Embracing Risks in Ranching: CJ & Calli Thorne’s Journey
What some view as risks, other view as opportunities to lift up the system. CJ and Calli Thorne are an example of a ranching couple who embraces the challenges of production agriculture and are willing to take on risks that others don’t. From ranching to feeding cattle to selling direct-to-consumer and owning a local beef locker, Thornes have fully embraced the opportunities in the beef industry.
“Even when we first moved up here, it seemed like the whole big picture was about filling a gap or a void,” says CJ.
Thornes moved to Calli’s home place around 2008 when the calf market wasn’t great. To fill this gap, they built pens on the home ranch as a marketing tool which resulted in backgrounding calves for themselves and their neighbors. This grew into custom feeding and eventually taking calves to finish and selling direct-to-consumer.
“It was around March of 2020 when CJ saw the writing on the wall about selling direct-to-consumers. We’d always sold one or two head per year but we upleveled fast and by the end of the year we processed over 200 head,” says Calli.
These cattle were processed at Yellowstone River Beef which is about an hour from where Thornes ranch. Little did they know at the time, that this would turn into another business opportunity.
We were never looking to purchase Yellowstone River Beef. They came to us because they liked Calli’s presence on social media and wanted the business to have a more local presence,” says CJ.
Thorne’s decided to take on the risk with their neighbors, the Taylors, who are now their business partners.
Calli says, “I think it’s really important in this industry to look for different opportunities and options. You can come by them or create them yourself.”
Neither Thornes or Taylors have experience cutting meat or running a locker. However, they do understand agriculture and entrepreneurship. When asked what made CJ say yes to this opportunity he said, “I wouldn’t say it was the perfect decision but it was the opportunity where we’d always be left wondering if we didn’t take it.”
Currently, Yellowstone River Beef offers both custom slaughter and a retail shop which sells fresh and frozen beef. Calli also makes a point to share various reading materials and resources for consumers who have questions about beef production in addition to how they are fed, cared for and where the cattle come from.
While these families bought an operational harvest facility, they have completely shifted the purpose of the business. Yellowstone River Beef used to primarily focus on exports. Now, the focus is serving the local community of ranchers and beef consumers.
Like any new venture, this one hasn’t come without challenges for the new owners.
“When you start something, you have a great plan of how it is going to work but usually it is going to take more than you expected,” says CJ.
Time management, learning to delegate and managing employees have all been learning curves. However, one of the greater challenges is the current cattle markets. While ranchers remain giddy about the high prices, it creates challenges for those toward the end of the supply chain. Calli and CJ note that it isn’t as easy to sell direct-to-consumer today compared to four years ago when people were panic buying.
“Sometimes we stay up talking at night and asking ourselves if we can’t make this work, who can?” says Calli. As risk-takers and seasoned ranchers, they know that everything comes in cycles. At the end of the day someone needs to provide custom harvest services and beef for the local community. “Right now we are just in the season of we have to show up, put in the time and put in the effort to make a good go of it.”
Thornes have embraced this season and are grateful for their strong faith and mindset foundation. “I’d be remiss not to talk about how much our faith has grown because in all honesty, you feel like you are backed in a corner some days,” says Calli. They are excited to continue growing this business and serving the MonDak region.
