Tippet Rise is made up of 12,000 rolling acres of grasslands and canyons. We lease sections of it in the summer to Ben and Jamie Lehfeldt and their parents Marie and Bob, who bring in 1,200 head of Rambouillet sheep and 300 calf-cow pairs to graze the lush grasses that grow here. The sheep help eradicate the noxious weed, leafy spurge.

And we have our own cattle program, which will eventually produce enough cattle to provide for our guests on the ranch, as well as help regenerate healthy native grasses and reduce wildfire hazards. We have improved animal husbandry and weed control and have developed roughly thirty water improvements here so far, including eight solar well systems which have improved our ability to disperse livestock across the ranch. Each summer, Tippet Rise offers an agricultural internship program to students from Montana State University.

Montana’s agricultural traditions are longstanding and rich. Our goal is to sustain them here at Tippet Rise, and to be good stewards of the land we are so lucky to inhabit.

“We are enormously lucky to have the talents, experience, wisdom, diligence, and probity of Ben Wynthein as the steward of the ranch, the cattle, the sheep, the flora, the soil, the water, the roads, and the wildlife on the ranch. The quality of the land on all the ranches in Stillwater and Carbon Counties affects all of us, and Ben has turned Tippet Rise into a model environment for the area, and is working to bring solid innovation to the vital traditions of American ranching. Ben’s wonderful wife and charming children add the most important part of the ranch: a warm family environment which brings a great sense of spirit to our team, our visitors, and our community.”

Peter and Cathy Halstead, founders of Tippet Rise Art Center