Nature & Nurture: Raising Cattle

Connie Malcolm was raised on the ranch of her parents, Ellery and Eril Merrell in Tom Miner Basin. She attended primary grades at the Tom Miner rural one room school. After graduating from Gardiner High School, she attended Montana State University for three years. The call of the ranch life, the land, the domestic animals and the wildlife beckoned her back to the life she loved. Marrying Bruce Malcolm brought her to the Mile High Ranch on Mill Creek. Together they ranched at Mill Creek, Tom Miner Basin and Big Creek. Connie continues enjoying ranch life and the interaction with all animals to this day.

Martin Davis is a fourth-generation rancher. His family moved from a family ranch in northeastern Colorado to purchase a ranch in Paradise Valley in 1964. He attended Rosedale School thru eighth grade and graduated from Park High. Martin began working on the ranch at a very young age: feeding cattle and horses, moving cattle by horseback, running equipment, and irrigating. Ranching runs in his blood as well as in his two children and his grandchildren. The family has raised Herefords, Gelbvieh, and now Red Angus cattle. A cow/calf operation is a full time, sunup till sundown operation 365 days a year. Every season there is something to do outside in negative temps and hot days in the summer.