Gateway Copper Corridor Winter 2024 E-edition

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RANCH from page 7 What are Highlands cattle? The name Highlands reflects the breed’s origin in that region of Scotland. “They were bred to be able to withstand incredibly difficult conditions,” Carol said. “For a while the Scots thought they didn’t have to feed the Highlands at all, but the reality is the Highlands were eating everything from the lichens to the trees. They’ll eat anything a goat will eat. “The Highland hide is twice the thickness of an Angus. I can pick up an Angus hide, no problem, and throw it around all day long. I cannot pick up a Highland hide; it takes two of us. They’re that much heavier.” Highlands cattle, she said, would live in the house with Scottish families – people upstairs and cattle downstairs. “They were used for milk, for fiber – they would The fold – a group of Highland cattle is called a fold, not a herd – usually comes in to feed around 4 o’clock. The road through the Gryphon Ranch follows the original 19th century stagecoach route from Tucson to Globe. take the hair and spin it into fiber – and for meat,” she said. She said Highland meat was very lean and healthy, lower in cholesterol and higher in protein as well as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The breed comes in seven different colors: white, silver, red, dun, brindle, yellow and black – and the Ptaks own one dun bull that can produce all seven. The black variety, called kyloes, originated along Scotland’s western coast, where cowherds would swim them from pasture to pasture among the islands. Carol added that there is no such thing as a “miniature Highland,” despite online claims; adult Highlands cattle grow to around 1,000 pounds. Each of their cattle has a name. “When we started – we thought this was going to be enough – we named them in the order of the Greek alphabet,” she said. Of that original series, two cows named Delta and Epsilon are still on the ranch. After that, the Ptaks went through gems and minerals from A to Z, the Greek gods and flowers. Their latest series is named after trees; the newest addition to the fold is Holly, born on Christmas Day 2023. “So far, knock on wood, we’ve never lost an animal to predation, because they can take care of themselves,” she said. “All Highlands have horns; they know where their horns are and exactly how to use them. If a predator goes after one of the babies and the baby starts squalling, then you’ll see a bunch of adults running real fast.” The Code of the West On Gila County’s official website, a page titled “The Code of the West” outlines the challenges and potential drawbacks of rural life – from lack of services to extreme weather to animals. “Since the rural West will not change to accommodate your lifestyle or expectations, you should be prepared to adapt accordingly,” it reads in part. Carol expressed it this way: “Congratulations, you bought property out here; don’t expect to see many services because you’re not.” “Living off-grid is an interesting phenomenon,” she added. “We don’t have a lot of things people take for granted. We’re totally out here on our own.” Though the Gryphon Ranch employs solar power, there is no electric power, water, sewer or mail/ package delivery, and stores are 14 miles away. “We do everything everybody else does; it’s just that we do it a little differently. Our internet comes by satellite, our power is solar, our water comes from a spring, we can’t use electrical fencing,” she said. “We had to replace water lines five times because they kept getting torn out by the next flood.” The Ptaks finally hired 8 Gateway to the Copper Corridor Winter 2024
a local company, Dixon Rock and Materials, to bury their water lines 8 feet deep. An added benefit to this was fewer frozen water lines, which Jim Ptak had had to fight in wintertime. (For anyone interested in further reading, the county’s “Code of the West” page, which begins with a reference to no less than Western author Zane Grey, can be seen at https://www. gilacountyaz.gov/government/community_development/the_code_of_ the_west.php. Its text was adapted from “The Code of the West … The Realities of Rural Living,” written by former Larimer County (Colorado) Commissioner John Clarke around 1997.) Fire and flood Driving down the road to their property, Carol said ranching was not for the faint of heart – something that rings even more true when natural disaster strikes, as it did in 2021. Carol and Jim Ptak at their off-the-grid house on Gryphon Ranch. Gryphon Ranch’s business, she said, expanded greatly when COVID-19 hit. On seeing no meat in grocery stores, people sought healthy options from a local source and the ranch sold out quickly. “We couldn’t expand our Highland offering fast enough for what the market was demanding,” she said. So the ranch began buying purebred Angus from a rancher in Klondyke, Arizona. “Angus finish for beef much faster, at 15-18 months old; it takes 40 months to get a Highland to finish,” she said. “The last few years have been very busy for us and very good – as a ranch. It’s been very good from a sales perspective.” But then there was the summer of 2021. On Gryphon Ranch, the devastating Mescal and Telegraph Fires came together; Carol called it the crossroads. “The fires burned out all of our perimeter fencing,” she said. “We were evacuated, and had almost a week to look at each other and say, ‘What are we going to do? Are we going to come back and rebuild, See RANCH, page 10 Gryphon Ranch, located in the hilly El Capitan area south of Globe, is Arizona’s sole commercial breeder of Highland cattle. Gateway to the Copper Corridor Winter 2024 9
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Page 7: eason many people leave their home
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