MEET OUR RANCH PARTNERS
In the fall of 1980 Rob Lovelace and Grady Grissom were randomly assigned as freshmen roommates at Princeton University. Rob was from Santa Barbara, CA and Grady from Wheat Ridge, CO. They had little in common, but bonded as they both struggled through culture shock from their arrival on the East coast. This bond became a life-long friendship and partnership at Rancho Largo Cattle Co.
Grady tended toward reclusiveness and extreme focus on immediate problems while Rob was a communicator who always took in the big picture. When Grady talked about his dream of being a rancher, Rob would reply that someday they would partner on a ranch. Grady’s unspoken thought was always “he has no idea what kind of capital it takes to get started in ranching”. Well, Grady had no clue how successful Rob would be in the investment business.
After college Grady worked on ranches in Colorado while Rob’s first employment was teaching. Rob eventually moved into the investment business as a mining analyst and Grady ended up in graduate school thinking a career in Geology might allow him to retire to an acreage with cattle. By 1994 Rob was managing mutual funds while Grady was shoeing horses in the Bay Area. In early 1995 Rob made the fateful phone call saying “let’s find a ranch”.
After shopping in Oregon, California, and Wyoming the two settled on 14,000 acres in Southeast Colorado. This acreage put Grady in a familiar setting where he understood the ranching environment, while the canyons on the ranch provided scenery and recreation from Rob’s perspective. Rancho Largo Cattle Co. was born when Rob proposed the name based on the first letter in the names of all partners: Lynda, Alicia, Rob, and Grady for LARG-O. The O was added because “largo” is “long” in Spanish and that fit the shape of the ranch on a map.
Rob and Grady never had second thoughts about their sweat-equity partnership that began with Rob’s equity and Grady’s sweat. However, their spouses were asked to swallow a big bite. The ranch was a major investment for Rob and Alicia, while Grady and Lynda moved half way across the country and gave up Lynda’s well established career as a chemist and regulatory specialist in the pharmaceutical industry.
Lynda’s and Alicia’s support was critical in the early years of operation as Grady gained experience as a manager but the new business struggled financially. The big breakthrough was around 2000 when the operation began to focus on ecosystem health as a path to profit. Through 2014 diversity, water cycle and mineral cycle improved along with profits in the commodity beef business. Rob had always looked toward direct beef sales and by 2015 Grady felt comfortable sharing their ecological efforts through direct marketing of wild beef. In 2018, Rancho Largo Custom Beef was born. It’s a new endeavor, yet 20+ years in the making, with a whole lot of sweat and equity behind it. We are grateful you are along for the journey.
