Agri-News

Like Agri-News, Tami Jo Arvik Blake is a native of the great state of Montana. Raised on the PV Ranch (formerly the JB Grierson Ranch) near Hysham, Tami Jo graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings in 2004 with a degree in agribusiness. She came on board as editor of Agri-News in September of 2005. She especially enjoys writing feature stories about rural folks, and her articles - including her popular column, "Tales from Cow Camp" - have appeared in Agri-News since 2002. Tami Jo's husband, Beau, works with her dad on the ranch where she was raised and the two make their home along the Yellowstone River just east of Custer. In her spare time, Tami Jo enjoys riding good horses and helping out with ranch work, playing with her Border Collies, Angel and Shasta, and singing at her hometown church. She's proud to carry on Agri-News' goal to bring the best each week has to offer to readers, in a unique blend of breaking news in agriculture, history of the West, humor, and nostalgia... all served up in a unique combination of hard news, prose, poetry, and photographs old and new. Contact Tami Jo.

Western Livestock Reporter

Tichelle Ickes has joined the Western Livestock Publications staff as editor of the Western Livestock Reporter. Tichelle, a fourth generation Montanan, grew up on the Tullock Creek ranch her great-grandfather homesteaded in the 1920s south of Bighorn. Her parents, Stark and Naomi, along with siblings Cameron and Nicole, continue to raise commercial cattle and farm dryland hay there today. Tichelle received a bachelor's degree in English from Montana State University-Billings in 2004 and has spent the last three years teaching high school English in Power, Montana. Tichelle says she is pleased to be taking a position in the Yellowstone Valley, closer to her family's ranch. She says it has been a goal to give something back to the agricultural community, and that her position as editor of WLR will give her the chance to use her English skills to provide up-to-date, useful information to people in the industry. Contact Tichelle.