You're listening to the Ranch Stewards Podcast, a podcast dedicated to the stewardship and conservation of grasslands, diverse ecological landscapes, and the salt-of-the-art individuals who dedicate their lives to this endeavor.
SPEAKER_03Hi everyone, and welcome to the Ranch Stewards Podcast. I'm Lauren Peteruto, the new communications director with Rancher Stewardship Alliance, and I'm excited to be joining you for today's conversation. In this episode, we're joined by Rancher Bill Webb and RSA Executive Director Angel DeVries to talk about the history and the future of the Webb Ranch. We'll talk about the importance of grazing for healthy landscapes, the role of partnerships in conservation, and innovative programs like the RSA Grassbank program that help support young producers and keep working land in agriculture. So with that, we hope you enjoyed this conversation and come away with a better understanding of the people, practices, and partnerships shaping the future of ranching.
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SPEAKER_03Welcome to the Ranch Stewards Podcast. Today we have Bill and Angel. Bill is a rancher from Phillips County, and Angel is the Rancher Stewardship Alliance Executive Director. So thank you both for being here. We're really excited to have you on. So, Bill, we would love to have you to give us a little introduction about yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and then we'll cut from there.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Well, thanks for your interest in my uh my homestead property and the Webb family heritage. And uh with that, um, my name is Bill Webb and and uh I'm a third generation rancher from Phillips County, North Phillips County. Um lived here all my life. Um I'm uh married to a third generation rancher from South Phillips County, Patty and I, and we we have uh two children and six grandchildren. And uh we've uh we've been active in the ranching community in Phillips County for most all our lives. I've been in some other businesses at a younger age before I got into totally full-fledged ranching, but today that's basically what I am, along with uh with a cattle buying service that I offer. And also we have a trucking business together with uh my brother-in-law, Matt. And uh I guess that kind of sums up what I am in Phillips County today.
SPEAKER_03Great. And Angel, do you want to just give us a little bit of an intro about yourself as well?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I was uh you know raised in Malta. I went through kindergarten through uh um senior year here in Malta. I actually graduated with Bill's son. Bill's wife was my first grade teacher, so I kind of have some connections to Bill, um, ironically, growing up in this community. Um, my trade um training is I'm an accountant by trade, but I'm married to a fifth generation rancher. We're on his family operation just east of town. So we do cow calf operations, stalker operation, we do commercial yearling bulls, um, we're raising our kids, and we're with his family. And so um I kind of landed myself with RSA uh six years ago and just really invested in the future of agriculture.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. Great. So we're really just here today to Bill learn a little bit more about you and your story and learn about the web ranch. We have lots of questions, and it's a pretty amazing property, and there's a lot of amazing things gonna happen with that in the future. So, what do you feel like makes your ranch unique?
SPEAKER_04Well, I guess the thing that I feel makes the ranch most unique is its location. It's uh right along the Canadian border. Um, it's very remote. In fact, it's uh the county road doesn't even run clear to the property, so it's uh it's actually a private road part of the way up there. Um that makes it most unique. Um, another thing that's very unique about that property is the prairie potholes, they call them. We called them sloughs, our family called them sloughs, but um those sloughs are make it a very unique piece of property in that uh there's not a lot of that kind of country in Phillips County. Um it's mostly limited to North Phillips County. So yeah, those are two of the properties that make it very unique.
SPEAKER_03And what was it like for you? What are some memories you have from childhood? You know, going to the ranch and and afterwards.
SPEAKER_04So uh one thing that that uh sure is brings to mind is uh comes to mind is the winters up there, even Malta. It's uh it's pretty flat up there and it's it's cold, and we can get a lot of snow in different years. Um yeah, it's uh it can be challenging. Um so yeah, that's one thing I remember uh as a child growing up there.
SPEAKER_03What was the the cold, the coldest it's everywhere?
SPEAKER_04I I I think my dad said one time they registered 52 below, and that was just the regular temperature, not the windshield.
