Leadership & Staff

Montana Stockgrowers Association is led by a volunteer and member-elected Board of Directors and is staffed by five employees based in Helena, Montana.

The board consists of 13 members, two directors from each district and three elected officers. MSGA directors volunteer their time to travel to important industry events and meetings to ensure representation of Montana’s ranching families.

Representatives from the Montana CattleWomen, Young Stockgrowers, Montana Association of State Grazing Districts and the Montana Public Lands Council also hold seats on the MSGA board.

All
Board of Directors
Montana CattleWomen
Montana Stockgrowers Foundation Staff
MSGA Staff
Young Stockgrowers

Lesley Robinson

President
Turk Stovall

First Vice President
Monty Lesh

Second Vice President
Dean Lerum

District: North Central
Rich Roth

District: North Central
Keith Dynneson

District: Northeast
Chance Wilson

District: Northeast
Kirk Donsbach

District: South Central
Ian Glennie

District: South Central
Ty Jones

District: Southeast
Cory Schultz

District: Southeast
Jim Garrison

District: Western
John Hagenbarth

District: Western
Vikki Taylor

Montana CattleWomen President
Rocky Forseth

Young Stockgrowers Vice Chair
Raylee Honeycutt

Executive Vice President
Keni Reese

Director of Marketing & Communications
Heidi Kool

MSF Program Coordinator
Ellie Brighton

Government Affairs Specialist
Cheyenne Leach

Program and Communications Coordinator
Ian Kane

Membership Representative

Rich Roth

District: North Central

Email: [email protected]

Hometown: Big Sandy

Elected: 2021

Industry Involvement: The IX Ranch is a multi-generational cow/calf operation running 3500 mother cows on a little over 130,000 acres southeast of Big Sandy, Montana. The ranch consists of 6 divisions, 4 of which produce the hay necessary to winter all the cattle. We pasture breed starting with heifers on May 19th (45 days) and cows on June 19th (58 days).

Composite bulls from Leachmans of Colorado are the primary genetic source. Each year the ranch sells 1000-1200 head of steer calves off the cow the third week of October with another 500-600 head of steers being weaned in September and fed at Centana feedlot south of Billings until February. All ranch heifer calves are weaned between September 10^th and October 10th and developed at the Centana feedlot, and 650 replacement heifers are selected and returned to the ranch in April.

The ranch consists of approximately 4,000 acres of farmland, which is managed on shares with local farmers. The ranch produces its own winter feed on 4,300 acres of flood and pivot irrigation.

The IX Ranch has been owned and operated by two families since 1955. Roths have been managing the IX Ranch for three generations. I have been back on the ranch since January 2002. During that time, I have transitioned through all the processes and seasons of our business. We have a family board of directors and employ 5 full time managers along with a spring and summer internship crew.

I currently serve as vice president of the corporation and am responsible for all financial and upper management decisions as well as all social and governmental affairs. My wife Jeri assists me in these duties by overseeing all office management and bookkeeping functions.

Leadership Service: I graduated from the University of Montana with a business degree and served as the Marketing Director for the Montana Department of Agriculture from 1996-1998. While working for the department I received the Governor’s award for excellence.

I served as the Marketing Director for the Arizona Department of Agriculture, 1998- 2000, and did marketing and sales for Hickman’s Egg Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., 2000-2001. I held this position until December 2001 when I had the opportunity to move back to the ranch.

During the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to work in varying capacities with many different private businesses and state and federal agencies, as well as travel around the country and world marketing US food products from mint and Christmas trees to beef, vegetables and citrus. While in Arizona, I attended and completed Project CENTRL (Center for Rural Leadership).

I attended NCBA’s Young Cattlemen’s Conference in 2009, and am the current chair of MSGA’s Water Committee.

Other Leadership:

Former president, Big Sandy Rotary Club (2 years)
Current board member, Big Sandy Conservation District
Member, Board of Ag Operations Technology, Northern Montana College.

Challenges Facing the Beef Industry: I feel that the cost of doing business in an industry that has no control over its input costs has and will continue to plague our industry. The price of supplies, equipment and services coupled with increased demand for higher wages will force ag producers to really think outside the box to find new revenue streams and ways of doing business.

I feel that beef is a commodity, no matter what level; organic, natural or conventional. Therefore, as an industry, we need to work together to find new ways to move beef products all over the world, while at the same time keeping with strong US standards of safety and quality. Under the current administration and direction the world is going as it relates to Climate Change, pandemics and the like, our industry has an opportunity to benefit from large amounts of Carbon held in the land and the safe, quality food source it provides.

Society’s growing need for food, open space and feeling healthy and safe opens doors for this industry. The challenge will be having the business sense and resources to grow internally and externally. WATER and water resource management will affect those of us in the northern states. Retaining water rights and water will be something all landowners should be focused on.

Lastly, I feel that government and societal pressures will drive our industry in the next 10 years. We as an industry must remain vigilant in our efforts to be present and active in all levels of the food chain.