News you can use
News you can use
Lon and Vicki Reukauf pose for a photograph on their ranch near Terry. The Reukaufs own and operate last year's Montana Environmental Stewarship Award-winning ranch and the Region IV winners nationwide. Their Cherry Creek Ranch has grown five fold since 1958, as more land and more cattle are required to make a living. But the Reukauf's have focused on maximizing efficiencies to keep labor and pasture demands low. Lon and Vicki are the ranch's only employees, with some seasonal help. The commercial cow-calf ranch focuses primarily on selling light, early-weaned calves each fall. Calves are born after April 1, allowing them to focus on cows' reproductive nutritional needs when pastures are at peak flush in late June. Calves are weaned in early or mid-October, depending on the market and climate.
From Montana Stockgrowers Association
Montana's ranchers, conservationists, wildlife biologists, water quality experts, range scientists and hunting advocates share an incredible common bond: They each love the land and care about the animals and natural resources that depend on it.
"There's no doubt we have more in common than most of us think," said Jesse Tufte, the program officer for World Wildlife Fund's Sustainable Ranching Initiative.
Tufte said she's especially keen on the state's cattlemen and women who put in much of the legwork to conserve and steward the health of grasslands.
"We n...
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