SPEAKER_03You're you have a very uh interesting family story history. Um, you know, the ranch stretches back more than 100 years. So could you tell us a little bit about that and the history behind the ranch?
SPEAKER_04Okay, so my grandfather homesteaded there in 1912, and uh he ended up marrying his uh neighbor, which was borders the ranch on the south side. Her name was Ada Weesee, and uh he bought he actually homesteaded in 1912, but she wasn't born until 1910. So anyway, they obviously got married in later years and they raised 11 children up there on that property, and he graduated or or left the property, uh, turned it over to the next generation in 1962. So he was there 50 years and uh from there it went on to uh uh um one of his sons, and uh he continued to operate there until he pursued other interests in about the 19 early 1980s, and that left uh the door open for my dad to take over the property. And my dad actually ran the property up clear up until his death in night or 2019. And uh then at that point I took full fledge of the reins and started operating it under Web Livestock, which is what we operate under today.
SPEAKER_03What do you feel like some of the biggest lessons that your dad or grandfather taught you?
SPEAKER_04Well, one of the most important lessons that my grandfather taught me is uh he instilled in me as he said, always keep your credit good and and be able to back your word. Yeah, have the trust. And uh I I've followed that throughout my life and uh and I've instilled it in my kids, and hopefully it's tapering down to my grandchildren.
SPEAKER_03So obviously with the ranch with that kind of history, there there's a lot of traditions and a lot of things are changing with technology and and whatnot. What do you feel like some of the things your traditions that whether it's your family or the things that you do on the ranch have kind of stayed the same? And then what are some things that you've changed to have a more modern operation?
SPEAKER_04We raise cattle in this country and we calve them in the spring, typically, and uh we sell calves in the fall. So that's not changed. That's the way they did it then, that's the way we do it today. Um probably the biggest change, of course, is technology. Um, it's made things so much simpler for our our generation and the future generations, and and the equipment is much more sophisticated. Yeah, so it's just uh it makes it a simpler, simpler lifestyle than it was back when they started.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So RSA has a uh upcoming ranch tour at the homestead. It was rained out last week, and now it's going to be held on July 13th, and we're gonna be heading up there to do a tour of the homestead and to get to know obviously a little bit more about your family. And we're gonna be looking a lot at grazing and how the operation has moved throughout the years. So, one of the talking topics that I'd love to ask you your opinion on is um how do you believe that grazing in cattle really benefit the land? And talking to some of our listeners and viewers who really might not have any understanding of that, or maybe are living in a city and maybe have never seen a cow before. If you could give us your your thoughts on that and um educate them on what that means.
SPEAKER_04Sure. Well, grazing uh if it's done properly, which most ranchers in today's society um operate under very conservative measures, um grazing enhances the the growth of the grasses, um it it provides better habitat and vegetation for the wildlife. Um it's it's it's it's uh it's just it makes a whole better deal. The water is better and and uh it it creates an environment where they can survive easily. Yeah, wintertime. Um again, as I say, uh most people uh leave a lot of grass in wintertime. Boy, there's plentiful grasses for the for the wildlife to survive on throughout the winters, unless they're too far. But yeah, it's a it's it's definitely a benefit. It over uh if you if you watch over the years, um if you don't graze something, which we've had a lot of CRP lands in this country for 30 years, if you don't use those grasses, pretty soon they start dying out and they they get so coarse and and uh it creates a negative effect where this grazing comes into play and it it enhances the the the vegetation for everything, livestock as well as as well as the wildlife.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, and I think one of the biggest misconceptions that's out there today is how um wildlife and ranching might compete with each other. Um and you just really gave a great example of how they can really work together. So, what are specific things that you've seen on your ranch where wildlife and ranching have really coexisted and benefited each other?
