Local ranches featured on Angus tour
courtesy photo
Tour members head to the corrals to look at some good black Angus cows during their day-long visit to western Montana.
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A gracious, but smoky, Mission Valley greeting awaited the passengers of three large tour busses upon their arrival at Lazy J M Ranch near St. Ignatius Sept. 21. The passengers were part of a, “once every seven years” tour put together by the Montana Angus Association. They were a varied representation of the beef industry from as far away as Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
The McPhersons’ ranch, one of several hosts, is operated by the mother and son team of Kurt and Elaine, along with several family members. They, like many, are the epitome of an American rancher’s dream that has flourished against the odds merely by the tenacity, perseverance, and a never-quit work ethic of the successful American dreamer.
It’s been said, “If you don’t have a dream, it can’t come true.”
The McPhersons’ invitation by the beef association to host a stop on this tour and show their operation is a testament and compliment to each rancher’s hard work and success.
Being a friend and neighbor to the McPhersons has let this writer know that they have spent the better part of the last three decades building a commercial herd into some of the most coveted purebred Angus genetics in the U.S.
Kurt started his involvement by taking cattle in trade for his labor in changing water lines, while he was still in high school.
Elaine worked for more than 30 years at the Dixon School during the day, then tending to the ranch chores at night. Working these long hours while raising four kids as a single mom is probably a clue to where the kids got their example of a work ethic.
The ranch offerings have grown into something beyond the typical cow-calf operation with current breeding to include artificial insemination and embryo transplant. They also offer private treaty sales of purebred bulls replacement stock and a substantial haying operation.
After a greeting from their host and a couple of local exhibitors, the tour had free rein of the ranch corrals and facilities penned with beautiful cattle from the L K Bar Ranch owned by Larry and Beth Krein, along with fine specimens from the Blevins ranch owned by Thomas and Wayne Blevins, and of course those beautiful bovines of the McPhersons’. The pleasant travelers then refreshed themselves with cold drinks and homemade cookies, provided by the most important hands on the ranches, those of the wives.
Sporadic groups could be overheard engaged in mixed conversation of geographic comparisons in land, grass, weather and methods of nearly every aspect of the ranching industry.
Soon it was time to “head ‘em up and move ‘em out” as the dust rolled along the country road carrying the group of between 250 and 300 to the last stop of the long day.
This would be a gracious showing of Montana hospitality, where all involved would experience a fine western dinner at the Coleman ranch in Charlo. The evening fare would be: what else, great Montana beef.
