REGION lV— BLOODY BUCKETS CATTLE COMPANY Falfurrias, Texas
Bloody Buckets Cattle Company has a deep respect for their ranching roots and incorporates sustainable and innovative practices to complement their heritage. Operating in the challenging South Texas brush country, the Clement and Ortega families transformed droughtprone rangelands through adaptive grazing, water conservation, habitat restoration, and strategic infrastructure investments that improve soil health, increase water retention, and enhance wildlife habitat. The combination of science-based management with a commitment to leaving every acre better than they found it led Bloody Buckets Cattle Company to build a resilient operation that supports profitable beef production while conserving natural resources.
REGION V— V BOX LAND AND LIVESTOCK Juntura, Oregon
V Box Land and Livestock reflects the power of long-term stewardship, resilience, and innovation in sustaining both the land and the ranching way of life across Oregon’ s high desert. Since founding the ranch in 1991, Mike and Linda Bentz built a thriving cow-calf operation while implementing extensive rangeland restoration, juniper removal, invasive annual grass control, riparian rehabilitation, and water management projects. Following the loss of her husband in 2015, Linda accelerated these efforts, improving wildlife habitat, reducing wildfire risk, restoring river systems, and enhancing forage productivity across thousands of acres. She combined proactive stewardship with thoughtful succession planning and created a lasting legacy that supports sustainable cattle production while ensuring the ranching tradition continues.
REGION Vl— MUNNS FLYING M RANCH Snowville, Utah
In Utah ' s high desert, of Utah, Munns Flying M Ranch is an example of how innovation, stewardship and vision lead to the health of both the business and the landscape. In the span of nearly five decades, Tim and Laurie Munns, alongside the next generation of their family, transformed a modest cattle operation into a thriving ranch through strategic water development, adaptive grazing management, rangeland restoration, and wildlife conservation. Their investment in extensive water infrastructure, converting cropland to perennial forage systems, improving grazing distribution, and protecting critical wildlife habitat, has enhanced rangeland health, increased drought resilience, and improved productivity.
REGION Vll— STOMPRUD ANGUS RANCH Mud Butte, South Dakota
For more than a century, Stomprud Angus Ranch has reflected resilience and innovation on the native rangelands of western South Dakota. Since its establishment in 1909, five generations of the Stomprud family have worked to improve land resources through adaptive grazing, wildlifefriendly infrastructure, and significant water development investments that transformed livestock health and drought resilience. In 2005, the family drilled a 3,700-foot deep well and developed a 15-mile pipeline system supplying 30 stock tanks across the ranch, providing clean, reliable water to every pasture. Stomprud Angus Ranch built a resilient operation that adapted in the face of challenges and now supports productive cattle ranching while preserving the land, water and wildlife.
DIRECTIONS 2026 NATIONAL CATTLEMEN 23