SPEAKER_04Yes, um, on our ranches, um the antelope don't necessarily run with the cattle, but they're not far away. Um the deer as well. Um birds, they uh they land in the ponds that the cows drink out of the ducks, for example, and they have little ducklings every spring. And and uh so yeah, they coexist very well together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Ducks especially are gonna be in all of those slugs or prairie potholes, like that is their main habitat space, right? So like that's that's really where they like to be, is in those areas.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, actually, I feel like this is probably a really good time to Angel, have you tell us a little bit more about RSA's involvement in the Web Ranch and in the Grass Bank program, speaking about how wildlife and ranching really go hand in hand and uh a little bit more of a background of RSA uh and our involvement there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, um I'm excited to to visit about this and excited to be working with Bill because even though this is a project that kind of came on the other side of the you know purchase, it has we've worked a lot with Bill in understanding the history of the property in order to make this possible. Um, you know, the this really all started about 20 years ago when the Matador created their grass bank operation. Um and so that I make sure that listeners really understand the term of grass bank, the the best way to describe it is shared access grazing. And so it's when um a group of ranchers all come together and graze on a property in common at the same time, or maybe in two different herds, like a cow calf herd and a yearling herd. Um, and so the Matador Grass Bank started in the early 2000s and for 20 years has been a pretty successful model that people in Phillips County have utilized. And that Matador Grass Bank is owned by the Nature Conservancy of Montana. Um and so for a long time, um, this has been a model that has looked to hopefully replicate in some way. So about three years ago, the Nature Conservancy approached RSA and said, would you guys be interested in creating a grass bank 2.0 or, you know, like a second one? Um the Nature Conservancy was not interested in owning more property. So they looked to us to say that if we could do the purchase, would you be interested in owning the property if we could gift it to you? And then you as RSA would run it because you are a rancher-led, locally led organization, and that's the model we want to bring to a next grass bank. Um, so at the time we said um, sure, we're we would be interested in um, you know, taking a stab at this project and seeing if it would go forward. And I think at the time we weren't really sure that we'd be able to make it happen. Um, so you know, fast forward two, three years and and we did. Um, so in May of 2025, um, after looking at several different properties and really trying to identify the right property that would fit this model and fit the mission of RSA, because um, one of the biggest things that we wanted to make sure is that when a property was selected, that it wasn't taking a ranch operation out of agriculture, right? And so with Bill, it was it was one of those. You know, he was selling that property, but was not getting out of the industry. Um, and so that was really ideal for RSA and my board in selecting the right property. And so um in May of 2025, we we as TNC and RSA closed on the property, um, but we do not own it. RSA does not own it at this time. Um so TNC owns it and uh they closed on the property in May of 2025. But the intent is for TNC to gift the property to RSA for long-term ownership and for us to create another grass bank model outside of that. Um but the the uh trigger point of RSA owning the property will be fundraising the first three years of operating expense. So we're in the middle of that, and I'll I'll get into that a little bit more. Um, but the whole mission of this grass bank model or shared access grazing is for local producers to be able to have access to land that they may have otherwise not had access to. Um, in our area, I think we're seeing land prices increase time and time again, and um, what that looks like is um pricing itself maybe out of agriculture production because um those prices are increasing because of recreational value or maybe some development value. Um, and so RSA's mission is to really try to create land access where maybe young producers wouldn't have had the ability to do so. Um, so we really hope that our program will be able to or we our program is going to prioritize young producers as tenants over uh maybe more established producers. Um, the tenant makeup will probably be like a two-thirds, one-third, so two-thirds of younger producers and one-third of mentor producers because we want a little bit of a mentor component of some folks who are there to like help the new or beginning producers like get their start.
SPEAKER_03What do you feel has been one of the biggest challenges of the grass bank program once it's on the ground?
SPEAKER_02That will be one of the biggest challenges.
