On Wednesday December 24, the Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) received confirmation that an animal from a Gallatin County herd within Montana’s Designated Surveillance Area (DSA) tested positive for brucellosis. This is the second detect...

Soybeans have been all the rage the last six months regarding tariffs amid a trade war with China. Those fears and concerns have subsided some as China and the United States have agreed to a framework in late October 2025. China agreed to buy 1...

“Where’s it at?” Tuff said, as he meandered into the woodshed. “Where’s the surprise?” As he walked further in, the smell of hot cocoa, peppermint, and wood shavings flooded through his nose. Every essence that filled the woodshed was warm, inv...

Christmas is a tough time of year for working mothers. I know this, because I was a working mother for 21 years, and now I find myself a working grandmother. Even though it has been 19 years since my last baby left the nest, I vividly remember ...

“Mary Did You Know” is the famous Christmas song many of us have heard on repeat as the Christmas season fast approaches and then heads out of sight. As I was driving to another ranch to pull shoes and trim horses to give our equine partners a ...

Ben Bennett, DVM, and his wife Kate Bennett, DVM, are the owners of Mountain Valley Veterinary Service out of Wilsall, Montana. The married team serves solely large animals in a rural community. Ben is passionate about large and rural veterinar...

Methane isn’t just an environmental buzzword - it is energy lost. Every puff of gas from a cow’s rumen represents feed energy that could have gone toward growth, milk or a calf. That simple truth is driving a USDA-funded project at the Universi...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here we go full throttle ahead into 2026. Fall sale season is over and thankfully I get to stay home a few days over the holidays. But I am already knee-deep into scheduling ads and picture dates for the 2026 Spring Sale Season....

On December 17 and 18, much of Reporter Country including the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and even North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska experienced a severe, widespread Chinook wind event with National Weather Service repo...

Written Friday, December 19 The cattle markets ended the week with a strong rally in front of the Cattle on Feed report. February Live Cattle opened higher, ticked down to the low at 228.875 and rallied to the high at 232.075. The rally stalled...

“This is genius!” Banjo said. “All it takes is one of them to wear the stocking hats you made for them.” “Yep,” Daisy said. “And you should’ve seen the look on their eyes when we came marching into their pack’s camp. If they could’ve popped out...

Back when our kids were little, Christmas was the best time of year for effective behavioral modification plans to be enacted. Really, there are two kinds of behavioral modification plans, which boil down to either bribery or threats or a combi...

Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Père Noël, Ded Moroz, Sankt Nikolaus. Whenever I think of all the names for Santa Claus, my mind goes back to one of my favorite Christmas movies, the 1994 classic starring Tim Allen. ...

I am writing today’s column at 2:00 a.m. from a Las Vegas hotel room, taking advantage of the first quiet moments we’ve had in the last 24 hours. We’re in Las Vegas for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering’s event during the NFR, and played our...

In some climates, stock water can be a challenge during colder months. Having adequate water and keeping it ice-free is not a simple task. In some pastures, water availability is also an issue. Cattle eat more feed in cold weather to generate a...

Governor Larry Rhoden was among the first speakers to welcome family farmers and ranchers from across the state to the 110th South Dakota Farmers Union State Convention held in Huron December 10 and 11. During his keynote, the Union Center ranc...

This is the last opportunity I will have to visit with all of you before Christmas. I am sure you have all noticed by now the picture of me and my family…can’t believe I let my kids talk me into some of the things that they think we should do, ...

U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, as well as Representative Ryan Zinke (MT-01), today sent a letter to President Trump in support of Governor Greg Gianforte’s emergency declaration request for Lincoln County, Sanders County, and the Bl...

Written Friday,  December 12 Soybean selling was the focus again in the grain and oilseed complex again today. January soybeans fell 16 cents to .76, near the daily low, hit a six-week low and for the week were down 29 cents. January soybean me...

Written Wednesday, November 26 Dips in the soybean volume became buying opportunities today highlighted by near term contracts. More Chinese business is being reported, though the market seemed not too impressed, in my opinion. Wire services ar...

Montana Farmers Union's Arrowpeak Camp was recognized for its commitment to helping youth grow and learn with the American Camp Association Northwest Character Impact Award for Montana for the 2025 season. The ACA Character Impact Award is a re...

“It looks magnificent,” Daisy said. She clapped her paws together and then straightened one of the plates and its table setting before the others joined. The barn was adorned with dried grasses, pine boughs, fox tails ,and other natural embelli...

The liberals who’ve been trying to legislate the weather lately now say that we are facing a “national climate emergency” and to hear them rant and rave it’s all the cow’s fault. Universities and greenie groups are insisting that we need net-ze...

This year at Thanksgiving there will be two empty chairs at our house. We will be missing the amazing cooking and loving hospitality of my mother-in-law, and of course our beloved daughter, whom we buried up a pretty little coulee on the ranch ...

Easiest way to get our one-year-old, Bruce Manegold, to fall asleep is take him for a ride on the horses. After the ride, Dennis stood like a good girl and Bruce finished his nap on her while the other horses were getting unsaddled. Those pony ...