstag spent eight years as a wildland firefighter, including four as a smokejumper, and he’s been vice president of the local National Federation of Federal Employees union. Last week, U.S. House of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a rally in Missoula to support Forstag’s campaign.
He told MTN on Tuesday that his campaign has been for the working class.
“We got a whole lot of people here that have been working their tail off to finally get some working-class representation in Washington,” Forstag noted. “So proud of everything we’ve done and so grateful.”
Forstag further noted he wants Montanans to be able to afford groceries, have universal free childcare and restore and expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies.
“Hearing people’s stories and struggles and commonalities in the ways that we’re all fighting in the system that does not serve us so often, and the government serves corporations and the richest people in this country more than working people. It has been frustrating and saddening, but it has also inspired so much hope in me, like the fixes we can actually make,” he told MTN.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. It is currently held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who chose not to seek reelection.
By securing the nomination, Forstag is slated tol face off against Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy and Republican candidate Aaron Flint in November.
Brian Miller won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the U.S. House seat in Montana’s eastern district.
The Associated Press called the race for Miller, an attorney in Helena, who fended off a challenge from state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a longtime legislator from Box Elder, and Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls.
In the Republican and rural eastern district, any Democrat will be an underdog, and Miller will face off against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, who was unopposed Tuesday.
Libertarian Patrick McCracken is also running.
In the primary, Miller took 58% of the vote. Lux took 27% and Windy Boy took 16%, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s website.
In April, Windy Boy paused his campaign amid “serious sexual abuse” allegations raised by the Montana Democratic Party — but Windy Boy restarted his campaign and later called the allegations “political attacks.”
Miller is representing the victim of the alleged abuse and her mother, although he said he didn’t take on the role until after Windy Boy initially suspended his campaign.
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