SPEAKER_03That will be, yeah, that can't you kind of foresee.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the one of the biggest challenges will just be working out the kinks, right? I mean, we um we have been working on the development of this program for the last um 18 months to 24 months. And every time we go through steps one through 12, we go back to steps one through 11 because the, you know, some decisions that we finally make in step 12, we realize, oh, we got to go back and change some some decisions made in step one through 11. Um, I have the great privilege of three of my board members being Matador Grassbank members. So they have been tenants of a grass bank, so they have a lot of experience in that, which has been really great. But I think it's still going to be working out the kinks. And um, there's just a lot of place-based things that we're gonna have to learn. Like Bill said, it's all the way up at the Canadian border. So, you know, our office is located here in Malta, but the property is located 50 miles north. So it's uh there's gonna be some kinks with that. It's very remote location, it's harsh winters. Um, we really want to make sure that our tenants' cattle are well taken care of. So we talk, we talk about things like are we purchasing hay? Are we having a hay stockpile up there? What's our grazing season gonna be like to make sure that our tenants' cattle like leave that property in good body condition and all of those things, just making sure that um we keep good relationships with our tenants, with our neighbors up there? Um, all of those things, I think the biggest challenge will just be continuing to tweak the program to make sure that um like, yeah, we're holding a program that's worth being proud of.
SPEAKER_03Has there ever been a program in this area like this before, even way back when? Or is this kind of the first of its kind?
SPEAKER_02You know, I'd kind of look to Bill, I would say grazing associations would be the next closest thing, other than the Matador Gasbank south of South and South Phillips County.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I would agree with that. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And that's just going back to your point of with land prices being what they are and and younger people wanting to get into ranching. I know a lot of people that really want to get into ranching, but there's such a a big barrier. So this program is so important for that. And going back to your to the question, Angel, is what are some of the challenges? But then what do you foresee in and you as well, Bill, that's going to come out of it? What do you see to be your hopes and dreams for for this program?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think one is just that that access to land when um when it is increasingly challenging. Um, I think I also foresee the mentorship component, because that's a really big part of what my board wanted to build is this idea of having some, you know, a couple mentor producers as well as these beginning producers. Um, because when cattle moves need to take place, everyone shows up, right? So there's this, you know, for lack of a better term, forced time together. Um, and so that gives an ability to learn from one another. And um it's also a chance for, you know, your mentor producers to learn from a younger generation. I don't want to just say this is only one-sided, because there's things that older generations can always learn from the younger generations too. When we talk about technology and modernization, I think there's things that we can always learn both ways. Um, but then there's also things that uh the younger generation could also learn from the historical knowledge and um things like that from our older generation and things just like, hey, I need to go apply for a loan at the bank. Do you got some tips? Right. And someone who's done it, you know, 50 times over as a mentor there would be able to talk them through some of those things. Or, you know, I'm I'm looking for my next lease. What do I need to know? Who should I talk to? Do you have some connections? You know, a new producer isn't going to have a network that someone who's an established producer does, right? And so I think what RSA does so well and that what we look to do all the time, and because it's a pillar of our mission, is that community piece. And so that mentorship program and that community piece is really what we're hoping is uh a really big benefit to um to this program.
SPEAKER_03Bill, what do you feel that you're most excited about when it comes to this program?
SPEAKER_04Well, it's a great program. It's uh uh I I personally like to help young people myself on a personal level and to see this organization come in and and uh do this on a large scale, it's it's gonna be pretty exciting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, great. Uh so I got another question for you, Bill. Just going into that. What is your favorite part of ranching?
SPEAKER_04Boy, I love it all. Um, I guess, but my probably my favorite part is in the spring during calving season. And and of course, spring getting through the winters here in northern Montana, and spring hits and the the calves are being born, and and the animals uh are being born, the ducks are flying over. Um, it's all a wonderful time to be a rancher. To be able to be out in the elements is something that I I would not change.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. Angel, what do you feel is your favorite part?
