McCarty, who grew up riding horses in Gavilan Hills in Riverside County, was 19 when he first arrived at the Hollister Ranch. He made the trip with his father, who was a real estate broker helping with the sale of the property, and when he got out on the land, he said he just “went wild.”
Now, 39 years later, McCarty has worked himself up the chain at the ranch and is currently the manager of the cooperative’s grass-fed cattle operation, which is a little more than a year old.
“I fell in love with it right away,” McCarty said of life on the ranch. “I was inexperienced in the cattle business; I was raised around horses all my life and that was my passion. So as I became the cow foreman and then the manager, it took a lot of hard work and school work to get me caught up.”
The grass-fed cattle business, in particular, became of interest to McCarty and his peers at the ranch in part because of its unusual environment of oceanfront hills and a motivation to increase productivity. After working to improve the irrigation and land itself, he said, the focus turned to improving the quality of the cattle.
Grass-fed cattle is raised on pasture grass instead of grain or corn – with no hormones or antibiotics – and generally leads to less fatty meat. While the grass-fed beef is healthier for humans, it didn’t always translate into more appetizing food. Changing that dichotomy became a priority, McCarty said.
“In the grass-fed meat business, which has been around for a couple of decades, no one had really come up with a way to make that meat taste good,” McCarty said. “So that’s been one of our main objectives.”
In searching for ways to improve the quality of the meat, McCarty said he has taken several steps, which have led to positive results. The first was to pick out younger animals with a gentler and less stressful disposition.
Further, he pays close attention to the last few months of the animal’s life to make sure it is not over-fed, and also uses various grazing techniques. One of these techniques is high-intensify grazing, which involves placing a lot of cattle in a small space to induce a sort of feeding frenzy, since continual grazing isn’t as viable due to the environmental conditions of the ranch.
“We feel like we finally have a grass-fed beef product that everyone can enjoy,” he said.
Helping McCarty in the cattle operation are two employees, whom he said mainly help with maintenance, and a group of volunteers who ride with him and assist with the office side of the business.
The ranch distributes its meat to El Rancho Market and New Frontiers in Solvang. It is also available to members of the ranch’s beef club and locals in the Santa Ynez Valley. McCarty said he would like to expand, but shipping costs make that unreasonable at this time.
Kathi Carlson, who runs the operation’s office, said that the response to the meat has been overwhelmingly positive since the business’s inception last May.
“People say they’re addicted to it,” she said.
While the grass-fed cattle business consumes much of his time, McCarty said he still has a strong passion for horses. He spends much of his day riding the pastures while tending to the cattle, but he also still attends horse shows, including the occasional fair and the annual reigned cow horse futurity in Reno, Nev.
“We try to incorporate my show horses in with the actual working aspect of the ranch,” he said. “In some ways it gives me an advantage because my horses get lots of miles, and at the same time they still need to go down to the arena to get trained. It takes time out of my day, but it’s worth it.”
McCarty, who is twice divorced, lives on the ranch with two of his three sons. His oldest son, Jason, is a captain with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, while 12-year-old Call and 10-year-old Grey live on the ranch with their father.
“They both work and do chores, but neither one of them likes to ride,” McCarty said of his youngest sons.
Rather than the pastures, Call prefers to spend his time at the beach. He’s already an accomplished surfer and has recorded some promotional videos to try to acquire sponsorship.
McCarty said he hasn’t given up on his younger sons joining his cowboy lifestyle. “Sometimes the boys are a little slower coming into that aspect of it,” he said with a laugh. “They’ve got to wait till the girls think it’s cool.”
As for himself, McCarty said he wouldn’t trade life on the ranch for anything.
“It’s a lifestyle that isn’t for everybody, but if that’s what you like, you can’t replace it,” he said. “It’s unique in that sense.”