Frequently Asked Questions

No. Howe Ranch is private property and is open to registered guests only during scheduled experiences and stays.

There are no walk-ins, drive-bys, gate visits, or drop-ins. Please do not enter the property or stop along the private ranch road without a confirmed reservation.

All currently available experiences are listed on our website. If a date or experience cannot be booked online, it is not currently available.

All instant-book experiences must be reserved through our website in advance.

Choose your experience, complete the required guest information and waiver, and submit payment online. Your confirmation will be sent by email.

We are unable to create reservations through phone calls, texts, social media messages, or email.

Private-event, milestone, group, school, and accessibility inquiries may be submitted separately. Celebrations cannot be slipped into Private Mini Moo/Mini Moo Magic experiences. 

Howe Ranch specializes in private, facilitated boutique animal experiences centered around meaningful interaction with our micro and miniature Highland cattle and the other animals who call the ranch home.

Rather than moving through a public attraction, guests spend intentional time interacting with the animals, taking photographs, and enjoying the idyllic setting.

Our experiences are deliberately limited in capacity so that we can protect the animals, preserve the privacy of the property, and maintain the personal atmosphere for which Howe Ranch is known.

Howe Ranch is not structured as a public-admission petting farm.

Our pricing reflects the staffing, animal care, liability management, specialized livestock, curated environments, and private access required to create a highly personal boutique experience.

Private experiences are reserved exclusively for your party within the guest limit listed for that experience, whether your group contains two guests or the maximum number permitted.

For guests looking for a traditional walk-through petting zoo or inexpensive per-person admission, Howe Ranch will likely not be the right fit—and that is perfectly okay. We encourage everyone to choose an experience that matches what they are looking for.

The Private Mini Moo is our signature animal-centered experience.

Guests enjoy facilitated interaction with our miniature cattle and other ranch animals, with opportunities for feeding, brushing, cuddling, photographs, and time within our seasonal ranch settings.

The experience is faciliated around the animals and the ranch itself and is not an event rental, proposal package, birthday party, or celebration package.

No.

Our instant-book animal experiences are intentionally structured as animal-focused visits and cannot be converted into private events or celebrations.

Please do not bring cakes, champagne, candles, decorations, party supplies, gifts intended for a staged presentation, surprise setups, or other event elements to an animal experience.

Personal photographs are welcome as part of your visit, but an outside photographer may not direct, stage, pause, extend, or convert the experience into a proposal, styled shoot, ceremony, or private event. 

Private milestone experiences, celebrations, proposals, elopements, styled gatherings, and other special-event offerings are being released separately. 2027/28 wedding packages will be released September 1.

If you are currently planning something special, you are welcome to inquire with us directly while those experiences are being added to the website.

No.

The Mini Moo Fairytale Farm Stay is currently offered as an immersive ranch stay built around the property, the animals, and the facilitated experiences included with your reservation.

A Farm Stay reservation does not include use of Howe Ranch as an event venue and may not be converted into a proposal, elopement, birthday celebration, styled event, private gathering, party, ceremony, or other milestone event.

Please do not bring decorations, event setups, cakes, champagne, vendors, photographers for staged events, additional unregistered visitors, or other celebration elements unless they are specifically included in a separately contracted private-event experience.

Our dedicated milestone and private-event experiences will be released separately. Guests interested in an upcoming proposal, elopement, celebration, or special gathering may inquire with us now for information.

No.

Only registered Farm Stay guests may enter the property or participate in the stay and its included experiences unless Howe Ranch has approved additional guests in writing as part of a separate private-event arrangement.

This helps us maintain privacy, animal safety, insurance compliance, and the intimate nature of the stay.

Guest capacities are established according to the particular experience, staffing, animal-care needs, and property logistics.

If additional capacity remains available, the booking page will indicate the options offered for that experience. We cannot exceed the listed guest maximum.

All guests 1 year of age and older count toward the registered guest total.

Yes, when staffing and scheduling allow.

Schools, organizations, larger groups, and guests interested in private gatherings may contact Howe Ranch directly regarding available options.

Private celebrations and milestone experiences are also being added to our Montana offerings and will be published separately from our instant-book animal experiences and Farm Stay.

Each Howe Ranch offering is described in detail on our website, including guest capacity, length, included activities, and the style of experience.

We encourage guests to review the descriptions, photographs, policies, and FAQs and select the experience that most closely matches what they are looking for.

