Things Montanans Do That Don't Make Sense Part II : The Most Expensive Montana Hobby

If you're looking to spend a lot of money on a Montana hobby, you might try skiing or hunting.....or ranching!!?!  Most Montana ag "businesses" are actually very expensive hobbies.  "What?!" You say,  "Farmers and ranchers are the hardest working people I know.  Surely so many hard working people wouldn't be dedicated to an industry that isn't profitable?"  US ag producers are among the most productive in the world and Montanans are no exception, but that doesn't mean they're profitable.

Agriculture has been a huge industry in Montana since before it became a state. The State Department of Ag,touts it as Montana’s largest industry.  It indirectly employs over a hundred thousand people on farms, ranches and in ag related businesses and government agencies.  

But the big question is: do ag producers in Montana actually make a profit?  Some are hobby farmers and that isn’t their goal.  Many other producers will freely admit they don’t some years.  But of those who assert they are profitable, are they really considering all the costs?  What if ag producers had to pay themselves and their family members the salary they would have to pay someone else to do their job?  How many would make a profit then?  Statistically very few ag producers would be making a profit, even on a good year.  And if we take out government subsidies, below market land leases and low interest loans, we’d have even fewer profitable operations.  Unfair stipulations you say?  Can you really call a business profitable if you are paying yourself $3 an hour?

I am not saying there aren’t profitable ag businesses in Montana, nor that there couldn’t be a few more, but why are we protecting this industry when the businesses at the core are mostly unprofitable?!  Why does the government subsidize ag producers and not subsidize doughnut shops?  Why do we find it understandable when someone takes a second job to support the ranch, but we would find it strange if someone takes a second job to support their construction business?  Simple, in Montana ag is sacred.  It’s more than a hobby, more than a job and more than a business.  It is a way of life.

I grew up on a ranch and currently work in the industry.  I enjoy going back to the ranch, but I'm often baffled by how people idolize it, both from outside of the industry and inside.  When I was in college, I often had people want me to take them branding in the spring.  If my grandparent's had owned a plumbing business instead of a ranch I doubt they would have come with me for "drain field day".  However, I am thankful to have grown up on a ranch and am grateful for the way it shaped me.


Unfortunately good memories and the romance doesn't take away the realities of the situation.  It's hard to make a profit in ag these days.  We as a state have to adapt.  Most Montana producers are getting older and their kids aren’t coming back to the ranch for a reason.  The subsidies, both from the government and the free labor, won’t keep the industry afloat forever.  The ag businesses that can be profitable will have to make changes to become so.  The producers who can’t be profitable will have to admit it and may have to down-scale to a hobby ranch in order to continue in their passion.  Some ranches can remain profitable by including tourism as well as ranching in their enterprise mix.  Others might make it by turning to specialty crops or specialty livestock and embracing the organic, all-natural trend.  One thing is for sure, ag in Montana will look very different in 20 years.

Things Montanans Do That Don't Make Sense Part I : HUNTING IS A RIDICULOUS HOBBY

Every culture has them, those values that just don’t make sense to outsiders.  If you go to Green Bay you will find that being a Packers fan is more of a way of life, than a decision on which team to root for.  In Hawaii and Southern California you’ll find people skipping work, school, church and family obligations to surf on the days when the waves are really big.  In Montana, one cultural value we hold high is hunting and in some cases it is culturally acceptable to skip all other obligations for this most sacred pursuit.  Two years ago, when I shot an elk with my bow, my boss willingly filled in for me so I could get the meat out of the mountains.  When I wounded an elk in college, I missed 4 classes and one test the next day to look for him.

We live in a world where the economic differences between work and hobbies are clearly lined out.  Hobbies are supposed to be fun and we don’t expect to receive economic benefits from them.  We don’t expect work to be fun but do expect economic benefits for our work.  Many Montanans hold hunting as a sacred way of life and at times our cultural value for hunting can clash with those who don’t have this value.  They are unable to categorize hunting as a hobby or an economically beneficial activity and this can cause serious tension in the work place, in families and with friends.

In an effort to appeal to the general public, many of us try to defend hunting from an economic perspective which is ridiculous.  Meat is a tangible benefit to hunting and some of us mistakenly think that the reason we hunt is for this economic side-benefit.  We say things like “I only shoot cows and does cause I’m only in it for the meat”.  Whether we say we hunt for the meat, the horns or the exercise, if we are really honest we hunt for the experience of doing the process ourselves.  It isn’t viable economically. 

Think about the costs involved in hunting: weapon (bow, gun, etc.), ammo (arrows or bullets), specialized clothing, knives and all kill related products, tags and gas to and from the hunting area.  Then there’s the cost of processing your meat, which you can do yourself, but that requires equipment, materials and time!  Hunting costs a lot of time.  If you got a job delivering pizzas and spent the same amount of time working at this new job as you normally do in all hunting related activities, you could probably buy organic bison meat for the year and still be ahead on money.

On the flip side it isn’t really a hobby either, at least for many Montanans.  How many people would call cutting up meat a hobby?  How many people would add “carrying out meat” as one of their interests on facebook?  These are both part of the experience.  If hunting were a hobby, we would be able to cut out the parts we don’t enjoy without shame.  If it were a hobby I wouldn’t feel obligated to process my own meat and I wouldn’t feel a slight sense of pride for carrying my meat out on my back rather than a horse or a 4-wheeler.  

  

For Montanans, the idea of hunting for meat is sacred.  We like the idea that we participated in every part of the process of getting that animal out of the mountains into an edible chunk of meat on our table.  The problem is that we sometimes forget that hunting is just a preference for a way of living and it is not morally superior to any other lifestyle choice.  We have to work out the consequences of that choice with other priorities and people in our lives.  We must keep their perspective in mind if we want to avoid serious problems.