A few winters ago when Connie Roberts and Ed Jonas were feeding their cattle in a winter blizzard, Ed looked up from his chores and said to Connie, “What are we doing this for?” In the years since then, Roberts and Jonas — two ranch owners in Rollins — have been finding the answers to that question — namely, that they are proud to be raising low-fat, all-natural and low-cholesterol beef for the local community. Roberts and Jonas are owners of Blacktail Mountain Ranch, a small ranch tucked in a secluded mountain valley above Flathead Lake in Rollins. They raise Highmont cattle, a cross of Italian Piedmontese and Scottish Highland cattle. The result is a lean but flavorful beef that’s low in fat and cholesterol. Local restaurants such as Café Kandahar, North Bay Grille and Grouse Mountain Lodge use the beef on their menus. “For people on low-cholesterol diets, this meat is perfect,” said Jonas, who grew up on a ranch in Ohio and was a lawyer in Philadelphia before moving to Montana to start his ranch. Driving into the Blacktail Mountain Ranch in Rollins, Mont., you see the long-haired cattle roaming around the pastures. The animals have long, pointed horns and deep shaggy coats; they seem curious about onlookers. Jonas talks softly as he approaches them. “We’re gentle with the animals,” he said. “With a commercial herd you’d be lucky to be in the vicinity of them.” Most of the cows even have names. At the end of the pasture near the ranch’s barns, Jonas is out feeding cattle for the day from a flatbed trailer. He stops to inspect a newborn calf that arrived sometime over night. Jonas cares for his cattle as if they’re his pets — not merely stock that will some day end up as dinner. He thinks this gentle manner helps reduce stress on the animals and therefore creates better tasting meat. It’s also his personal philosophy. “I don’t tolerate abuse to animals,” he said. The beef steers are butchered and processed locally and are delivered the same day to the local restaurants who sell Blacktail Mountain Ranch beef. The animals are free from antibiotics or hormones. The oats that they feed the cattle are grown near Whitefish, and the flax comes from Dutton, Mont. “We try to support all our local farmers and ranchers,” Jonas said. “That’s important to us.” Roberts was a vegetarian before she met Jonas. Now after working on the ranch for the last seven years, she enjoys eating beef from their ranch. “When I got to see where the food I eat comes from, it made it a lot more comfortable for me,” she said.” Now seeing the process from beginning to end, it’s something I’m ok with now.” The couple has 126 head of the Highmont cattle, with about 50 new calves this year. They also raise their own eggs, chicken and milk, and keep a garden in summer. In their seven years of working Blacktail Mountain Ranch, the couple is happy to be providing people with healthy, locally grown beef. That helps them endure those long nights when the cattle are calving or they’re up late feeding in blizzards. “We have a lot of passion and energy about what we’re doing, and that makes it all worthwhile,” Roberts said. “We’re getting a lot better at doing this.” Jonas, too, no longer has to question why he works seven days a week with no vacations away from the ranch. “We have a privilege and an honor to raise beef and feed many local families,” he said. ‘It makes us feel like we’re filling a need for our country, and I think people appreciate what we’re doing.”
