Patrick Montgomery founded Valor Provisions
Patrick Montgomery knows a thing or two about putting others before himself.
He joined the military because of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and spent five years with the U.S. Army’s 1st Ranger Batallion, completing two deployments to Afghanistan.
He retired from active duty in 2014.
During the last six months of his time in the military, he worked in a veterinary office.
He thought he wanted to become a large animal veterinarian but realized he belonged on a ranch and set out to be a business owner.
“Entrepreneurship doesn’t replace the purpose I had when I was in the military,” he told Farms.com. “But there’s a lot of similarities and I’ve seen a lot of veterans become entrepreneurs.”
Montgomery learned about ranching while interning at Ranger Cattle in Austin, Texas. It was there he became familiar with wagyu beef.
He purchased his first heifer in 2016, launched his farm, KC Cattle Company, a 250-head operation on 420 acres in Missouri in 2017. He completed his education at the University of Missouri in 2019.
As he became familiar with the business of agriculture, he realized small farms like his have trouble accessing consumers when having to go up against larger businesses.
“The objective became how do we pay the farmer and rancher a livable wage but also be able to compete with the big box stores,” he said.
This led him to starting a new mission in November 2024 – Valor Provisions.
It’s a direct-to-consumer online marketplace offering premium proteins from small independent ranches.
“Ranches owned by veterans are preferred but there’s not enough of them right now,” he said. “We have a chicken vendor we’re working to onboard that isn’t a veteran.”
Customers pay a one-time membership fee and receive access to the list of vendors, which as of May 2025 includes three operations owned by veterans.
Farms interested in signing up as a vendor must apply and pass an inspection from Montgomery.
“If you made a product claim you better be doing it when I come visit,” he said. “I visit every single one, tour the property, I meet you and talk about the future of the products coming off the farm. I prefer to shake your hand and look into your eyes than talk to you on a screen.”
Montgomery acknowledges processing the livestock is the largest challenge Valor Provisions currently faces.
But he’s reminded of his time in the military and how a small number of soldiers progressed in Afghanistan.
“The case study I always go back to from the military is there was essentially 50 Green Berets who took down about 500,000 members of the Taliban in a month using the United States Airforce,” he said. “What we can take from that is you have to be able to adapt very quickly, and you check your ego at the door. We use the best ideas regardless of who came up with them because we’re all battling towards the same purpose.”