The Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary is in the Blackfoot
River Valley of western Montana, a few miles east of the town
of Ovando (pop. 70). The ranch sits at 4100 feet in a local
valley called Kleinschmidt Flat. The North Fork of the Blackfoot
River flows along the northwest edge of "the Flat,"
with the headwaters high in the nearby Scapegoat Wilderness,
part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. Ancient glaciers
carved out this broad, flat plain at the base of the mountains,
hence the name. The Kleinschmidts were the first homesteaders
on the Flat.
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The sanctuary's 160 acres of rangeland is covered with a variety of grasses and stands of sagebrush. A large irrigation ditch, fed by the North Fork, meanders across the property on its miles-long journey through the valley.
The weather is typical for this altitude in the northern Rockies. Summers are dry, hot and short, and winters are snowy, cold and long. Because of the wide, flat terrain, it can get windy here. In winter, enormous snow drifts pile up, sometimes closing roads. After a good snowfall it can take us hours on the tractor to plow the drives on the ranch, clear out the corrals with the tractor-mounted snowblower, and open up the barnyard.
As a result of the frigid winters, we have to shelter the animals accordingly. When night-time temperatures routinely drop below zero -- and 20 below zero is not unusual -- providing heated water sources for the animals is a necessity. During winter we bring all the large animals into the barns at night (and in storms as well); in the summer, depending on the animal, most stay outdoors in fenced pastures.
Our facilities include three barns, five animal cottages, four large animal sheds and an employee cottage.
