Dakota Farmer

Located on the border of North Dakota and Montana, Star X Ranch was founded 110 years ago.

October 10, 2019

3 Min Read
Vern (Turk) and Toni Stark received the 2019 Environmental Stewardship Award
AWARD WINNERS: Vern (Turk) and Toni Stark manage the Star X Ranch with their children. The Star X Ranch received the 2019 Environmental Stewardship Award from the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. NDSA

The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA) has selected Star X Ranch, of Baker, Mont., to receive its 2019 Environmental Stewardship Award. The ranch straddles the North Dakota and Montana boarder. Founded 110 years ago, Star X Ranch has been a member of NDSA for 68 years.

Vern (Turk) and Toni Stark currently own and operate the ranch with their children, Judd and Amanda, and their spouses.

Judd is an environmental engineer. He and his wife, Tawny, live in Billings, Mont. He helps manage the ranch and helps out with major projects, such as branding.

Amanda is the NRCS district conservationist in Hettinger, N.D. She set up the grazing management plan and makes many of the culling and herd management decisions. Her husband, Jay Berg, operates Berg AI Service, located in Bowman, N.D. He selects bulls and does the AI work on the family’s cattle.

Star X Ranch is divided into four units and is comprised of private land along with land leased from the state of Montana, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Their Saler-Angus cattle graze on native range and tame pastures. They also hay cover crops, oats, barley, grass and alfalfa.

Most of the pastureland is open range. The Starks utilize twice-over grazing. Each pasture is grazed for a short time in the spring, given a period of rest, and then put back to use later in the summer and into fall. The Starks have installed several watering systems and converted all their windmills to solar panels as a more efficient way to get power to their pastures.

The family has the longest running photo monitoring history of any National Grasslands allotment. Since starting their photo documentation in 1995, they have been able to showcase improvements the rangeland has made over the years due to their grazing management practices.

Stark family operates Star X Ranch
STARK FAMILY: Star X Ranch is a full family operation. Pictured are Judd (left) and Tawny Stark with their daughter, Kate; Jay and Amanda Berg with daughters Nora and Ericka and son, Grady; and Toni and Vern (Turk) Stark.

“Across this great state, cattlemen and cattlewomen alike are committed to the care of the land, air and water resources, and they take their responsibilities seriously,” according to NDSA President Dan Rorvig, a rancher from McVille, N.D. “On behalf of the stockmen’s association, I want to congratulate Star X Ranch on this special achievement.”

As the state Environmental Stewardship Award winner, Star X Ranch will next compete on a regional level with state winners from South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. If successful there, they will move on to the national competition.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is the state Environmental Stewardship Award sponsor.

Source: North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.

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