About Us
We’re celebrating 46 years with these wonderful animals
Steve & Sue Rolfing
Gravity Shots Photo
Read the Flathead Living magazine feature article on Great Northern Ranch.
Click here for more about Our Family.
In recognition for their commitment to the industry, Celebrity Sales’ Tom Simmons and Janet and Mike Wilkins present Steve and Sue with the 2008 Craig Wilkins Memorial Showmanship Award.
Montana’s old Great Northern Railway signs inspired the Rolfing’s first logo with a pack llama replacing the mountain goat in the railroad’s original.
Great Northern Ranch features big, beautiful, statuesque llamas in all fleece types on 500 heavenly acres in Montana’s Flathead Valley near Glacier National Park. Animals bearing the Rolfings’ trademark “GNLC” herd identifier have been show ring champions and high sellers at events throughout the United States and Canada for three decades. Great Northern also provides pet, pack and guard llamas.
American Llama Magazine honored our herd and ranch history with an online cover feature and 75 photos in Issue One, August 2018.
How it started — The Rolfings first bought llamas in 1979 to carry Steve’s timber cruising equipment for his U.S. Forest Service work in the mountains of northwest Montana. That was the beginning of Great Northern Llama Company, one of America’s oldest llama pack trip outfitter and guide services. In 1986 the NBC Today Show featured the Rolfings’ business as one “that’s allowed them a rather idyllic life raising llamas and children.” Their children, Kate Grenier and Jamie, are now grown and gone, but Steve & Sue are still among the fortunate few for whom raising llamas and alpacas is a full-time occupation.
Helping the Industry — Steve and Sue have helped countless new breeders get started by organizing conferences, hosting events, writing articles and speaking on herd management, reproduction, packing, marketing and promotion.
With over 40 years of totally hands-on experience in all aspects of this business, Steve is just a phone call away and always happy to answer any questions.
He has served on the boards of the International Lama Registry and the International Llama Association, with two terms as president.
For 23 years the Rolfings were active in the alpaca industry with a blue-ribbon herd featuring grey and black huacaya alpacas.
Through Heifer International the Rolfings have assisted and visited remote alpaca and llama-raising communities in the Andes. On six trips to Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina Steve has also studied alpacas, llamas, guanacos and vicunas with native herdsmen, importers and university researchers.
