LINCOLN, Neb. – Charles Parks of Ekalaka, Montana, was announced as the 2025 American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) Commercial Producer of the Year at the 55th Annual National Convention on December 4, 2025, at the Margaritaville Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
Parks runs a ranch in eastern Montana that is home to more than 400 Gelbvieh-influenced mother cows. He exclusively runs Gelbvieh and Balancer® bulls in the operation and raises his own replacement heifers. The cows are expected to work for a living in the rough country southwest of Ekalaka. Feet and leg structure are critical in his bull selection, as well as a combination of above breed average calving ease and weaning weight EPDs. Phenotype and EPDs are key in his decision-making process. He has been a long-time buyer at the Black Hills Stock Show Gelbvieh and Balancer Sale and private treaty markets his feeder calves. He individually tags, vaccinates, castrates, and brands calves at one to two days of age, since it is difficult to find labor to handle the calves when they are older, as he runs the ranch with only his wife, Sandy.
“Charles is a strong believer in the maternal strength and reproductive efficiency of the Gelbvieh female. He needs a cow that will mother a calf right away and breed back efficiently without a lot of extra supplementation,” explained Lori Maude, CJ&L Livestock.
Parks actively serves on the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) board of directors and has leveraged those programs to put in more than 40 miles of pipeline, which has improved the over forage use and helped distribute the cattle more efficiently over his property to improve pasture management.
Congratulations to Charles Parks on being named the 2025 AGA Commercial Producer of the Year!
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American Gelbvieh Association
