An innovative program at Montana State University in Bozeman helps students who are military veterans prepare for a career in agriculture. The first of its kind, this program evolved along with MSU’s Ranching Systems degree program in the College of Agriculture and includes veterans.

The Dan Scott Ranch Management Program (created in 2020) offers a Bachelor of Science degree, and connects students with ranches across the West. This program now has 31 students, and 4 of them are veterans. 

Rachel Frost, Program Lead for the Ranch Management Program, also works with several partners in what they now call the Range 2 Range Program. The name comes from military personnel spending time on a “range” during training/combat, transitioning to the rangelands of western ranches. This new program recruits veterans and helps them gain experience on ranches.

“Through this program they get the education necessary to move into ranching. They are older than most of the other graduate students and have more responsibility and a well-defined work ethic,” says Frost.

“Our first veteran will graduate in May. He is currently working at the University Ranch, and did an internship on the LF Ranch near Augusta, Montana. He’s been a great example to undergraduates and a huge help in recruiting students for the program.”

Partners in the program include Bear Hug Cattle Company, Little Belt Cattle Company, and Montana Opportunities for Veterans Everywhere (MOVE). 

“Our goal is to help veterans find the best pathway to gain experience,” Frost says. “It might be direct experience moving into a job or getting more education first. We are working together to help veterans get into ranching in whatever way that’s most effective for them.”

Campaign launched

A meeting of Range 2 Range partners in November launched a campaign in the various branches of the military to make veterans aware of these opportunities as they leave the service after their military career. The program provides a great combination – finding really good folks who may not have experience, but have the drive to succeed, and putting them in places like ranching where a good work force is needed.

“Veterans and ranching/agriculture fit together very well. Many people coming out of the service don’t want to go back to an urban environment, if that’s what they came from. They are attracted to the West and to agriculture, and come from the military with skills and work ethic making them well suited for careers in agriculture,” says Frost.

Some of these veterans came through the Department of Defense SkillBridge program--an opportunity for service members to gain civilian work experience through specific training, apprenticeships, or internships during their last 180 days of service. SkillBridge connects transitioning service members with industry partners and provides a chance to work and learn in civilian careers. For industry partners, SkillBridge is an opportunity to access a highly-trained and motivated workforce at no cost. Service members continue receiving their military compensation and benefits, while industry partners provide the civilian training and work experience.

“This is a way to put good people who are looking for work into places looking for good people to work. I knew we needed a partnership and reached out to people in the Bozeman area who have connection to veterans and ranching,” she says.

She discovered Greg Putnam, Leif Ibsen and Ben Minden. Putnam owns Little Belt Cattle Company and is a retired Navy SEAL, dedicated to helping fellow veterans enter the ranching industry by providing jobs and internship opportunities. Ibsen owns Montana Opportunities for Veterans Everywhere (MOVE), an approved Skillbridge provider. Ibsen is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and helps find Skillbridge opportunities for veterans on ranches across the West. Minden operates Bear Hug Cattle Company, a non-profit that helps veterans gain skills needed to make a career in ranching. 

“We realized we could all bring a piece to this puzzle and help the veterans who are coming to us individually. We can help guide them down whatever path might be the best fit.  Not everyone wants to come straight into school. Some veterans choose internships or the Bear Hug Cattle Company’s 12-week program and realize that wasn’t enough.  They to use their GI benefits to go to school,” she says.

More options

“We can offer more options for veterans. For example, we have a student who has applied for the Bear Hug Cattle Company program and will do a SkillBridge on a ranch, to gain experience before he enrolls in a Ranching Systems degree here at MSU next fall.  This young man is currently overseas in Japan. Someone who wants to separate from the military can contact us and get initial short-term training on a ranch to build skills and experience.” They can have a plan for when they leave their service unit.

“The SkillBridge program enables them to work on a ranch in a trial period while still being paid by the military and there is no cost to the ranch. The veteran can ‘try on’ a job, to see if it fits,” says Frost.

Ibsen, who operates MOVE, has been navigating the SkillBridge piece for the Range 2 Range program. “There is a lot of effort and paperwork for ranches to become certified SkillBridge providers. Leif handles this for them, for a nominal fee. He is a key piece, to make it simpler,” Frost says.

“Our objective with Range 2 Range is to create a public/private partnership to create and manage a functioning SkillBridge Program, support veterans in obtaining basic ranch skills, support veterans seeking higher education in ranching and agriculture, help connect veterans with full-time jobs in ranching and agriculture, and provide training and support to ranches that are employing, or seek to employ veterans in the future,” she says.

This is a win-win. With record numbers of veterans leaving the military after relatively short periods of service, we need more resources to help these young people have smooth transition back to civilian life. Farms and ranches are in desperate need of good employees, and these veterans have the maturity, people skills, and management training provided by the military—which can make a perfect fit.

Learning environment

“We are looking for ranches that need help but also have a good learning environment, are willing to teach someone, and interested in hosting SkillBridge people. Leif is connecting with people across the U.S. and has a ranch in Wyoming that will become a part of this,” says Frost.

“That ranch contacted me, wanting to host an intern through the Dan Scott program, and I realized their needs might be better met with Range 2 Range. The advantage with SkillBridge is that veterans could be available nearly any time of year because it lines up with whenever a service member is separating from the military.” 

By contrast, student internships are limited to summer. Range 2 Range is an opportunity to find labor when students might not be available. The ranch in Wyoming needed someone during calving, so she connected them with Ibsen and they will get a veteran to help them.