The COVID-19 pandemic is prompting many unpleasant and unfortunate responses and actions, but within all the negatives is a positive, at least in the Missoula area: More people are purchasing local beef. And some of that local beef comes from Oxbow Cattle Co., owned by Bart and Wendy Morris. Five Valleys Land Trust and Oxbow Cattle finalized a conservation easement on the ranch in 2017, and the Morris’ received the 2019 Missoula County Land Stewardship Award. 

“For us, business is really good,” said co-owner/manager Bart Morris in a Missoulian article. “We lost a lot of restaurants, which breaks our heart, but our little store and direct sales are doing really good.”

Later in the article, Morris says they’re seeing a lot of growth in housing around the ranch, and he hopes to be the local meat supplier for his neighbors. “We’re hoping to be here for a long time,” he said. “We got a lot of different things going on, a lot of community-based things.”