Montana Rancher Feature – Jerry Jones from Kirby
In this week’s Montana Rancher Feature, we highlight Jerry Jones from Kirby. Jerry works on the family ranch as owner/manager. Jerry says, “this means that I do every part of the ranch work – feeding cattle in the winter. calving cattle out, haying and gathering cattle in the fall.”
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My favorite song is… Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
My favorite cut of beef is… Rib Eye
What type and breed of livestock do you raise? I have a herd of cattle that are mostly Black Angus. I breed these cattle to black bulls and some Hereford.
How is your family involved in the Montana ranching community? My dad is pretty much retired so he does not do much of the work lately. It is pretty much just me working the ranch. When the ranch was started, there were three brothers. One of the brothers moved away and started his own ranch and the other brother and my dad stayed where we are now. My dad’s brother passed away two years ago and as I said, my dad is pretty much retired.
When I’m not ranching, I like to… Used to play golf and volleyball. In the winter I would go skiing
My role model (or superhero) is… My role model is any of the ranchers who will step forward and become a director or officer in Montana Stockgrowers (yes, I know a shameless plug). It takes a lot of effort and time to put forth this kind of commitment.
My favorite quote is… “The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes us a little longer.” — My uncle (Hugh Jones) told me this one time and it sticks in my head. Anytime I have a hard task I just think of this quote.
My favorite thing about being a part of the Montana ranching community is… In my area, everybody helps each other- branding cattle, gathering and moving said cattle. They will do anything that needs done if you were in an accident and could not do your own work.
I did (or did not) always know I would be in the ranching business. I chose the agricultural life because… I kind of knew I wanted to be in the ranching business when I was in high school. It just seemed like it was a great way to make a living and do what I wanted to do.
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I think we need more young people involved in ranching because… The ranching community is not getting any younger and we need new ideas brought forward from the younger generation.
I work to provide for wildlife habitat on my ranch by… I leave my pastures in fair shape so the deer, elk can have good grazing themselves.
Proper handling and welfare of livestock is important to me because… We must show our consumers that we care for the food they eat. We don’t want to sell a sick or injured animal because this would be a discount.
I work to ensure we raise a safe and affordable beef product by… I worked to obtain my Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification.
What would you like for beef customers to know about your role in the ranching community? That a majority of the ranchers in the U.S. raise a safe and wholesome product. We try to take care of our animals as best as we can do.