Legacy. Passion. Stewardship. Communication. Intentionality. Innovation. Six common threads woven through the tapestry of the successful succession of two multigenerational ranches. Legacy is why. The rest? Well, that’s how.
“My brother and I, we’re just the caretakers of the land for this generation we happen to be in,” Brad Boner, owner and operator of M Diamond Angus Ranch in Glenrock, WY, told WLJ. “It’s our job to pass it on to the next generation better than the way we found it. That’s the definition of our job, every day. Some days we’re more successful than others.”
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The passion in Boner’s voice as the steward of his family’s land, livestock and legacy was tangible. He’s the fifth generation on the M Diamond Ranch, making his son the sixth. He takes his stewardship seriously. What does this stewardship look like practically? Well, it’s not something you’d see on Yellowstone and it’s not all that romantic. It’s hard work, adapting to ever-changing demands, clinging to the legacy of the last generation and having the hard conversations first. Boner shared a story he picked up at a recent conference, illustrating that importance.
“A gentleman and his son had turned out some cattle and the bull had gotten out,” Boner said. “He’d had his son go fix the fence, but he didn’t fix the fence in the water gap where it was the hardest to fix. He’d fixed it other places, but not where it was most difficult and that’s where the bull had gotten out. The gentleman told his son, ‘Sometimes, we’ve got to do the hard things first.’”
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The value of communication
Boner admitted when it came time to bring in the next generation on the M Diamond, he hadn’t fixed the fence in the water gap.
“Bringing my son on was a little rocky to begin with because we didn’t have the hard conversations first,” Boner said. “We put the difficult things off and had two different expectations. It was interesting to say the least. I think in his mind, he thought he would come in and take on everything right away, while I went to go piddle around. That wasn’t what I had in my mind.
“We struggled for a little bit because we didn’t do the hard thing first. It was a difficult process, but we eventually had those hard conversations and got to a place where we were on the same page. Don’t put off the difficult conversations. Communicate. Don’t tiptoe around the big issues. Take them head on. It’ll pay off.”
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One of those difficult water gaps to patch is intentional estate planning. Considering one’s own demise or that of their parents’ is never a pleasant topic, however, it is an essential aspect of preserving land and legacy for the next generation.
“It’s important to get estate planning done,” Boner said. “That absolutely has to be in place. You cannot put that off. You just can’t. Especially if you know the next generation is coming back, you have to get a plan in place. Everyone should have one, no matter what’s going on with the next generation.”
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He continued, “It’s not easy to think about all those things, but it’s absolutely essential if your priority is to maintain the generational aspect of your ranch. You cannot accomplish it any other way. If it is a priority that your ranch remains in your family, you have to make hard decisions, because if you don’t, it will not be in your family. It will likely have to be liquidated and sold to somebody else.”
Preserving a legacy
The storied Weinheimer Ranch in Stonewall, TX, is a prime example of what is possible when steps are taken to preserve the inheritance of land and legacy from one generation to the next. The Weinheimer Ranch spans five generations from 1878 to present day. Roy Weinheimer, the current president of Weinheimer Ranch Inc., is the third generation on the Texas century ranch. When Roy’s father, Herman Weinheimer, passed suddenly at age 64, Roy stepped into the management role as a 29-year-old.
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“The ranch is all I’ve ever known,” Roy told WLJ. “I’d grown up there, so I knew how to do things properly when it was my time.”
Thanks to intentional planning, seven decades later, he’s still active in the management of the ranch at 99 years old. After his father’s passing, the ranch was incorporated by his mother, himself and his five siblings in the 1950s, which allowed the ranch to remain in the family and operational to present day.
“The ranch was in a family corporation when I came into it,” said Len Weinheimer, Roy’s son, who is the fourth generation on the ranch. “So, I work for the family corporation and it’s very important to me to keep it a family corporation.”
Len’s sons, Chism and Cord Weinheimer, are the fifth generation in their line involved in Weinheimer Ranch, Inc. Chism manages the Weinheimer’s New Mexico ranch while Cord helps out as needed on the Texas operation.
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Cord explained the dynamics of a family ranch corporation. “Currently there are 18 shareholders of the Weinheimer Ranch, all of which are family members,” Cord said. “The shareholders elect a board of directors and officers to manage the corporation. Len is the vice president and manager of operations. Incorporating prevented generational division of the land and assets of the ranch and has allowed the family to continue ranching and operating the business. Without incorporating, it wouldn’t be what it is today.”
Roy has faith in his descendants’ ability to carry on what he sustained and expanded. He raised them there. He instilled a love for the operation and the lifestyle. He showed them how to care for the legacy handed down from his grandfather to his father to himself. While he isn’t stepping down from his role at the ranch yet, it’s obvious he’s proud of the way his son and grandson are already carrying on the family tradition.
“I think it’s important to pass it on to the next generation because having grown up in it, they’re going to know better what to do with it than someone new coming in,” Roy said.
Respecting a legacy
Though they don’t always see eye-to-eye, the mutual respect shared across the three generations of Weinheimers was evident in their tone of voice, as they discussed ranch matters and explained their roles on the operation.
“The next generation always has different ideas than the generation before it,” Len said. “It was the same with me and my dad, and it’s the same with my sons and me. That’s part of the challenge.”
Cord said though they all have their own ideas, it’s the mutual respect that makes it possible to work together for the common good of the ranch. Cord currently works for the American Hereford Association and comes in to help on the ranch as needed.
