Women are, at their core, nurturers, cultivators, and growers — skilled at balancing many responsibilities — so it’s no surprise they make exceptional farmers and ranchers. In fact, one in three farmers in America is a woman. According to USDA Census of Agriculture data, women make up 36% of all U.S. farmers. In recognition of their vital contributions, the United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer. 

This year, Utah Farm Bureau is proud to celebrate Utah’s women in agriculture—one story at a time. Throughout the year, we will highlight women across the state and the essential roles they play not only in producing our food, but also in strengthening their farms, supporting their families, and enriching their communities.

 

Meet Kellie Kunzler

Kellie and Del Kunzler have six children and continue the tradition of raising cattle and horses on their sixth-generation, Kunzler & Sons Ranch. They run 500 head of Angus-cross mother cows on 10,000 acres in Rosette, near Park Valley, in Box Elder County, Utah. The family also has horses, including a few broodmares (female horses kept specifically for breeding purposes, rather than for riding). Kellie has loved horses since she bought her first horse with the money she saved from showing steers at the fair.

Kellie’s past holds the lessons, experiences, and decisions that have shaped her life.


The Farmer’s Daughter

The daughter of Clark and Vaudis Ward, Kellie was raised on a ranch in the little town of Almo in southern Idaho. Her parents had a small herd of Holstein milk cows for a few years, then switched to Hereford/Angus cross beef cattle. She grew up helping on the ranch and singing in her family’s Country Western dance band. 

Kellie’s parents met in high school. One time, Clark invited Vaudis to a dance and then never picked her up. Vaudis’ father was playing in the dance band, so she went along with her dad. When she got to the dance, there was Clark dancing with a brunette girl. 

“Dad knew when the blonde girl showed up that he was in trouble,” Kellie reminisces. “I once found a stack of poems Dad wrote, and one of them was of that experience. My mom told me that all his poems were based on real experiences and that really stuck in my head.”

 

Looking on the Bright Side

Maybe that’s what led Kellie to write books about her life experiences.  Writing was never in her plans, but she began posting experiences and life lessons on Facebook to help people look on the bright side of things. She began to get positive feedback and encouragement from her friends to compile her stories into a book. This unexpected journey led her to write A Different Kind of Same: A Country Girl's View of the World and Making a Difference: A Country Girl's View - Take Two. Kellie takes readers to an inspirational end, traveling through the experiences and lessons of her life with a little cowboy wisdom sprinkled in for good measure. 

Maybe Kellie didn’t plan on being a writer, but as early as she can remember, she planned on being a rancher. 

Kellie loved working on the farm alongside her family. From her early years sitting in the barn while her father milked, to later driving the swather, and moving cows, she loved being one of the few girls in her valley who helped on the ranch, and she loved living in the country. 

A young Kellie on the Kunzler Ranch

Like many farm families, her mother and father also worked off the farm to make ends meet. Kellie’s mother drove a school bus, and her father was a deputy sheriff. 

When Kellie was only 8 years old, her father passed away from cancer.  Her older brother was 17, her older sister was 15, and her little sister was only 4. Kellie’s mother and father had always worked together on the ranch. Her mother understood the business, but now the immense responsibility of keeping the farm going fell on her shoulders. Vaudis grew up being her dad’s “right-hand man,” so she sought counsel and advice from her father and a brother-in-law. 

“Mom kept driving the school bus. She kept us together, served in the community, and made sure the bank had what it needed to keep us going.  Mom kept us going, and together we kept the ranch going – we all pitched in. Mom just kept going and didn’t give up. She figured out how to make things work,” Kellie recalls. 

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.”  Vaudis Ward found her true strength in the “hot water” of running a ranch without her husband, and maybe without even knowing it, raising her family in resilience.

 

Women Wear a Variety of Hats

In addition to owning and operating a ranch, Kellie earned her bachelor’s degree in family history research, she’s an AEMT on the local ambulance service, a 4-H leader, an author, plays the organ at church, and, like her mother, drives a school bus for the local school in Park Valley.

“Women wear so many hats. We pitch in wherever we’re needed. We hold down the fort, we cook the meals, we raise kids, we keep the books, we work cattle and put up hay. We figure out how to get things done. Farm women are flexible, and we improvise really well,” Kellie said.

 

Rooted in Family

From her resilient farm roots, Kellie’s desire to be a rancher started to become a reality on a blind date with a cowboy named Del Kunzler. He took her to the Cassia County Fair and Rodeo in Burley, Idaho.  When that went well, Del called Kellie on Monday to go to the Box Elder County Fair in Tremonton, Utah. As they walked the fairgrounds on Wednesday, holding hands, the younger kids from Del’s hometown who were showing their animals were thrilled to see that Del had a date! He asked Kellie out for team branding for that Saturday, and so began her ranching family dream. 

Agriculture is not just for the present, but for the future. Kellie sees the future in her children and grandchildren. 

The Kunzlers rely on their children to help. One of their sons remembers how his confidence grew as his grandfather and father gave him responsibilities and put their faith in him. He wanted to be someone they could always count on. That character-building block has made all the difference in his life. 

Kellie believes, “There’s no better way of life.   There’s so much good that comes from growing up on a farm or ranch, like learning responsibility, developing skills that can help people, developing a strong work ethic, working outside in the fresh air alongside your family, and feeling like you accomplished something at the end of the day.” 

Are there family challenges that arise that test their patience? Of course. Kellie has learned through experience that seeing things from another’s point of view and having patience help in the journey to understanding and resolving family conflicts. 

“The bottom line is we are a family—we’re in this together. You can get mad at each other, but at the end of the night, we’re still a family. Whether moving cows or branding, everyone is pitching in and doing their part.”

 

We Are in This Together

Kellie believes deeply in passing on a legacy of hard work and faith, teaching her children and grandchildren that what they do—and who they are—truly matters. She wants them to grow up knowing they are loved and that she is proud of the paths they are forging. More than anything, she hopes they become people of integrity—willing to step in, lend a hand, and be the helpers in a world that needs them. Because to Kellie, life is not meant to be faced alone; we are all in this together.


This article was written by Susan Furner while she was working as the Vice President of Consumer Engagement for the Utah Farm Bureau. Susan has since retired, but still provides articles to the Utah Farm Bureau.