Today on the blog, we bring to you a father-daughter duo that have been LandTrust landowners for over a year. Katelyn Kohlbeck’s family moved to Bozeman, MT in 1919 and has been raising registered Herefords since 1935. However, Katelyn was honest about what many ranching families know when she said “You can’t just live off of cows.... We needed to find another way to make a little bit of income in between the checks that you get from cattle sale to cattle sale.”
Located on the banks of the Gallatin River just west of Bozeman, The Storey Ranch features 700 acres of rich agriculture for feed, as well as cottonwood and riparian bedding areas. For the ranch, Katelyn was given an opportunity to explore new solutions to an age-old problem. “My dad has been amazing to work with because he’s let me try things that probably the generation above them would have said absolutely not.”
Kateyn found LandTrust, which connects sportsmen to landowners and provides a simple way for them to add income-- without taking them away from the farm or the ranch. LandTrust does all of the marketing to hunters, handles the payments up-front, and even provides insurance coverage for the landowner. “It’s been incredible to work with LandTrust. They’ve made it so easy! All you have to do is click a button that says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when someone asks you if they can hunt.” explains Katelyn.
LandTrust keeps landowners fully in control over who hunts on their property, how much they pay, and how and when they have access. As Katelyn’s dad Chuck explains, “This really works well for us.” What would Chuck say to other ranchers? “Try it a year. If you don’t like it, don’t sign back up. But if you do like it, make some money and take some worries away.”
Running a ranch or farm is no easy feat. The LandTrust team strives to make it as easy as possible for landowners to let their land provide more. Watch Katelyn and Chuck's full testimonial below to hear how they have felt about working with LandTrust thus far.
If you’d like to take Katelyn and Chuck’s advice and learn more about working with LandTrust, download the