Open eyes and steady questions shape ranch management for PJ and Tricia Kimmel.
MALTA, MT – Few industries carry tradition as strongly as agriculture. Generations of ranchers have built knowledge through firsthand experience, passing down practices shaped by the challenges of their time. That inheritance deserves respect. Yet every generation must also face its own realities, asking hard questions about whether the methods of the past still serve the needs of today.
Out on the windswept prairie near Turner, Montana, not far from the Canadian border, PJ and Tricia Kimmel are living that very tension. Their days are spent managing grass and cattle, but their minds are often on the bigger questions: Does what we are doing still make sense? Is there a better way to ranch in tune with our environment? What could we be doing differently?
Questions in a vacuum don’t yield results. The couple has catapulted themselves into education and action, strategically making changes in tune with the resources before them.
“We don’t have any irrigation on this place, and we were typically putting up dryland hay,” Tricia explains. “A few years ago, I decided to figure out a way to do things differently, so we weren’t spending all summer haying and all winter feeding.”
That ‘what-if’ moment transitioned Kimmel Ranch from being a primarily cow/calf operation into one centered on stockers. But even that transition hasn’t been a straight line. With market conditions shifting in recent years, the Kimmels have had to readjust their management again, stepping back into their breeding program and climbing up into the haying equipment on occasion. It’s a reminder that flexibility, not a single formula, is what keeps their ranch moving forward.
“We still catch ourselves saying, ‘Well, we can’t do that. That would never work.’ But then you stop and ask, ‘Maybe it won’t work in this situation, but what could we do to make it work?’”
That openness to challenge, and to challenging each other, has been a constant in their journey. Once fringe ideas are now part of their everyday toolbox. The Kimmels take a keen focus on soil health and practice high-density strip grazing, using portable fencing and daily cattle moves throughout the grazing season.
“It’s a totally different mindset,” PJ adds. “You’ve got to be ready for that change. Until you are, you won’t make the leap. But I believe in it. The more we learn, the more it all fits together.”
One of the most transformational changes for their grazing strategy has been water development, made possible through their relationship with the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
“Water is good for cattle, good for wildlife, and it improves pasture utilization,” PJ says. “We have to manage for the future at all times.”
The progress they are making on the land has also pushed them to take a closer look at their financials.
“We had to look at our numbers differently too,” Tricia says. “It’s not just about looking at your balance sheet. You have to really know how to calculate your margins and be honest with yourself about what numbers you’re putting in. Pencil it all out, then you’ve got something real to base decisions on.”
Their approach has created new efficiencies and opened up new possibilities, both for their ranch and for others. “You can do just as much with less,” PJ says. “If you can make a living on 5,000 acres instead of 20,000, that makes room for someone else to step in.”
For the Kimmels, that future is bigger than their own operation. It means healthier soils, stronger pastures, and a ranch that supports both livestock and wildlife. It means sharing what they learn, listening to neighbors, and stepping up to strengthen the Turner community. Most of all, it means creating more opportunity for the next generation of land stewards.
At the heart of it all is staying observant and willing to adapt. Ranching will always bring challenges, but the Kimmels believe those challenges can be met with open eyes, steady questions, and the courage to try something new.