Because each reservation removes a private time period from availability and commits staffing and ranch resources, all Howe Ranch reservations are non-refundable and cannot be rescheduled to a later date.

In a genuine extenuating circumstance, a reservation may be transferred to another party when permitted by the applicable experience policy. The replacement guest's name, phone number, and email address must be provided to Howe Ranch before arrival.

We recommend confirming your travel plans and group availability carefully before reserving.

Please arrive at your scheduled arrival time rather than early.

Because Howe Ranch is private property and our team may be caring for animals, preparing guest areas, or hosting another experience before yours, we cannot accommodate early arrivals or vehicles waiting at the gate or along the private road.

If you are ahead of schedule, please enjoy some extra time in the Kalispell area before continuing to the ranch.

Howe Ranch is a working ranch with natural and sometimes uneven terrain.

Closed-toe shoes are strongly recommended, along with clothing appropriate for the season and weather. Depending on conditions, portions of your experience may include grass, dirt, gravel, pasture, snow, or other natural ranch surfaces.

Please dress for Montana rather than for an indoor attraction.

No.

Our animals follow carefully managed diets. Please never bring outside treats or feed animals unless something has been provided to you by your Howe Ranch facilitator.

This is particularly important because certain foods can cause choking, digestive illness, or other serious problems.

Howe Ranch is a working ranch with a mix of paved/asphalt areas, accessible stable areas, grass, gravel, dirt, and other natural farm terrain. A ground-level restroom with an accessible sink is available. Please note that our Farm Stay accommodations are located on the second floor.

Because individual access needs vary, we encourage guests with specific mobility or accessibility questions to contact us before booking so we can provide information about the areas included in their particular experience.

No. Booking an experience does not constitute exclusive use or a full buyout of the 21-acre ranch unless specifically stated in the experience description (i.e. Wedding Package).

A Private Mini Moo Experience, for example, means your group enjoys its own facilitated animal experience without unrelated guests participating in your session. Other offerings, such as Mini Moo Magic may be intentionally shared, small-group experiences with a limited number of additional guests or families on the property.

Farm Stay guests should also expect normal ranch activity during their stay, which may include other scheduled guest experiences taking place elsewhere on the property.

Howe Ranch is designed around small-scale, boutique experiences rather than large crowds. Whether you join us for a private visit, a limited-capacity seasonal event, or a Farm Stay, our programming is structured to provide meaningful, up-close interaction with the animals rather than simply viewing them from a distance.

Please review the individual experience description before booking for the format and guest capacity specific to that offering.

Outside food, catered items, cakes, champagne, and event-style food or beverages are not permitted as part of our instant-book animal experiences (i.e. Private Mini Moo; Mini Moo Magic) unless specifically stated in the experience description. Guests are asked to bring water as walking is part of each experience. 

Farm Stay guests should follow the separate lodging policies provided with their reservation.

No.

Guest dogs and other outside animals are not permitted during ranch experiences. Our livestock are prey animals and may react unpredictably to unfamiliar dogs, and our livestock guardian animals may perceive outside canines as a threat.

Please make appropriate arrangements for pets before visiting.

Howe Ranch experiences are generally offered in normal Montana weather, and part of the magic of the ranch changes with the seasons.

If conditions become genuinely unsafe or the property becomes inaccessible because of severe weather, wildfire, flooding, or another significant safety condition, Howe Ranch will contact affected guests regarding the available options.

Please review the applicable weather policy before booking and come prepared for seasonal conditions.

We release experiences as dates, staffing, animals, and ranch operations allow.

Once an experience becomes available, it will appear on our website calendar. We generally cannot provide speculative release dates for experiences that have not yet been published.

Seasonal events, private milestones, celebrations, and additional Montana experiences will continue to be added as they become available.

Our guest capacity is intentionally limited, so we do not routinely provide complimentary visits, influencer exchanges, sponsorship passes, or free content sessions.

Any designated media or collaboration opportunities will be announced separately by Howe Ranch.

Howe Ranch is intentionally different from a public farm attraction.

Our home, ranch, animals, and guest spaces have been created for people who value privacy, beautiful surroundings, meaningful animal interaction, and a thoughtfully hosted experience.

Keeping our visits limited and structured allows us to protect what makes the ranch special—for our animals, our guests, and the people who live here.

We appreciate you reviewing our policies before booking and look forward to welcoming you to Howe Ranch.

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