SPEAKER_02I think uh yeah, the the baby calves are always like you can't you can't miss that. Um I also think that as a mom with young children, I think I my heart always swells when we're out working, working in the animals with our kids. Like I think it's just like you can't deny that this is a lifestyle worth living.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I didn't grow up in ranching and I I rode horses a little bit, but I really didn't get into this until about seven or eight years ago. One of my biggest passions in life is really spreading awareness and showing people and talking to people about what ranching really is and everything that it encompasses and why it is so important for our country, our culture. You know, American ranchers are the backbone.
SPEAKER_04of of our of our country in my in my humble opinion but we also know that there's a lot of challenges with it as well and we touched on a few things but Bill what do you feel has been the hardest part for you or and and your family when it comes to to ranching as a whole well probably uh the most difficult part of ranching is is uh dealing with the winters of course is always a challenge of uh the determining how much feed you need and and if you're short where you're gonna find that feed um probably the biggest challenge that you know that we have some control over um there's things that come into play that uh we have no control over so we we just have to we just have to navigate that as it comes um uh price structure for example is something that we have no control over as a rancher so we we we struggle and we we figure out a way to survive and until uh market changes and it always seems to come around and it makes up for those bad years.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna echo uh me and my husband have talked about this a lot of like uh when we when we feel um you know down in the dumpster of something we we kind of split it to like what are the things that we have control over and what are the things that we don't and weather of course is the thing that we always have no control over. There's there's nothing you can do about it. And so you oh you focus on the things of the ways you can navigate it and the um the things that you can do to prepare for it and all of that. And then of course the the fluctuating market is always a challenge is focusing on the ways that you can prepare for for those sort of things. And what are the things that you can control and um I'm a numbers gal because I'm an accountant by trade. And so I think a lot about like well if you can't control the revenue stream you can control the expenses right and so uh we talk a lot about like business structure and strategy and and things like that. So um those are some of the challenges that I think sometimes can be really really unique to the agriculture industry beyond a lot of other industries.
SPEAKER_03That just kind of made me think of a rancher success stories that that RSA is going to be sharing um yesterday and then today and uh you know talking about succession planning and what it means for the next generation. So um to you Bill what has been the most meaningful part of this seeing your children and and your grandchildren be involved in this operation and and keep it going?
SPEAKER_04Sure. Yeah um you know I get out of bed every morning knowing that I have a son that's there that's going to be able to take over if something happened to me sooner than than expected. We always know that comes and and uh I guess if I left the the world today boy I I would I I'm so happy that he's there and and his kids are involved and uh and I also have a daughter that's in Helena that's that's very interested and and uh been part of our ranching operations as well even though she's uh she's a an accountant as well and married to a military guy and uh you know knowing that knowing that those kids are there and have an interest and want to be there is uh is a great feeling to have as as a parent.
SPEAKER_03Yeah what do you hope that they might inherit or some lessons that you hope they will have to help guide their life.
SPEAKER_04Sure well um I guess like we talked earlier about the the honesty and the integrity and uh keeping your uh credit rating good um are probably the most important aspects of going through life that I can that I can uh mention um if I instilled that in them well I think I think they'll probably be alright along with what they're gonna what they're gonna inherit uh uh uh you know the the ranch and the cattle operation that we have I've been saying this for a while now but just being exposed to to ranching and working on different cattle operations and things like that I feel there are so many lessons you can't learn anywhere else.
SPEAKER_03You know and Angel we were just talking this morning about something that happened on your operation you know your children got to experience and I mean those can't be replicated anywhere else. So uh it's just it's so important to kind of keep those lessons and keep the younger generation really caring about ranchers and what we're doing on the ground just keep it going for the future. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Bill, I have a question a little bit more about the property itself.
