It’s no secret that family-owned ranches around the West are grappling with an uncertain future. Water is dwindling in the Colorado River Basin and politicians are sparring over who gets a share of the precious commodity. All the while, generations of ranchers are parsing what the coming years will bring. As these conversations wear on, a crucial question lingers: do the children of ranchers and farmers want to stick around to confront an ambiguous future? For at least one ranch in Gunnison, the answer is yes.
Just months ago, Cloe Parker, daughter of Bill and Kelli Parker, was named chief executive officer and co-owner of Parker Pastures, alongside her parents. While Bill and Kelli continue to work in production, Cloe has taken over the meat company. The family practices a holistic and regenerative approach to raising cattle, which means timing grazing to maximize carbon sequestration and increase biodiversity. The belief is that healthy soil translates to healthy meat, Cloe said.
Bill is also the child of a rancher. He watched his father lose the family farms in Delta and Lake City in the late 80s during an economic turndown, so seeing his daughter move into the business is a “blessing.”
“Cloe has lived in [ag] her whole life, and thank God she didn’t run away from it. She was always a part of it,” he said.
For Cloe, taking over the farm is the culmination of a million small moments: building electric fences, gathering eggs, spending late nights crafting marketing emails or moving cattle through the fields on horseback. Each is a notch in her belt that has prepared the 20-year old to lead the business. The moment to leap came last fall, when family circ*mstances brought her home and overnight, she inherited huge responsibilities on the farm.
“[I said], wait a minute, I actually really, really like this. And I’ve known I’ve wanted to be in ag all my life, but I just have never been sure of how all the parts would fall together,” she said.
Every Gunnison resident who uses the well-known Van Tuyl Loop, on the northwest corner of town, is familiar with Parker Pastures — the beloved trail meanders through the family’s cattle grazing fields. For 18 years, the farm has provided the Gunnison Valley with local, grass-fed meat.
Bill and Kelli, inspired by the possibilities in humanely raised livestock and holistic land practices, started leasing 400 acres from the city in 2006 to bring their vision to life. What began small as raising pork, chicken and lamb would grow into an operation shipping meat around the country and managing thousands of acres of land, far beyond city limits. But growth has not deterred the vision, Cloe said, and her focus remains on improving the land while producing nutrient dense meat as a byproduct of holistic land management practices.
“My calling has always been ranching,” she said. “I’ve realized there’s this power that happens in agriculture and ranching. It is the deep connection to land, to the animals, to the food. It’s a connection that not very many people get to experience but I’m blessed to experience that and it’s impacted my life a lot.”
Running a cattle ranch, let alone one with such a specific mission, is not a task for the faint of heart. But she was built tough, Bill said.
“Cloe is pretty self-driven and always has been since the day she was born. She’s not satisfied working for somebody or being told what to do,” he said.
Through middle school and high school, she built up an entire sheep herd from just a few sheep her parents let her keep when she was young. Years later, she started selling grass fed lamb. Bill credits Cloe with helping the business grow an impressive online and social media presence.
Chances are valley residents have seen Cloe in Facebook video advertisem*nts, where she’s standing on Elk Avenue in Crested Butte, expounding on the benefits of grass-fed beef. A quick visit to the website reflects this care — the “About Us” section is practically a love letter to the land, where Cloe writes that she finds authentic connection “on the back of a horse with the sun on my back, the cattle mellowly walking to fresh pasture, and the sound of birds singing filling the air … The joy and laughter that sparkles in the air when my brothers make a joke.”
Facing the future means holding fast to the vision her parents seeded 18 years ago, that regenerative agriculture breeds resiliency.
“Agriculture just has this huge potential, and I think that’s what’s going to make it resilient is us like remaining in those things that will never change. A calf will always be born and green grass will always hopefully come up in the spring,” she said. “What’s good will always remain good.”
(Abby Harrison can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or abby@gunnisontimes.com.)
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