The Milesnick family is engaged in production of cattle, grain and hay. The agricultural success of the ranch has been directly related to the family's focus on preserving the integrity of the resource. Natural assets alone, however, do not explain Tom's success in ranching. Part can be attributed to a short-term rotation scheme that maintains consistently productive forage, and riparian restoration work that has helped to create world-class trout fishing and improve game bird habitat.
When Tom put his current grazing program into practice, he also embarked on an aggressive stream restoration project. The waterways that course through the ranch are prime habitat for brown and rainbow trout. Tom hoped to improve the quality of fisheries, and simultaneously improve streamside grazing. To protect streambanks, Tom fenced a number of small riparian pastures with electric fence. The cattle graze these areas for no more than one (1) day and then the pasture is allowed to revegitate. This grazing cycle diminishes the growth of thistles and other weeds that are commonly seen in ungrazed areas.
Many of you might be familiar with our brand "MZ-" since that is the way many people refer to our ranch. If you visit our place you will note that our cattle all have the "MZ-" on their right side and our barn also is identified with the brand.
Our cattle are kept on the ranch during the Winter and early Spring for Winter feeding and calving. They are then transferred to mountain pastures for the Summer, so you often do not see as many cattle at the "MZ-" during Summer and Fall.
While visiting Milesnick Ranch you may have the opportunity to observe Whitetail deer, fox, coyote, pelicans, geese, a variety of ducks, Blue heron, pheasants, Hungarian partridge, Sand Hill cranes, Golden eagles, Bald eagles and a large assortment of songbirds.