In this episode of Return to Nature, Melissa interviews Brian Gorman, a regenerative rancher and co-owner of Blarney Ranch. He and his wife Karla raise grass-finished Dexter beef on a historic ranch in Trego, Montana. The ranch has been in continuous operation since 1894.
Brian was born and raised in Monterey Country, California, an area extremely well known for agriculture. The events of September 11th, 2001 led him to join the US Army for 10 years, where he was shocked to discover the poor quality of food provided to soldiers. While in Afghanistan, he visited the dining facility of a German-controlled base to find real, high quality food being served.
He and his wife were always conscious of health and what they consumed, which led them to raise and grow a lot of their own food, including meat. In 2015, they decided to move to Montana and start a ranch of heritage breed cattle. An homage to their engagement in Ireland and the Blarney Castle, they chose the name for their ranch, which is derived from the gaelic “an bhlarna,” meaning “small green field.”
Brian Shares:
His experience in the US Army and the quality of food provided versus what he was used to growing up at home
The industrial trajectory our food systems have been on since World War II
How he and his wife chose to settle in Montana and how they began their first regenerative ranch in Arlee
The demand that led them to move to their current operation in Trego, Montana
Why cattle breed matters and how he chose the heritage breed Blarney Ranch raises
Why Angus became the popular choice for beef in America
How cross breeding has affected animal instincts and ancestry
How regenerative agriculture is just a new term for an old way of farming and ranching
How being in tune with the environment and observing what the land needs can broaden the climates in which agriculture can be practiced
How regenerative ranching practices have brought native species of plant life back to Blarney Ranch’s land
A look inside Blarney Ranch’s regenerative operation
How regenerative ag affects irrigation
How stockpile foraging works in Winter
The scalability of regenerative agriculture
The “value added” products that are possible when ranching regeneratively
The ethics of raising meat in a society that is disconnected from the realities of agriculture
The greenwashing of the industry that makes it hard for consumers to truly know the quality of food they’re purchasing
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