Sevens Livestock | Choteau, Montana
First-Year Internship Experience, 2021

a young woman wearing a baseball cap is emptying minerals into a feeder. She is on a farm with an ATV behind her.


Picture it: Montana is in a drought; fires igniting statewide; cattle filling the sale rings; and grasshopper infestations are inevitable. Well, you probably do not have to picture it because we all lived it. Some, though, more extreme than others. Located in Choteau, Montana, Sevens Livestock is a registered and commercial cattle operation with extensive improved pasture and irrigated hay ground. The drought still had its effects on the operation, but the ranch was still able to function as it would on a normal year. This is due to the extensive amount of pasture improvement and intensive management that Ben and Karli Johnson have worked so hard to implement into their operation.

With duties consisting of extensive cattle handling and management, grazing management, flood irrigation and haying activities, I experienced a well-rounded livestock and forage internship for the summer of 2021; my first summer internship within the Dan Scott Ranch Management Program. 

During my time with Sevens Livestock, not only was I working directly with the ranch managers every day, but I was also given the opportunity to work very closely with the landlords of the leased place, Jay and Linda Rice. This was an incredible experience as I got to visit with them about the history of the ground, their experiences running their own cattle on the operation, and so many stories of the good and bad times over the years (that, regardless of the operation, are inevitable). I am incredibly fortunate and grateful for that opportunity and I am so excited to go back and be a part of those stories and the history of the ranch.

One of the biggest principles that I learned from Ben, Karli, and Jay while working for the ranch is that our industry is constantly changing and, as a manager, you have to be willing to take advantage of that. This also goes hand-in-hand with another idea that with untimely misfortune (this year’s drought for example) an opportunity will always arise. We have to be flexible with our management decisions, especially from a financial standpoint. If we are not able to seize opportunity, we cannot effectively or successfully manage a productive and sustainable operation.  These two, simple concepts have increased my thought processes regarding my own operation, exploring some possible lease and land decisions of my own.