When I think about what I’m going to eat for dinner, there’s not a lot of thought that goes into it. I’ll usually have whatever food I have in my fridge, or if I’m running low, I’ll just hop in my car and drive to Safeway. One of my favorite meals is taco salad; beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onion, and some sour cream to top it off. Something I don’t really think about too, often is where this food comes from, who puts their time and effort into producing it, and the challenges they face to do so. Agriculture is all over the world. One of the cattle ranches in Montana is the DeMars Ranch.

The DeMars Ranch is a fifth-generation ranch located about 40 miles North of Lewistown, Montana. Spread along Secondary Highway 236 and into the endless hills surrounding Winifred, Montana, this ranch has been owned and successfully run by the family since 1901. I got the opportunity to learn more about this family and their story as cattle ranchers through the youngest DeMars, Johanna. She is 18 years old and part of the current generation of DeMars to work on the ranch. Through interviewing Johanna, I was informed about the DeMars family tree, tracing all the way back to the 1800s.

1800’s

The beginning of the DeMars Ranch started with Johanna’s great-great grandpa, Napolean. Bringing his family to the Sweet Grass Hills area, his journey in agriculture began by raising horses that would be used in the army and for farming. Napolean saw the opportunity to buy land through the Homestead Act of 1862. This act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence on that land. Thanks to Abraham Lincoln, there was around 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, making the Homestead Act of 1862 one of the most successful pieces of legislation signed into law in American history.

1915-1960

Around 1915, Napolean moved his family to Coffee Creek near Denton, Montana where he bought new land and started raising beef cattle and horses. Napolean’s son, Albert, continued farming and ranching in that area from 1920 to the late 1960s. Albert’s oldest son, Tom, continued in his father’s footsteps and raised cattle in the Coffee Creek area in his 30s.

1964-2005

Eventually, Tom moved to Winifred, in 1964 and continued raising beef cattle in the Missouri River Breaks. Johanna’s father, Joe, ran the ranch with his dad, Tom, for almost 20 years before taking it over in 2005.

2005-2025

Joe now runs the ranch with the help of his family. The next generation to take over the DeMars Ranch when Joe can no longer do it, will be Johanna and her brother, Anthony.

Due to a world that is constantly changing in terms of weather and population, ranching can face hardships to keep running successfully. Some of the struggles the DeMars have had in ranching include drought, grasshoppers, market fluctuations, financing to keep the ranch running, high interest rates on operating loans, real-estate loans, and equipment loans. In the summer of 2022, the DeMars Ranch had a terrible drought that caused the reservoirs to dry up completely, leaving the cattle with no access to water. According to Joe, they had to spend around $18,000 on a water trailer to haul water to the cattle every day. “Not only did it take all night to fill the water trailer, but it also took about an hour every day to drive to the pasture and fill the tanks from the water trucks,” said Johanna.

Unlike harsh winters, droughts are an unexpected issue in Montana.

“Winter is one of the hardest times to be in agriculture, especially in Montana, but that is just part of what we do,” said Joe.

One of the most important seasons for cattle ranchers is calving season, which is late January through mid-March. Winifred winters typically last from November to March, with averaging temperatures in the low teens making calving more difficult. During these winter months, there is usually somebody watching the cattle during the coldest hours of the night to ensure the calves don’t freeze. If the temperatures are too cold for newborn calves, the ranchers will put them somewhere warm like inside a pickup. Another way they keep the calves warm is by using an animal warmer. This is a box that the calf gets placed in with heat that blows in so they stay warm.

Another challenge that ranches go through is the battle with the American Prairie Reserve (APR). On the APR website it states, “Our mission is to create one of the largest nature reserves in the United States. This will serve as a refuge for people and wildlife, forever.” To achieve this mission, APR purchases private land and opens it to the public, while simultaneously working to restore biodiversity on each property. Their overall goal is connecting the APR by buying upland in and around the Missouri River Breaks to create one of the largest nature reserves in the United States, which is a struggle for the DeMars and other ranchers in the area who are trying to keep their ranches running. From their perspective, it can be difficult when companies like this are trying to create a national reserve and co-exist with ranchers trying to keep up the work they are doing towards producing food.