Stories from California Cattle Country

In this episode we venture to Arcata, just north of Eureka California and home to Cal Poly Humboldt to discuss ranching a few miles from the Pacific. Every environment presents a unique set of problems whether it be weather, invasive or native wildlife or urbanization. Ranchers in Arcata deal with all of the above. The reason for my visit was to talk about Elk. Specifically, Roosevelt Elk. These e...

Darrel Sweet's ranch is nestled in the hills on the south side of the Altamont Pass surrounded by these wind turbines. For this podcast, ranch visits are typically a hike. Ranches often exist in places where most people wouldn't want to live... mostly because they are remote.  Livermore is located on the Eastern edge of the Bay Area just under 50 miles southwest of San Francisco. As I am...

Listen to Phil and Cindy describe a livestock auction and community in Fresno County and what to look for in a cow at a livestock auction.

In this episode we speak with Jim Keegan of Keegan Ranch about the impending wildflower superbloom and his family history ranching in Bear Valley.

Lunny ranch, also known as G Ranch, is part of the Pt Reyes National Seashore, which is located on the Pt Reyes Peninsula and maintained by the National Park Service. In 1962 a congressman from Marin County, Clem Miller proposed legislation for Pt Reyes National Seashore in an effort to stymie development and protect the areas flora and fauna during the Kennedy administration. At that time, cattle...

In this episode we speak with Wayne Stahl, an authority on Santa Maria BBQ and member of the Santa Maria Elks for over 50 years. We then speak with Sue Benech, a Santa Barbara rancher and biologist, who also attended the Elks dinner, about Ranching in such a unique environment and the importance of community.

In our previous episode we spoke with Cheryl LaFranchi about her ranch Oak Ridge Angus and its history... among other things. In this episode we meet up with her at the Red Bluff Bull & Gelding sale where she's selling 4 of her Angus Bulls.  A bull sale isn't much unlike a dog show... at least to these eyes. The animals are just a lot bigger. An important part of a bull's geneti...

We initially decided to visit Oak Ridge Angus to pursue an angle in regard to Bull Sales... it's a fascinating process and not something we'd covered before on this podcast. After some research and my interview with 3rd generation rancher Cheryl LaFranchi, there was a whole lot more to unpack. This episode will be split in two. In the first we'll learn the history of Oak Ridge Angus...

This episode addresses the almost unprecedented precipitation in California and its effect on a Northern Californian rancher. The effects are in no way localized with extensive flooding, road closures, power outages, mudslides, property damage and loss of lives extending the length of the state. The cause has been a barrage of Atmospheric Rivers battering the state.  We'd been hearing that ma...

Join us for a conversation with lifelong Parkfield resident and rancher, Kevin Kester where we discuss the towns of San Miguel and Parkfield, the second oldest bar in California and the ranching benefits of commercial drones.

Pozo is set in a bowl shaped valley. In fact, the word Pozo translates to well or hole in Spanish. The town originated as a stop on the Butterfield Overland Main stagecoach. Pozo is currently home to a Fire station, the Pozo Saloon (a temporarily inactive Civil War Era Saloon)  and the Vintage Cowboy Winery. That's it. I met rancher Steve Arnold at the Vintage Cowboy Winery where he was surve...

Our recent visit to Te Amo Livestock in Gaviota gave us insight into rigors of ranch management. With one added complicating factor... not only is the ranch a fully functional cattle ranch... one of the largest producers in Santa Barbara county it's also an Underdeveloped Rural Residential Community. When we arrived at the Hollister Historical Working Barn, I saw a man in the tack shed who I...

Stories from California Cattle Country is taking a week off for Thanksgiving. We thought it would be fun to explore some of the stories that ended up on the cutting room floor for one reason or another. My co-conspirator, Katie Roberti, called and we conducted a short phone interview recalling stories from our travels… the strange ones.

Running a biweekly podcast which includes travel to remote areas throughout the state meeting subjects with dynamic schedules can sometimes present occasional logistical issues. For our ninth episode of our second season we had lined up a few potential ranches which ultimately fell through. With a few days notice we threw a Hail Mary reaching out to Ventura’s Rich Atmore. Rich runs a cattle operat...

When I first reached out to Bert Lamb about the podcast his response was..."Well. I can, but I would think you might find someone a hell of a lot more interesting than me!" Turns out he was being modest. The city of Camarillo was founded by Bert's great grandfather Adolfo Camarillo and his brother Juan in the late 19th century receiving land from their parents who acquired it from J...

In this episode we tour the Klamath Basin with Mike Byrne and discuss the storied history of one of California’s most wild places in Tulelake on the Northern border of the state.

 I sat with the Swickards in their beautiful farm house in Willow Creek Valley and chatted about their ranch history, the future of Susanville, restaurant ownership and how to breed the perfect cow. 

In this episode we speak with Mark Lacey about his families ranching history in one of the most unique landscapes on Earth, how the valley adapted to the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s takeover in the beginning of the 20th century and why his crew prefers to ride mares over geldings… don’t worry it’ll all be explained in the episode.

In this episode we travel down the U.S. Route 395 to Bishop CA, learn a bit about the E Clampus Vitus Fraternity, visit Talbot Cattle Company Ranch with rancher and veterinarian Tom Talbot and then follow him north to a ranch in Bridgeport to vaccinate a whole bunch of calves.

In this string of four or five episodes we're exploring ranches located in the Eastern part of the state off of U.S. Route 395. In the past 2 episodes we moved North from Kern County into the Owen's Valley which is flanked to the west by the Sierra and by the White/Inyo Mountains to the East.  In this episode we hear from 5th generation rancher Maria Giacomini Kemp and her mother Alonna...

Join us on our travels up 395... especially the dusty parts. In this episode we’ll talk to 3rd generation rancher Jean Crispin about the history of the ranch, her son Gabe about the logistics of moving cattle over a mountain pass and finally from Rissa (11 year old 5th generation rancher/Gabe's daughter)  who provides a game changing campfire cooking creation.

This is the 1st installment of our second season. We here at stories are big fans of continual improvement. Moving forward we’re emphasizing the importance of rural communities as well as providing more detailed portraits of people from Cattle Country. We’ve devised somewhat of a formula to meet these ends. In this episode we visit Buck Owen's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, the Glennville Jr....

This summer is the first anniversary of the project known as "Stories from California Cattle Country". Though our first episode was released in August of '21 the conceptualization started around the beginning of Summer last year. My first ranch visit, literally my first visit ever to a ranch was Koopmann Ranch in Sunol CA. I was overwhelmed with all the facets of ranch living. Suffi...

The beef cattle facilities which is a part of the animal sciences department are located just west of the campus and have the capacity for 650 head. It's there where we linked up with Marissa Fisher, the beef cattle facilities manager to talk about the role of the feedlot in the supply chain and how the University feedlot benefits students and the general public.

On May 16th, the California Cattle Council bused a group of chefs, butchers, and other hospitality professionals to Circle Ranch in Ione. Circle Ranch was ideal because of its proximity to Sacramento, relative beauty and its wonderful owners in Tim and Jill Curran. We've created a program where we bring hospitality professionals for ranch and dairy visits a few times a year with the intention...