Terry Stuart Forst, a fifth generation Oklahoman who manages the state’s oldest and most continuous family-operated ranch, has been named the 2024 recipient of Governor Stitt’s Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture Award. Forst is the 27th inductee into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame, and becomes the first female to earn the state’s most prestigious agricultural honor.

For the past 30 years, Forst has managed the 7S Stuart Ranch near Caddo and Waurika. The 45,000-acre cattle and horse operation is the oldest and most continuous family-operated ranch in Oklahoma. Under her guidance, the Stuart Ranch became a model “classroom” of best management practices. In addition to her success in guiding a ranch to be one of the most profitable in the Southwest, the ranch is considered one of the most elite among North American Quarter Horse ranches. The Stuart Ranch received a Best Remuda Award from the American Quarter Horse Association, and two horses bred by Forst have been named AQHA World Show Superhorse.

Forst earned her bachelor’s degree in animal science from OSU in 1976 before embarking on a career that would earn her many honors. Some people initially questioned whether she could turn around the 137-year-old Stuart Ranch. When her father, Robert T. Stuart, offered her the position of ranch manager, Forst took a systematic approach to putting the Stuart Ranch back in the black.

Forst faced the challenges of Oklahoma weather, changing markets and world events with optimism and faith. Newly widowed and the mother of two young boys, she evaluated her resources and received additional training before graduating first-in-class from TCU’s Ranch Management Program. In partnership with the Samuel Robert Noble Foundation, she developed a program to improve pasture and rangeland. Later, she worked with OSU Extension Specialists and the Noble Research Foundation to complete a standardized performance analysis on the ranch to establish specific objectives for the cattle operation to produce cattle of a more optimal size, increase conception rates and decrease annual cow costs without sacrificing quality.

Forst strives to improve all facets of her ranch while maintaining practices designed to conserve resources and sharing her learned experiences with her community. She is widely known as a lifelong agriculture producer and an innovator in range management techniques, beef production and a leader of one of the most comprehensive equine programs in the country. Forst continually devotes her talent and time through volunteer efforts across the state from consulting to improve beef production methods to regularly providing livestock and facilities for beef producer workshops and demonstrations. Forst greatly contributed to the well-being of Oklahomans through her devotion to caring for the land and providing food to help feed the state of Oklahoma and the world.