BOZEMAN — Teah Vennes is a senior in high school and a seventh-generation cattle rancher at the Woosley Ranch in the shadow of the Bridger Mountains — and she's carrying on a legacy that stretches back generations, one calf at a time.
We first introduced you to Teah and an unforgettable cow named Laurie Darlin' back in 2023. Now, Laurie Darlin' is thriving.
"Miss Laurie Darlin is doing amazing, she's out being a cow right now. So she's had two calves now, and she's about to have her third in about a month or so," Vennes said.
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For Teah, watching her line of cattle grow within her family's herd is a source of great pride.
"It's definitely something that's really cool to look out and to say 'that's a daughter of my merit heifer', and I've talked with other merit heifer recipients from across the state from this last year, and they'll come up to me and say 'I love that cow,' and I'm be able to say, 'she's a daughter of my merit heifer. So it's really cool to have that connection and to be able to share that!" Vennes said.
The NILE Merit Heifer Program connects young, aspiring cattle businessmen and women with current producers. Selected recipients receive a donor heifer from their paired producer. For Teah, that donor heifer was Laurie Darlin' — and her personality is alive more than ever.
Upon graduation, Teah plans to head to Montana State University to study agricultural business, with the goal of pursuing a career that allows her to give back to producers.
This article has been lightly edited with the assistance of AI for clarity, syntax, and grammar.
