Hank Willemsma shares his goal of growing as a businessman while valuing ranch traditions and employees
By Ashley Patterson
Winter 2021 Newsletter
It started with the goal to be a good cowboy. Then, the goal progressed to be a good stockman. Today, Hank Willemsma’s goal is still the same, but now the focus is to be a good businessman.
Willemsma, a 2018 graduate of the King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management (KRIRM) and a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is currently working toward that goal as the ranch manager for Beaverhead Ranch. The 360,000-acre ranch in Montana (a division of Matador Cattle Company) spans across private, state, BLM, and USFS land, and functions primarily as a cow-calf operation of 8,000 cows and a small number of yearlings. The ranch sprawls along a 90-mile road from Dillon to the Idaho border, then east to Yellowstone Park, also home to a variety of wildlife, land and water fowl, other mammals, fish, and plant life.
Under Willemsma’s direction, Beaverhead Ranch is proud to honor a commitment of stewardship and conservation. The ranch places emphasis on fitting the right cattle to the environment provided by the Rocky Mountains, thereby promoting hybrid-vigor using a two-breed cow rotation with purebred Hereford, Black Angus and Charolais bulls. Calving season begins in March and the summer months are spent grazing the cows and calves in the Centennial Valley. Preconditioned calves are ready for sale by October.
“My whole reason for becoming a manager was to run a ranch that embraced tradition while still maintaining profitability and endeavoring to find more efficient ways of producing a high-quality product,” he says.
Growth and Direction
Willemsma has always been a part of the ranching life, but his formal career began after he earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science with a minor in agri-business from New Mexico State University in 2006. He worked for various operations and soon realized an interest in the management track, knowing his career and impact could only grow with more education and experience.
In 2016, he was a new student starting the ranch management program at KRIRM. Upon graduation, Willemsma began his time with Matador Cattle Company as the assistant manager for Beaverhead Ranch, moving to the Montana ranch with his wife, Winona in 2018. This role required him to work in the day-to-day operations—he helped with the cowboy crews, office administrative duties, managed animal health in the feedyard during backgrounding, and replacement heifer selection. Now as ranch manager, Willemsma describes that his role transitioned to a resource management focus.
Throughout the years, Willemsma came to realize the differences in management styles. He explains that he strives to be somewhat in the middle as a manger, offering some guidance but also allowing his employees the freedom and space to make their own decisions.
“I believe that if you set the expectation and allow them to decide how they are going to meet those expectations, guys will usually do a good job and many times have really unique and innovative ideas for doing things,” says Willemsma. “I think that the best thing that I can do as a manager is provide the tools for my guys to do their jobs, whether those tools are production related, educational opportunities, or just someone to bounce ideas around.”
His employees and the relationship he shares with them are important to Willemsma’s overall values and mission. Willemsma believes the most important trait he can have as a ranch manager is fairness and work ethic. He wants to be the type of manager that his crew can count on, through the good times and bad.
“If everyone is treated equally no matter their role on the ranch, most of the time people will respect a decision even though it may not be in their favor.”
Willemsma is also committed to operating the ranch in which a good cowboy is valued, something which Matador stands behind through its rich tradition.
“I think that the industry has spent a lot of time and money trying to replace good cowboys with technology and I wanted to run a ranch where a good cowboy was valued and could have a high quality of life,” explains Willemsma. “I like working with people who have a passion for the job, and it is fulfilling for me to be able to see where that passion takes people when management encourages it.”
A Look Forward
While the industry continues to evolve through changing times, impacts of droughts, market fluctuations, and government regulations, Willemsma continues to have the same drive and attitude to better himself in his career in order to face those challenges.
“The industry is changing in not only the challenges that we are facing but also in the resources that are at our disposal,” he explains. “New technologies help us to track production and therefore improve efficiency by maximizing the value of every animal and it is fun to try and figure out how to incorporate these technologies on this large of a scale.”
Matador Cattle Company is a great place for Willemsma, he says, because he believes the ranch aligns with his own ranching values. With the resources to run its ranches efficiently, Matador has been a place for Willemsma to operate according to his vision while continuing his goals of lifelong learning.
“My goal as a ranch manager is to continue to learn and grow as both a cattleman and businessman.”