Mannix family seeks resilience through ranching

HELMVILLE - Cattle, education and conservation have helped strengthen the Mannix Family Ranch in Helmville. Through years of conversation and counsel they decided that a successful ranch needed to include economically sustainable and sufficient ranch businesses, balance with the natural environment and social strength through nurturing community within and outside the ranch. Developing resilience increased their confidence as the Mannixes explored ways to survive well and include the next generation.

"Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better," is Maya Angelou's quote that reflects the Mannix family's approach to learning.

During a recent Pure Montana Tales presentation, the Mannixes shared some points of their philosophy and methodology that has allowed them to focus on the well-being of the landscape, future generations and the greater community. The Blackfoot Challenge hosted the presentation via Zoom Feb. 17. 

Ranching had been hard work ever since great grandfather T.B. (Timothy Benjamin) Mannix bought the original land from the railroad in 1882. Homesteading added some acres, the depression and poor markets lost some acres, better times brought in more acres again.

"Not all of our decisions are the right ones," said Brent. "Our forefathers could ranch by doing a lot of hard work. Nowadays there are a lot of challenges with weeds, predators and less and less people connected to the land."

Growing up in the Helmville Valley and working on the ranch was still hard work for Mannix brothers David, Randy and Brent, although they loved the work and the area. The boys grew up anticipating that they would be running the ranch one day, meanwhile working alongside their parents Bert and Darlene and sisters Annette and Rene.

The brothers started taking more responsibility on the ranch, not only with the cattle but also the haying, timber management and logging. According to their mother Darlene, she always knew things would come out fine. The brothers eventually married and children began joining the ranch family.

"I was a little fearful of how the future was going to work out on the ranch," said David. "Between us five siblings there were 13 kids in the next generation."

In 1993, David was invited to a five-day course called "Ranching for Profit." Always striving to do his best, he and wife Peggy attended the course in Colorado. It appealed to him because it was mid-winter and a good time to take a few days off from the ranch. 

David said the course was eye opening and friendships were formed. The extended education after the school became a supportive, educational and accountable community to explore optional methods for ranch management and identification of resources. Randy, Brent and their wives Mo and Stacey soon attended Ranching for Profit schools and a vision for the future gradually developed.

"Although balking at change is human nature, there was the carrot of enhanced community and stewardship values that kept us going," said David.

Resilience through networking with local and federal agencies came about because of land conservation easements, predator mitigation efforts and other management practices. Recently the Mannixes participated with the Forest Service in prescribed burns in their sagebrush adjacent to Forest Service land. In addition Fish, Wildlife and Parks helped them install fish ladders for the native cutthroat trout on part of the ranch.

David said these partnerships brought a diversity of ideas, resources and skills that the Mannixes wouldn't otherwise have. These relationships have given them confidence to try new things and break away from some traditional ranching practices that were not serving the land or the community the way Mannixes wanted. Through networking with other ranchers and businesses across the country new practices have become available. 

As ranchers, the land is their livelihood and they want to leave it better than when they came onto it. Sustainability for the Mannixes means maintaining a practice indefinitely without degrading land or depleting resources. It's been a process of selecting a practice, planning and adapting it to their environment, then implementing and monitoring it. Based on the results, they re-adapt and re-plan.

The cattle side of the business has undergone many changes. In 2003 the Mannixes changed from selling all the fall weaned calves to feed lots to keeping some calves for growing out on grass pastures and hay in the winter. Those calves were the first cattle raised for the Grass-Fed Beef business. 

Raising cattle that would grow up and fatten well on grass pasture alone required changes to their genetics. This diversification allowed for raising cattle for both fall calf sales and keeping calves to raise for the beef side of the ranch business. 

Flexibility in the dates of cattle sales allowed for flexibility in the calving/birthing dates from February to mid-April. This allowed for a better quality of life for the calves and the people by avoiding winter storms. 

Today the grass-fed beef business has grown to include retail sales through farmers markets and delivery routes through Western Montana, wholesale to grocery stores and restaurants. 

After touring other ranches, the Mannixes modified some of their traditional haying and grazing practices. Grazing the hay fields with a rotational grazing system and moving the cows to new paddocks every few days replaced traditional haying practices on two pivot fields. The Mannixes found that this produced 75% more grass with less tractor use, time, weeds and decreased water, herbicide and chemical fertilizer use. Producing more grass allowed the grass fed beef business to expand. This has contributed to the economic balance as well as their relationship with the land and natural resources. 

Another haying season modification in some fields was to cut the hay into a windrow in August and leave it in the field. In November-January they use an electric fence to allow the cows to eat a section of it over a few days, moving the electric fence to another section another day. They found this to be more time efficient and cost effective than baling the hay. 

"The important thing for a land manager, especially one with an economic component to it, is to balance the values; be it water quality and quantity, fish habitat, grizzly bears or what have you. It's important to accommodate all of those because one is not more valuable than the other," said David. "The open landscape is an important piece and humans have to be really thoughtful about how they engage in the balance."

The Blackfoot Challenge has been a big help with the carcass pickup program and range riding to mitigate predators. David said that although the predators get a lot of press because of their volatility and the endangered species component, the elk are their biggest challenge. They directly compete with the cattle for feed.

David said in the wild, the natural balance is maintained when wildlife numbers go up and down due to predation, food availability and disease. However, when people are added to the equation, they have an economic need to survive. As land is used, sometimes overused and fragmented, nature has a hard time maintaining a balance.

"It is an honor to be in a position to try and manage the habitat," said David, "As a family, we very much believe in the public's ownership of public land and public ownership of the wildlife. Frankly, it's a challenge that brings some headaches, but it is an honor to be in position to try to manage that."

Along with balancing the economics and the ecology of the ranch and its surroundings, the Mannixes recognize the need to be embedded in the social fabric of the community. A resilient community is needed so people will stay on the ranch.

"It isn't very likely that any of our children will come back to the ranch if there isn't a functioning school and a community to participate in." David said. "Well, we will sometimes err on the side of adding people on the ranch, which adds people to the community, even if it means we're a little less profitable, simply to keep that social piece effective."

In October 2021 Mannixes started a partnership with Old Salt Outpost in Helena. Old Salt is being developed as a restaurant in Helena and eventually a meat processing plant and social outlet. Developers are fourth generation Cole Mannix, David's oldest son, and two other ranches that practice regenerative ranching. Meat processing has been a bottleneck in their system since the pandemic caused overbooking of processing plants. Having their own plant will hopefully solve the bottleneck issue.

Another part of the social piece includes the 11 partnerships that the ranch has formed with colleges and state, federal and independent agencies. 

"We have been hopeful trying new things because of other ranchers' results," said Randy about the value he's seen in partnerships with others.

Overall, the Mannixes have gotten new attitudes about ranching.

"We have lots of respect and love between us," said Brent. "Everyone has a different role."

"Now I feel like the skills and principles we learned through Ranching for Profit have given us the confidence to handle the future," said David. "The family has the skill set to be profitable and sustainable." 

To watch the entire presentation visit the Blackfoot Challenge's website https://blackfootchallenge.org/