SPEAKER_04Um when it comes back to like grazing that property what are some of the grazing lessons you've learned up there um I know you've done some some restoration work can you talk about that a little bit like you've you've reseeded some old farm ground and stuff can you talk about that restoration work and the grazing sure the in 2015 my uh dad decided he was gonna quit farming so we or I decided that you know I'm not gonna farm yeah so we uh we seeded that back to grass and uh and made it into a cattle pasture of course and um so and that's done very well up there in fact I was up there the other day and I'm just amazed at how much forage that thing produces um improved grazing I guess we'll call it uh yeah so that's uh that that's an interesting project that we did that enhanced the property so there's no farm ground at the property there's no farm ground on the property any longer no um and and as far as the the grasses up in that country it seems like the grasses are or they grow better than they do in a lot of places maybe it's more rainfall up there uh maybe it it is cooler I can tell you that throughout even the summer months it's cooler um it just uh it just it's just a grass growing country up there and then also those sloughs provide a lot of vegetation if if we get a winter where we have a lot of snow those sloughs fill up and there's lots of them on that property they fill up with water and it almost creates an irrigated pasture effect up there. I can't remember a year when we could say we overgrazed because of drought or something it seems like we just always have lots of grass up there.
SPEAKER_02That's good good problem to have I guess yes it is yeah and it is so if I remember correctly you said your grandfather had 11 children right that's correct so all 11 children grew up on that homestead pretty much for their entire childhood.
SPEAKER_04They uh they did have to come to school okay they had a home in Loring where the kids started school um some of the kids well in fact most of all the kids actually had to come to Malta to graduate from high school okay okay so then to back up a little bit further you said it's all grass now but there was farming so way back in the history how much of it was farming and how much of it was grass like when your grandfather owned it okay when my grandfather owned it when I was well when I was old enough to remember which was probably about five years old he farmed about 200 acres okay and of course when he started why it was all done with horses okay um as I remember when I entered the world why he had some machinery um an actual tractor which had steel wheels on it and uh a combine he had a pole type combine that was probably a 10 footer I'm gonna say wow come on yeah so yeah and then as as uh the future generations took over they broke a little bit more land um when when I took possession of it it had 800 acres of farmland on it okay and what kind of crops were farmed up there um you know in the early days my grandpa always raised feed for his cattle oh okay um the next generations they started growing some wheat for sale purposes and then slowly it's just all been turned back to pasture land right it's all grass all pasture and then what kind of um improved water sources have been put up there okay well we uh we uh we've actually added some pipelines water lines underground water lines to various different pastures and the whole place is is actually has uh uh pipelines to each pasture okay so um on a on a year where the water may be limited why we can always flip a switch or turn a valve and we have water at every pasture on that property as well as our our other properties are the same same way it's just uh it's something that I firmly believe is very cost effective and and uh I'm willing to spend the money to get water everywhere.
SPEAKER_02Saves a little heartache too when yeah yeah or a little stress uh when when times are dry. So tell me about the prairie potholes.
SPEAKER_04I mean I know I see them but do cows water in them very often do you try not to let them water in there how how what does that look like for for hoof traffic down to those you know um the cattle will actually go out in those and uh they'll they'll graze out in there they they almost want to make you think they're a water buffalo or something but they leave no imprint.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_04Um they don't kill out the vegetation it's never been a problem um I always was concerned about that seeing all them things out there stomping around but and they don't bog down in them they don't bog down there's enough like vegetation in there that it's pretty like stable soil yes yes and the soil is pretty tight up there so it uh yeah they don't they don't actually leave much of a print when they when they go in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah because that would that would be my first concern because we've had cows like get into like kind of a a low spot and then they bog down but it's not the same right it's not the same soil type right that's right.
SPEAKER_03Angel if you wanted to touch back on anything about the program you know any final points I'd love to have you do that now as well.
