The Family Behind Our Tallow

Mannix Family Ranch, Helmville, Montana

Between Missoula and Helena, in the small town of Helmville, Montana, sits Mannix Family Ranch.

Located in the Blackfoot River Valley, this land has been in the Mannix family since 1882. What began as a homestead has carried through generations of ranching, stewardship, and hard work.

When we had the opportunity to visit the ranch and learn more about the family, we came away with a deeper appreciation for the care behind every part of their operation.

The Mannix ranch is still family owned and family run, with the fifth generation now carrying on the work. The same passion, tenacity, and grit that started the ranch are still alive in its descendants.

They do not see themselves as “owners” of the land, but as caretakers. Their responsibility is to steward and improve the soil, streams, grass, timber, wildlife, and resources for the next generation. That belief shows in everything they do.

Their cattle are moved with intention across the landscape, rotating through pastures so the grass has time to rest, recover, and grow stronger. This kind of grazing helps maintain ground cover, build soil health, improve forage distribution, and support stronger pastures over time. Mannix describes their approach as carefully managed holistic grazing, with cattle, grass, soil, and water all considered part of the same system. 

Their grass-finished cattle follow the seasons. Calves begin grazing alongside their mothers, move onto irrigated pastures as yearlings, and finish on high-quality dryland pastures. Every two weeks, finished animals are hand selected for the butcher once they have reached maturity.

The Mannix family also uses cover crops to support soil biology, increase soil carbon, improve soil structure, and help water move into the ground. Their larger conservation work includes watershed protection, stream restoration, biological weed control, predator-friendly practices, sustainable timber management, and conservation easements that help protect the land for the future.

Their goal is not just to sustain the land as it is, or use it to make a quick buck. It is to keep learning, keep improving, and leave the land better than they found it. In Mannix’s own writing on regenerative agriculture, they describe this as a lifelong commitment to doing better as they learn more.

Mannix beef is grass fed and grass finished. Through selective breeding and thoughtful management, they raise animals of exceptional quality and nutrient density. Their practices are built around health of cattle, grass, soil, all working towards a healthy future.

They are doing more than raising more than beef. They are protecting a way of life.

Tallow is a traditional skincare ingredient, and where it comes from is what makes it traditional. Cattle grazing grass on pastures, not in a confined feedlot. That is why we use Mannix tallow. Because thoughtful sourcing is the difference between mainstream skincare, and something crafted with intention, to support skin, that supports family ranching. When it comes from animals raised with this level of care, on land managed with this level of responsibility, it carries a deeper story.

We are proud to use Mannix ranch tallow in our skincare because it reflects the same values we believe in: legacy, stewardship, hard work, and exceptional quality.

It allows us to create nourishing, traditional skincare while supporting a Montana ranching family whose work deserves to be known.