March 12, 2015 Comments are off Montana Stockgrowers Association
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Contest: Why are you Proud to be a part of Montana Ranching?

instagram photoWhy are you proud to be a part of the Montana ranching community? Big Sky Country has so many amazing things to offer! Our ranching and cattle communities are a huge part of the state’s heritage and tradition and we want to see why you are proud to be a part of that community! With National Agriculture Day being celebrated on March 18, there is no better time to share these stories.

Montana Stockgrowers Association is giving away THREE (3) copies of our book, Big Sky Boots (value of $45 each)! This coffee-table-style book makes a great gift for friends or a new addition to your home. Big Sky Boots is part of the Montana Family Ranching Series through the Research and Education Endowment Foundation, and takes the reader on a journey through a year in the life of Montana’s cowboys – through calving, branding, and shipping, and everything in between. Throughout pages of the book is an interactive experience with QR codes, which take the reader to videos of the featured ranchers with a quick scan of a smartphone.

Here is how to enter:

Submit your perspective of why you are proud to be a part of the Montana ranching community. Maybe it is preserving family traditions, celebrating your heritage, or making things better for future generations. You decide what that means to you!

There are three ways to enter the contest (pick one):

  1. photos with a 50-word description,
  2. video clips, at least 120 seconds long, or
  3. a written story, 100 word minimum.

Montana Stockgrowers Association will select a winner in each category after the contest closes, and each winner will receive a copy of Big Sky Boots! (Don’t forget to buy an extra copy for your friends and family at Easter!)

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@MTstockgrowers) and Instagram (@MTstockgrowers) for more great ideas and to see many of the entries from the contest!

Entries must be emailed to [email protected] no later than March 31, 2015, 11:59 p.m. MT.

Employees of Montana Stockgrowers Association are not eligible to win. MSGA reserves the right to utilize all submissions in future promotional marketing or promotional materials. For questions, please contact Ryan Goodman, MSGA Manager of Communications by emailing [email protected].

Montana Stockgrowers Big Sky Boots Rancher Christmas Gift Ideas
December 10, 2013 Comments are off Montana Stockgrowers Association
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5 Reasons Why Big Sky Boots is the Perfect Christmas Present

Montana Stockgrowers Big Sky Boots Book Rancher Christmas Gift IdeasWondering what to get Dad for Christmas? Why not get him something he will enjoy for years to come! The Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Big Sky Boots makes the perfect Christmas present and here’s why:

1. CAN’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF IT—There are nearly 200 pages of  picturesque Montana ranches, great cattle and hard-working cowboys. Spend hours curled up in your favorite chair and flip through the pages, learning all about what it takes to run a Montana family ranch.

2. ENGAGING WITH CONSUMERS—Big Sky Boots is not just for your family involved in agriculture. This book can help teach the public about where their beef comes from…and what better gift for your New York City friend than something that showcases Montana family ranching!

3. SUPPORT THE STOCKGROWERS—Help support the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Research, Education and Endowment Foundation, as well as keeping the Montana Family Ranching Series going strong through your purchases of the book.

Montana Stockgrowers Big Sky Boots Book Rancher Christmas Gift Ideas4. SPECIAL OFFER — Buy Big Sky Boots between now and December 15 and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Atlas Blizzard Rancher Relief Fund.

5. NO ASSEMBLY REQUIRED—Big Sky Boots will arrive to you in a pre-assembled box. All you will need to do it put the wrapping paper and a bow on it and place it under the tree! It’s that easy!

Purchase your copy of Big Sky Boots from the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s online store.

 

Big Kenny of Big and Rich Thanks Farmers on Southwest Airlines flight to Nashville BNA
November 19, 2013 Comments are off Montana Stockgrowers Association
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“Big” Supporter of Farmers & Ranchers

By Lauren Chase, Montana Stockgrowers Association

220px-Big_rich_sahrac_coverWhen I think of the Grammy Award-winning country band Big & Rich, I can’t help but sing-shout: “Save a horse, ride a cowboy!” This song is a feel-good, up-beat tune that is recognizable from when the first “dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-daaaa” is sung. I can even remember it being one of the warm-up songs before my high school basketball game.

While this song is what most people associate with Big and Rich, this week, I got to see the band in a new light.

I was on a flight from Las Vegas to Nashville after Ryan and I presented at the Idaho Cattle Association’s Convention and Trade Show. It was my first experience flying Southwest Airlines and was still getting the hang of picking out your own seat. Naturally, only the middle seats were left when I boarded so I nestled between two guys, both jamming out with their expensive-looking headphones.

The man on my left leaned over and started talking to the man on my right, referencing last night’s concert. Intrigued, I asked: “Are you guys in a band?” The man on my left said, “Well, sort of. I’m the drummer for Big & Rich.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I replied. We talked for a while about the pressures of being a professional musician and frankly, I now have a new-found respect for the music scene. That night in Nashville, he was supposed to learn an entire set-list of songs for a new country singer so he put his headphones on and started practicing his drumming. I then decided to start editing video from the Idaho Cattle Convention. A man across the aisle wearing bell-bottom jeans, a fitted corduroy jacket, a bandana and trucker’s cap that said “Electro Shine” on it leaned over and asked if those guys were being mean to me. I smiled and said, “No, everyone is getting along just fine. We’re all being creative!” He asked what I was working on and I explained that I work for the beef industry in promotions…thinking he would say some nicety and then turn back to his group. But his reply was shocking: “I LOVE CATTLE!”

Kenny and LaurenThat sparked further conversation about how his father runs a cattle farm in Virginia and how he loved growing up on the farm. The drummer whispered to me that this man was Kenny, the “Big” of Big & Rich. I felt dumb, but I was excited that I got to meet him!

As the flight went on, I showed him my coffee table book, Big Sky Boots…and he just loved it! We talked more about the cattle industry and how he does charity livestock auctioneering at the local sale barn. Kenny had questions about grazing, nutrition and profitably.  It was really refreshing to see someone who travels to many metropolitan cities and interacts with thousands of people, name off many breeds of cattle and be genuinely interested in learning more about the industry.

We de-planed at BNA and as a favor to cattlemen, he let me record the video below. Help me to thank Kenny (catch him on Twitter @BigKennyTV) for supporting America’s farmers and ranchers!