BILLINGS, MONT. — Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. is partnering with Stovall Ranching Co., an organization that includes diversified family ranches in Montana, to develop a new-generation cattle feeding facility.

The facility will produce premium-quality Montana beef, which the companies said will be the “cleanest, most eco-friendly finished beef” on the market.

As part of the partnership, Turk Stovall, chief executive officer of Stovall Ranching, is joining Bion’s board of directors to lead the joint venture between Stovall Ranching and Bion.

Located at Stovall’s Yellowstone Cattle Feeders in Shepherd, Mont., the facility is expected to have a 15,000 head capacity. Cattle will be finished in barns designed for feed efficiency and cattle welfare, while being outfitted with solar generation and advanced waste treatment and resource recovery systems provided by Bion’s patented closed-loop technologies.

The facility will mainly be powered through onsite solar energy. Additionally lowering the site’s environmental footprint, the Bion Gen3Tech system will harvest organic and low-carbon nitrogen fertilizers from the volatile ammonia in the waste, methane that can be upgraded to Renewable Natural Gas, and clean water.

“We aren’t focused on how beef was produced over the last 50 years; we are focused on how to produce it for the next 50 years,” Turk Stovall said. “It is our mission to advance our production systems to be the best and at the high standards the market demands. Bion’s clean, climate-controlled, and efficient system will produce cattle ‘programmed’ to meet some of the highest eco-friendly standards in the marketplace and it may well become the future of cattle feeding. Once completed, and proven, the facility can serve as a model to execute in other states and other possible locations in Montana.”

Turk Stovall is a fifth-generation Montana rancher in addition to being CEO and owner Stovall Ranching. He has held management positions with Certified Angus Beef, North Platte Feeders and ORIgen. He serves as second vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association and has served on the Cattleman’s Beef Board by appointment of the US Secretary of Agriculture. 

Stovall earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science from Montana State University, his master’s degree from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Purdue University.

“We are equally pleased that Turk will bring his experience to Bion’s board and lead our first beef project,” said Craig Scott, head of business development at Bion. “We think it’s the perfect fit.”