Our Story
At home under the Big Sky!
Cooper Hereford Ranch sits nestled amidst the mountainous foothills of southwestern Montana near where the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin rivers converge to form the headwaters of the mighty Missouri River. Homesteaded in 1914, our family is proud to have roots in agriculture that date back over a century and are especially proud of our legacy as performance Hereford breeders.
In 1947, patriarch Jack Cooper purchased his first Hereford cattle – 40 Line 1 females – from the U.S. Range and Livestock Experiment Station in Miles City, MT. At the time, this closed line of Hereford cattle was largely unfamiliar to most breeders. It was Jack’s brother-in-law, Dr. Ray Woodward, a geneticist and Line 1 project leader that ultimately encouraged Jack to invest in the closed bloodline. This decision, more than any other, was instrumental in shaping our family’s legacy in the cattle industry.
Eighty years later, our commitment to line breeding coupled with over half a century of data collection and performance testing has enabled Cooper Hereford Ranch to build a reputation across the Industry for producing functional, reliable cattle with eye appeal that breed unmatched predictability and uniformity.
Over the past century, the herd at Cooper Hereford Ranch has grown from 40 Line 1 females to nearly 300 registered cows and 150 commercial recipients. The recipient herd consists primarily of homegrown F1 baldys that are the cornerstone of our ET program which started over 30 years ago. Each spring on the second Tuesday in March we market close to 100 yearling bulls and 30 yearling heifers in an on-site production sale at the ranch. Our genetics continue to be sought after by purebred and commercial breeders alike across the U.S. and Internationally.
Over one hundred years of hard work and good management have transformed the original 480 acres homestead (Silver Brook Farm) into a fertile 4,500 acre farming and ranching operation that annually produces close to 3,000 tons of hay and 600 ton of silage in addition to farming 500 acres of dryland grains. Owners Mark and Cristy Cooper have four daughters; Tracy, Kelsy, Katie and Natalie. They work closely with their two middle daughters, Katie and Kelsy, and son-in-law Dave Hanson to continue the Cooper Hereford Ranch legacy. They take pride in respecting the beliefs and practices of previous generations while simultaneously interweaving progressive and innovative farming and ranching practices into the operation. They believe strongly in the value of a hard day’s work and in treating their customers and peers with integrity and honesty.