SPEAKER_02I think some of the biggest things I wanted to maybe share is just that um you know we're we're still tweaking the program it's not fully built yet we're uh we're still trying to navigate like uh the best way we can build it to get it started right um our hope right now is that we'd be able to to launch the program um for grazing season 2027 um but again it's it's all contingent on us raising our first three years of operating expenses um so right now um we've received uh about $390,000 in um fundraising towards our $600,000 goal that is specific to the grass bank. We've also received some funds that have been what we call unrestricted gifts that could go towards the grass bank. So that $390,000 is about 65% funded towards our $600,000 goal. But when you include some of those unrestricted gifts as well that puts us a lot closer to um $5370 um which is about 90% of our goal and that's if we if we include all of our unrestricted gifts. So we would like to not include all of our unrestricted gifts because though those unrestricted gifts can help just like our general operations. So depending on which way you look at it we're somewhere between 65 and 90% funded of being able to take ownership of of the grass bank. So yeah we're we're we're still pushing we still have some you know like grant applications out there um but we're really pushing to try to be be opening the program up by grazing season of 2027 to be able to offer that we've already got a list of like interested tenants you know people who are wanting to to be able to graze on the property up there. We have very long work session meetings um every month um to make sure that we're like we're doing the best we can with this program. And um like you know like I said we'll we're gonna do this program and then at the end of the year we're probably gonna change a lot of things and tweak it again, right? I also wanted to share that there'll be a governing committee for the for this program specifically which is unique to anything else that we do at RSA just because this does involve land ownership this does involve people you know their business being involved in this you know someone's cow is actually on there and so this governance committee will consist of seven members and um that will be four RSA board members and three community members. So I kind of just wanted to share that because we'll be looking for three people in the community to be on that board. I don't believe that the people on the committee will be able to be members like tenants just to try to create some conflict of interest separation. But yeah that that was the other thing I kind of wanted to share is that you know we'll also be looking for people to be on that committee to help you know with tenant selection, you know, helping develop policies, deal with any sort of like grievance issues if there are any help develop the grazing plan. We also will be looking for a program manager we'll be hiring for that they will be someone who develops a grazing plan, manages the tenants checks on the property up there and they'll be developing the program as a whole and actually building it out for further um for further expansion. So as most people know Dale B Seth has committed his property to us in the future at his retirement which is another 38,000 acres probably 10 plus years from now. And there's an idea that that property will also be in a grass bank type model of some kind and so that this person that we hire for for the program management will also be looking to to that property and building out the program even bigger right and so um yeah so those are just kind of some final thoughts that I wanted to share about like what this program looks like in the future.
SPEAKER_03Yeah and for our listeners they can always visit our website and there'll be information on there and then we'll obviously be sharing more information as things come along.
SPEAKER_02So make sure you like sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media and our website like that's where it'll be launched and and available. Yeah great so I guess I just want to say thanks to you Bill because I mean you sold this property but your work hasn't been done with it because you've answered a ton of our questions just trying to understand more about the best way we can steward the property once we take ownership of it. You're doing the web tour with us you know being able to share more of the history you're taking time to do that with us and I just want to say thanks for that.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. Yeah yeah you're welcome one closing question that I'd love to ask is what do you feel gives you the most hope about the future of ranching oh gosh probably the most hope is that uh that it continues for another 150 200 years. There you go right yeah absolutely um and and I think it's a very I think it's it's a very doable deal um obviously people got to eat um so uh uh uh until they figure out some other diet that uh keeps us going well I I think the ranching business will be around for for years and years to come.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and I think that's I would echo that I think um you know agriculture is the backbone of our country because we need to eat we got all the food and I think um I also am inspired by um a little bit more recognition about understanding the food that we eat and um looking more towards like the food we put in our body and um thinking more holistically about that. And because of that um newfound interest I think agriculture as an industry has been kind of lifted up as um more important today.
SPEAKER_03Well Bill, we want to say thank you so much for being here and taking the time to talk with us today. And um we're really excited about everything that's happening and we'd appreciate your time and you being here. So thanks for being on with us.
SPEAKER_01Sure thing well thank you Laura thank you Angel yeah thank you all right Montana we are proud to say it's where we live and where we work the vibe is different here. We are friendly caring hardworking resilient and resourceful no one else covers Montana or cares for Montana more than Stockman Bank. To us Montana isn't just a place it's the only place we do business. That's why we are Montana random bank