“My help is supplemental, but it’s still valued, and I appreciate that,” Cord said. “Working for the American Hereford Association, I get to see a lot of different operations and I ask a lot of questions. I’m trying to learn in every setting I’m in and bring that back to the ranch. I’m fortunate that my dad and grandfather value and listen to what I bring to the table. I’m 30 and while my career hasn’t been all that long, they respect the places I’ve been and the things I’ve gotten to experience.”
The Weinheimer Ranch has evolved to meet industry demands with each generation which Len said is a key factor in their ability to remain a family owned and operated ranch.
“We’ve diversified over the years,” Len said. “We had commercial cattle and then brought in registered Hereford cattle. We’ve also diversified our sheep and goat operation with hair sheep and meat goats. Additionally, we’ve diversified our revenue streams by increasing our hunting opportunities on the ranch.”
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The importance of diversification
Maintaining a multigenerational ranch requires constant diversification and increased revenue streams with each generation, Boner said. That’s where innovation comes into play.
“I’m the fifth generation in our family to be involved in agriculture in this county and my son is the sixth,” Boner said. “In the beginning of my time as caretaker here, my two brothers and I operated this ranch and expanded it. We were lucky enough to expand to some irrigated ground that my middle brother operated while my younger brother and I did the livestock.
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“It was a good thing and we were able to grow, but it’s always a challenge to figure out how to make one operation feed as many mouths as it needs to feed. That is the challenge with multi-generational operations. Currently, our operation is going from supporting three families to supporting five families. You have to find a way to expand your revenue streams while keeping your expenses in line.”
Like the Weinheimers, Boner said the Diamond M brought in seedstock cattle as a source of increased revenue.
“My brothers and I not only purchased more ground, but we also diversified from running only commercial cattle to building a purebred Angus operation as well. Half of our cows are now registered Angus and we have a production sale annually. We also diversified into farming. Prior to our generation, we had never farmed. We had been a strictly grazing operation. We purchased irrigated farmland and that helped make things more efficient. For a while, we offered guided hunts which was beneficial at the time.”
Identifying possible revenue streams and ways to innovate is going to look different in different geographic regions. Cord said in their region agritourism is a growing industry in itself.
“In our area, we are near a local tourist destination, so I see potential to capitalize on agritourism,” Cord said. “Agritourism is a good way to bridge the gap between producers and consumers while bringing in another source of income.”
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Boner said renewable energy sources are another area of diversifying revenue worth considering.
“In the last few years, we’ve had wind turbines placed on our property to increase the revenue stream,” Boner said. “We’ve considered solar panels, but we haven’t been able to negotiate an agreement we felt was beneficial to us yet. We feel strongly that our job here on Earth is to produce food and fiber for consumers. We just aren’t willing to give that ability up to increase our leverage.”
So far, the wind turbines and solar panels haven’t made it to the Weinheimer Ranch.
“That’s one thing that’s been very unique for Weinheimer Ranch, with the exception of some supplemental income from hunting, everything we’ve done for five generations has been strictly ranching,” Cord said. “The Texas Hill Country, where we’re located, isn’t known for oil and gas, or wind energy. We’ve never had that opportunity. It’s just ranching. So being able to watch that pass from generation to generation is inspiring. Times have changed, obviously, from when Roy took over in the ’50s to when Len came back in the ’80s to now, me being here in the 2020s. But we are still running a profitable ranch by producing livestock.”
Embracing technology
While many aspects of ranching remain the same from one generation to the next, technology is changing the way the Weinheimers handle cattle, feed cattle and market cattle.
“There are ways we’ve changed from an operating standpoint over the years,” Cord said. “Just in the 30 years I’ve been on the ranch, we don’t use a horse as much as we once did. A horse was an essential tool in many areas of running an operation and now it just isn’t as necessary. We have stronger facilities, smaller pastures and readily available feed in a sack. Though we still use a horse for some jobs, those things make our job easier to do without having to utilize a horse.”
Cord said technology is also going to play a big role in how ranches like theirs build more sustainable operations.
“Technology is ever evolving,” Cord said. “Incorporating the latest platforms for marketing and traceability is going to be pivotal for the future of the operation.”
No matter how they do it, Roy says his hope is simply that they do, and that they do it as a family.
“My hope is that they have unity,” Roy said. “If we can just keep on growing a little bit and working to keep it together, it’ll be a success.”
Len echoed his dad and said it’s all about keeping the family operation going to honor the legacy of generations past and to feed the generations of the future.
“You can sell everything and have a big pile of money, but that money will be gone in a couple generations,” Len said. “The true value for your ancestors is the value of being able to work the land. This country has a lot of people in it and that number is growing all the time. Someone’s going to need to produce food for them. That’s what we’re here to do. Keeping this operation going is very important.”
Cord said he could reiterate what his predecessors said, but for him, it’s also about the impact the ranching lifestyle has on a generation.
“My hope is that someday my children get to grow up in, learn from and be a part of a lifestyle that so many generations before me experienced,” Cord said. “I want them to learn this way of life. You learn about the circle of life, love, respect and becoming stewards of the land. You learn to appreciate the gifts God gives you and thank Him daily for it.”
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He continued, “You also learn to understand hardships and how to get through them. In my opinion, there is no other lifestyle that can teach you all of those things. It’s second to none. So, for me, that’s what maintaining a multigenerational operation is about. The longer we can keep these operations together, the more generations we can impact with the lifestyle I experienced.”
Their legacy is why they do what they do each day. Acting as passionate stewards of the land with which they’ve been entrusted they strive to ever better their communication, innovation and intentionality, hoping to hand down to the next generation the life that was handed down to them.
