Ranch Life

Ranch Life, Revisits the First Featured Family, the Stovalls

WRITTEN BY REBECCA COLNAR PHOTOS STOVALL FAMILY

Montana Parent readers may remember the first Montana Farm Bureau “Family Life on the Ranch” column that appeared in August of 2016. Jenny Singleton Stovall, who ranches south of Billings, talked about raising her children, then 4, 2 and 8 months, on a busy ranch. The ranch, which sits on the Crow Indian Reservation, has been home to her husband’s family since the 1930s.

“We have deep roots in ranching, have great families and people helping us be successful, and feel blessed to raise our children in this environment,” said Jenny.

More than six years later, Jenny and her husband, Turk, continue to expand their ranch while raising curious, interested kids. Firstborn son Gabe is 10, Reagan is 8 and Kristian is almost 7. They are busy with sports, 4-H and, of course, ranching, “They are excellent horseback riders. Gabe can rope calves at a branding and can help doctor and trail cattle. This was our first year in 4-H, so we added pigs to our menagerie and did a 4-H pig project.”

“The children have gone from collecting eggs from the chickens as one of their first chores to being able to head out to the pastures and gather the milk cows by themselves, fill water tanks, and with a side-by-side, fill grain buckets from the feed shed and bring them back to the barn. They can catch, halter and saddle their horses and get on by themselves – well, the little guy still needs some help.”

Jenny praises the ranch lifestyle for making the children self-sufficient at a young age, noting that they have the freedom to test their own limits and get comfortable with that freedom.

“I don’t ‘Mother Hen’ them,” she said. “They can make mistakes and learn how to correct those mistakes. For instance, if they’re bringing cows into the corral and do something to turn the cows back, they’re the ones who have to go back and retrieve those cows. When moving cattle, they have learned where to be so they can be successful.”

The children have learned the methods of low stress cattle-handling at a young age, which includes not yelling and running around. They understand that if they are calm, so are the animals.

According to their mom, Gabe loves everything cowboy, is willing to ask questions and has total respect for cowboy ethics. Reagan loves the chickens, milk cows and taking care of animals. Kristian is obsessed with the pigs. “He can’t wait for next year’s pigs to get here,” Jenny noted.

Over the past six years, Turk and Jenny haven’t been as involved in the hands-on, day-to-day operation of the ranch, but spend more time in the office with ranch management duties. “We are in the office more than we’d like to be, but when we all go to work cattle, the kids are right there with us, getting gates and helping move cattle. The older two are big enough that they can ride the cowboy crew or go out on their own,” Jenny says.

When Gabe isn’t riding, he plays school football and also runs and wrestles. Reagan is into soccer and Irish dancing while Kristian competed in soccer and wrestling. The youngsters attend St. Francis Catholic School, which is part of the Billings Catholic School program.

“It’s been a blessing having them at St. Francis. The children are rooted in faith and are not afraid to talk about God and speak about their faith. They also are willing teach other children about ranching and animals,” Jenny said. “We have a day in the spring where we bring baby calves to school in a stock trailer and have the classrooms come through. We bring a Jersey calf, an Angus calf and a Wagyu calf so the kids can learn about different breeds and fun facts, like how a cow has four stomachs. Sometimes we’ll milk a cow and show how the milk separates to make cream, or bring a pill gun to show how to give the calves a pill. The kids have been doing that for the past three years.”

Jenny said they are very proud about being ranch kids and raising livestock.

“It just vibrates from them,” Jenny said. “They tell their classmates that they take care of the livestock using their God-given talents and, in return, the animals provide energy and protein for us.”

Rebecca Colnar is Director of Public Relations for Montana Farm Bureau and a freelance writer from Custer, Montana.