How J Bar L ranchers learned to live with grizzly bears—and what that teaches us about regenerative agriculture
There's a certain "set it and forget it" perception of regenerative agriculture I keep hearing. The idea is that if ranchers and farmers would first just decide to do the right thing, they would implement a set of regenerative agricultural practices that would align conditions so that nature does the rest. Just get out of the way! Lower input costs, higher yields and greater nutrient density, what's not to love? All that's left, as my Grandpa Bert might say, is to "sit back, smoke cigars, and smile at the missus."
Of course, there's a core truth here: we are not the authors of a nature that already regenerates itself and does not need us. But then, here we are and we are many. As long as some of us have a mind to stick around, we need to become the kind of society, the kind of agri-culture, capable of coaxing good food from the land while at least maintaining and hopefully enhancing ecological function. It's a true miracle that such a thing is even possible.
This month I want to share a story about the lengths J Bar L managers, Andrew and Hilary Anderson, are going to in southwest Montana to walk the talk that "Land is Kin."
Changing a Paradigm on the West Fork Allotment
Presently, in a particularly wild and remote expanse of southwest Montana's Gravelly Mountains, Hilary and Andrew Anderson of J Bar L Ranches have learned over several years to herd more than a thousand summer yearlings in one large bunch on a 25,000 acre remote public lands lease.
They're doing this while incurring minimal conflict with a grizzly bear population you might call bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The results speak for themselves. Between 2023 and 2025, total J Bar L death loss to grizzlies has been 13 cattle out of 3,700, or about 0.5%. The previous leaseholder had lost 19 cattle to grizzly depredation in 2022 alone.
How They Did It
To accomplish this, J Bar L partnered with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Property and Environmental Research Center, and National Wildlife Federation. They first had to work with the US Forest Service to change policy, allowing them to double the number of animals grazing on the allotment while halving the graze period from four months to two months. This shift made all the difference.
First, it allowed them to avoid grazing during the season in which larkspur (poisonous to cattle) is in peak bloom. Second, with more cattle in one herd and the increased human presence necessary to do the herding, the individuals are less susceptible to depredation. Meanwhile, greater grazing density with an increased rest period for the plants is a win for soil health and plant diversity. It has also improved drought resiliency by always having pasture that has been rested for two years.
Why They Did It
Thus far they have been mostly succeeding where many had failed before them. And yes, there is self interest—the lease opportunity can contribute to ranch viability. However, Hilary and Andrew view the grizzly bear itself with genuine reverence apart from its utility or inconvenience.
"Their conviction is to balance profit with other forms of wealth by changing themselves and their operations to fit the land, rather than the other way around."
This is where the rubber meets the road in making the marketplace accountable to the long run and greater good.
The "Practice" of Land Stewardship
You often hear about the practices of "low stress animal husbandry", "management intensive grazing" or "range riding" as if they could be put on like a new set of clothes. As if Tom Brady one day decided to switch from the practice of being an average quarterback to the practice of being an all time great. But that's not how mastery works.
Of course it takes years to become handy with horses, dogs, and equipment, to apply stockmanship principles, "read the grass", understand how far cattle will travel to water, which plants are poisonous when, and build a viable business. This is why it's a problem that the number of livestock operations in the US has declined from just under 900,000 in 1997 to about 623,000 in 2022. We're not just losing manual labor—we're losing the hard won understanding, traditions and skills needed to support society.
Stewardship, or as Hilary and Andrew prefer, "kinship agriculture" is not about formulaic practices. It is about the daily practice of becoming the kind of person, family, business, society that can sustain stewardship. I mean "practice" in the way that Tai Chi or violin, or meditation or prayer is a practice or discipline. The principle is: change circumstances by changing yourself.
"When it comes to raising good food well, there is no final arrival at a destination, only the next day's or the next season's work ahead."
Keep in mind, the skills themselves are just the beginning. Imagine the logistical challenges and sacrifices involved in re-ordering family life so that you bring four children for weeks at a time to live and work in the remote backcountry!
A Co-Operative Model That Rewards Stewardship
Unfortunately, J Bar L still sells most of their livestock into a commodity marketplace that doesn't share their broad, long term commitment to building real wealth. Like all ranches and farms in today's food system, they lack options in a historically consolidated marketplace. It's not just that you cannot know at the box store whether the ranchers behind that meat walk J Bar L's path—it's that most of the box stores, distributors, retailers, investors and banks only understand wealth in green American dollars.
Now, through Old Salt's co-operative model, some of J Bar L's products reach customers who value what they do. The Old Salt co-op is owned by the ranchers who steward the land, which means when customers buy our meat, they're helping to shoulder the kind of work Hilary and Andrew do in the Gravellys. Just as they’ve molded their lives and business to be better stewards, Old Salt customers hone their own purchasing and food preparation to participate in this model.
Together, we're a community of producers, customers, and workers connecting through rancher-owned infrastructure that values stewardship over extraction. If you want to learn more about J Bar L’s story, straight from the horse's mouth, including how they used stockmanship strategies, new virtual fence technology, dogs, and horses to carry out their innovative work in the Gravelly Mountains, join us on the Mannix Ranch over the summer solstice at Old Salt Festival 2026 happening June 19-21 here in Montana..
Godspeed to you all in 2026,
Cole Mannix, Founder
Old Salt Co-op
