The 2016 Montana Young Farmer & Rancher Ag Tour is coming up May 20-21, and the first stop on the tour is a visit to Mountain Meadows Pet Products. Guest blogger Kevin Arntzen of Arntzen Angus Ranch is on the tour planning committee and will host the second stop of the tour. Here's a little preview! 


We are a family-operated ranch located located 23 miles North of Lewistown, Montana, a town of about 6,000 people in the geographic center of the treasure state.

Our cattle philosophy is simple; easy fleshing, high maternal, easy calving cattle that have genetic emphasis on performance and carcass traits. Arntzen Angus is an agriculturally diversified ranch that works hard on both farming and ranching. Trouble free cattle are a must! Poor structure, bad udders or unsatisfactory dispositions are not tolerated and those cows are culled. It is home to 750 registered and 200 commercial cows. The farming operation consists of wheat, barley, and hay.

Our registered herd was started in the mid 1950’s with a couple of bred heifers and has steadily increased to its current capacity. We had our first production sale in 1977 and have had a sale every year since. This year we will be selling 200 yearling bulls, 16 registered yearling heifers and 25 commercial yearling heifers.

Our registered cattle are handled very similar to our commercial herd. We like cattle that can take care of themselves, calve unassisted, wean off a 700 pound calf and breed back quickly. We work for easy calving, good maternal, easy fleshing cattle with good dispositions. We are also working to incorporate the best carcass traits we can.

The Arntzen Ranch is best known as the birth place of AAR New Trend, AAR Really Windy 1205 and AAR Ten X 7008 SA. All three bulls have had a great influence on the Angus breed and their names can be found in pedigrees all over the nation. “New Trend” is well known for the daughters that he has sired. Really Windy will go down in history as one of the most consistent calving ease bulls the breed has ever seen. Ten X is currently one of the hottest bulls in the breed. He combines low birth, exceptional growth and off the charts carcass characteristics unlike any other bull in the business.

This is truly a family operation with brothers, cousins and uncles all working together towards a common goal.

Keith and Kristine have three children – Karrie, Kimberly and Kevin. Karrie is married to Chris Sramek and they have a daughter, Kaitlynn. Chris and Karrie live near Hilger and operate his family farm. Kimberly is married to Kevin Hansen and they have a daughter, Kenzie, and a son, Kyler. They currently live near Hilger and help out on the ranch weekends. Kevin is back on the ranch after graduating from Montana State University-Bozeman with a degree in Agriculture Business. Kevin lives with his fiance, Krista, and their son, Knox.

Doug and Gayle have four children – Brad, Jennifer, Erik and Derik. Brad, his wife Stacie, and their daughters Abbie, Ashlen and Aleia live on the ranch where Brad works. Jennifer is married to Chad Denowh and lives on their ranch in Sidney, Montana. Erik works on the ranch and lives there with his wife, Amber, and their son, Gus. Derik is an Agricultural Business graduate from Montana State University-Bozeman and also works on the ranch. He and his wife Corry have one daughter, Briella, and one son, Cooper.

We have two full-time employees. Todd and Eva Foran have worked with us for more than 30 years. They have a place of their own where they keep their own registered cows and also produce hay. Tim and Mary McCallister have been working with us since 2008.

Join the Montana Young Farmers and Ranchers May 20-21 in Lewistown, Montana for the 2016 Young Farmer & Rancher Tour. For more information, visit the event Facebook page or register online at www.mfbf.org.