Hamilton Ranch | Twin Bridges, Montana
First-Year Internship Experience, 2021


A young man in a cowboy hat and western shirt is shown repairing pasture fence with mountains in the background and blue sky and white clouds overhead.

I interned for the Hamilton Ranch in Twin Bridges this summer under general manager Jaime Wood with the Dan Scott Ranch Management program. The ranch was founded in 1871 by the Seidensticker family. Five generations of this family owned and operated the ranch until January 30, 1990 when it was sold to Allan Hamilton. This ushered in the age of the Hamilton Ranch as it is named today. Allan Hamilton owned the ranch for the better part of the next two decades until the Hamilton ranch was sold to Swift River Investments, LLC in 2010. The ranch mostly surrounds the town of Twin Bridges, though most of its land lies to the northwest of town.

I worked as an intern at the ranch from May to August 2021 and will be going back for a second summer this coming spring. My main duties included: rotational pasture and grazing management, moving, handling, branding, vaccinating, and artificial inseminations of the ranch’s cowherds. I also helped handle the mitigation of cattle health issues, distribution of salt and mineral, and maintenance of the ranch’s fences. All of these duties provided constant learning experiences, from proper and effective stockmanship while handling cattle to correct paddock set up for rotational grazing. Even with these daily learning experiences, I think my three biggest takeaways from the summer were one, as a ranch manager just how often and far in advance you have to anticipate and recognize situations, projects, and potential problems so that no steps are wasted. Two, what it takes and looks like to be a good manager of people, and three, what it takes to successfully manage a ranch’s recourses in times of crisis like the drought that we experienced this summer.

My experience this summer has only strengthened my resolve to become a ranch manager after college. I look forward to continuing my internship next summer and furthering my knowledge and experience. I also look forward to the start of my ranch project where I will create a cost analysis spreadsheet to analyze the difference between retaining yearlings or selling calves at weaning and the return on those two commodities. This will be a useful skill to learn and develop as it is a skill I have to master and utilize for the rest of my career.

The DSRMP internships are an unbelievably valuable resourse for students in the program. Not only will students attain the on-hand experience required for a ranch management position, but it also allows the student to develop relationships and contacts throughout the ranching industry. In an industry that is constantly changing and evolving the contacts and relationships made through this program will be a vital part of the student’s future success.