Thomas Herefords in Montana: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Thomas Herefords is a family ranch in the Flint Creek Range near Gold Creek, Montana, established in 1957 and known as a seedstock producer of red and white Hereford cattle. It was selected as the 2025 Montana Leopold Conservation Award recipient for work that reportedly tripled pasture carrying capacity while improving water quality and drought resilience.
| Location | Gold Creek, Powell County, Montana (Flint Creek Range; 4,250 ft ranch, summer pastures to 6,500 ft) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 by Richard and Shirley Thomas |
| Sectors | Hereford seedstock cattle; hay and irrigated pasture; rangeland |
| Scale | Acreage and herd size not published in the sources found |
| Why it is elite | 2025 Montana Leopold Conservation Award recipient; described as an international seedstock producer |
| Ownership | Bruce and Tammy Thomas with Richard and Shirley Thomas; three children's families involved |
| Official website | Leopold Conservation Award announcement (Sand County Foundation) |
History of Thomas Herefords
Richard and Shirley Thomas established the ranch in 1957 along Gold Creek, a tributary of the Clark Fork River. Their son Bruce grew up showing Hereford cattle there and later worked as an environmental manager at a sawmill, an experience that shaped his push for ranching that is both economically and environmentally resilient.
Today Bruce and Tammy Thomas run the ranch alongside Bruce's parents, and their children Kurt, Amber and Heather, with their families, are involved and own cattle. The succession plan includes continuing the conservation approach. The family accepted the Montana Leopold Conservation Award at the 106th Montana Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Missoula.
What Thomas Herefords Grows and Raises
The ranch raises Hereford cattle, red and white, as seedstock. Altitude ranges from 4,250 feet at headquarters to summer pastures at 6,500 feet. Rotational grazing improved grass quality and quantity, and rangeland water development roughly tripled carrying capacity, according to the Sand County Foundation.
Conservation upgrades include an EQIP contract in the early 2000s, redirecting cattle pen runoff to upland filtration areas, resting the creek's riparian area from grazing for five years, and installing a new watering system that improved the herd's daily weight gain. The family switched from flood to pivot irrigation, diverting about 50 percent less water, replaced barbed and woven wire with wildlife-friendly three-wire electric fence, and uses annual soil analysis to cut chemical fertilizer and build organic matter.
How Thomas Herefords Makes Money
Seedstock cattle sales
As an international seedstock producer of Hereford genetics, the ranch earns from breeding stock. Seedstock buyers pay for documented genetics and herd health.
Forage and grazing efficiency
Higher carrying capacity means more animals on the same land. Improved water systems also improved daily gains, raising the productivity of every grazed acre.
Lower water and input costs
Pivot irrigation uses about half as much diverted water, and soil work reduces fertilizer spending. These are cost reductions that act like added income.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Thomas Herefords
Fix water first. Better stock water and pivot irrigation produced grazing, gain and fish-habitat benefits at once. Ranchers should ask what water infrastructure unlocks grass they already own.
Plan succession around the practices, not only the land. The Thomas plan includes continuing the conservation approach, and involving three children's families helps keep genetics and stewardship in the same hands.
A Hereford with a view of 6,500 feet is the sort of cow that expects the best from the pasture and gets it. For readers who like farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes that climb above the tree line, farm.FM is the place to graze, and Gold Creek's herd would surely vote for the pivot sprinkler as the greatest invention since the fence that does not snag elk.
The outlet behind those laughs, farm.FM, is the nation's first satirical farm site, complete with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers. A farm.FM humorist's archive shows what a week of it looks like.
How to Contact Thomas Herefords
No official ranch website was found; this page is the award announcement for the operation, November 2026. For award inquiries contact the Montana Farm Bureau Federation or the Montana DNRC Rangeland Resources Program.
Thomas Herefords Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Sand County Foundation announcement - Thomas Herefords to receive the Montana Leopold Conservation Award
- Tri-State Livestock News story - Thomas Herefords receives Leopold Conservation Award
- Montana Farm Bureau coverage - Award presented at the Montana Farm Bureau convention
- Montana DNRC Leopold program - State partner on the Montana Leopold award
- USDA Farmers.gov - NRCS EQIP and FSA program information
Thomas Herefords FAQ
Where is Thomas Herefords?
Near Gold Creek in western Montana's Flint Creek Range, in Powell County.
What does the ranch raise?
Red and white Hereford seedstock cattle.
Why is it elite?
It won the 2025 Montana Leopold Conservation Award and is described as an international seedstock producer.
What results did conservation work bring?
Rangeland water development roughly tripled carrying capacity and pivot irrigation diverts about 50 percent less water.
Thomas Herefords shows how Hereford genetics, water development and careful grazing can reinforce one another on a Montana mountain ranch. For the wider picture, see the Montana farms guide and the other profiled ranches and farms.