This past month, I had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with fellow Western Ag Reporter reader and Republican Senate candidate, Tim Sheehy, who is also a father, philanthropist, Founder and CEO of Bridger Aerospace, and Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient. Enjoy this candid conversation about his Senate run, platform, background, and the inspiration and mission behind his ranch, Little Belt Cattle Company.

Randyn Gregg

First of all, what drove you to run for U.S. Senate in the first place? In today’s current political environment, there’s a lot of vitriol, and it looks like you’ve got a pretty busy life already.

Tim Sheehy

Great point. It’s about leadership. It’s about the next generation of American leaders who must step up. We are privileged to live in the greatest country in the world. I’ve been to 93 countries around the world, carried a gun in a lot of them, and fought in some of them. I’ve seen what the rest of the world has to offer. There are some beautiful places that I’ve been privileged to spend time in, but nothing holds a candle to what we have here in the United States of America. That’s not just patriotic rhetoric.

That’s the truth.

The opportunities that we have as Americans, we are so lucky to have been born here. People don’t cross rivers, walk across deserts, and risk their lives to go to China, Russia, or Brazil. The rights of the individual, the right to worship, the right to speak, the right to demonstrate, and the right to achieve whatever you can achieve and be who you can be are so special and so unique to America.

As Americans, we were the first people to pioneer that. I do believe these values are a risk. I fought for this country on the battlefield. My wife did as well. Most of my best friends did. I love my businesses. I love running our ranch here in Montana. But the reality is, it’s time for a new generation of leaders to step up and try to solve some of our serious problems, and that’s why we’re doing this.

Randyn Gregg

When you get elected, what are a few of the first things you will fight to change in DC.?

Tim Sheehy

There’s a long list of things we must address. As a “Freshman” Senator, I won’t be able to wave my wand and make everything happen however I want. But there are things that we can impact as leaders.

Number one, we must get our country back into a fiscally responsible trajectory. We cannot continue putting our children and grandchildren under a debt load they can never recover from.

Number two, our southern border. It is unconscionable that we have a southern border that is as porous as it is; it’s a human rights catastrophe. We’re a northern border state with a southern border problem. Fentanyl, opioids, and the criminal dynamic are seriously hollowing out some of our rural communities.

Number Three: education. We have to return faith and family to the classrooms. Parents are the frontline of raising their children. Parents should be deeply involved in and have a very strong say in what their children are being taught at school. We have to make sure our schools are locally controlled, and parents are involved, and finally, foreign policy, we have to get back to a sane foreign policy structure. The last three years have just been crazy. We have seen our standing in the world denigrated all the way around.

Randyn Gregg

Tell us a little about yourself and the Little Belt Cattle Company. 

Tim Sheehy

I grew up in rural Minnesota. We were not farmers and ranchers at all. We did live on an old farmstead. That my family bought. The family that had owned the farm previously had chopped up the neighboring acres and developed it. We still had all the old barns, chicken coops, wagons, and a couple of horses.

Now, my wife and I settled in Montana. We both served in the military in Afghanistan. After I got wounded, and our career ended sooner than we thought, we came right to Montana. I used to train here before we deployed to Afghanistan. That’s how we decided we were going to settle in Montana.

We first bought 60 acres of land between Belgrade and Churchill, where we currently reside on our hay farm. There was nothing here; it was part of an old dairy farm. We lived in a tent while we built our barn and lived in our barn for four-and-a-half years until we built our house. We started the business at the same time, and as the business grew and became successful, we started to acquire more land that you now know as Little Belt Cattle Company. It was for the love of the land that’s what drove it.

It’s also a great way to raise a family. Now, my two daughters, they just turned 8 and 10. We pushed about 800 head of cattle out of summer pasture and into fall pasture. Seeing my daughters and how they’ve matured over the past few years is incredibly powerful. It’s so important for my wife and I to have them involved. They know how to move cows. They know how to read the herd. They know how to move their horses in and out to get the desired response. It truly is remarkable to see.

Randyn Gregg

Catch part two of our candid conversation next week where Tim and I will discuss a range of topics from federal agency reform, China, and energy and food security.

Randyn Gregg was a former congressional intern and a field representative for State Senator Tom Berryhill (R-CA) in the agriculturally rich and diverse Central Valley. Randyn was a former Republican candidate for Montana’s HD-30 in the state legislature. He also graduated from the highly esteemed Montana State University Farrier School and currently runs “Performance Farrier Services” in Meagher County, Montana.

Read and listen to more from the original publication HERE.