A film by Bruno Mangas

October 5, 2023

"Ranching isn’t something that I’ve always been interested in. I grew up in a very suburban environment. I spent time as a kid on ranches racing dirt bikes, but other than that I was basically a city person my whole life. I always loved the outdoors, but I never really had an idea of what ranching entailed. Ranching is different than what I expected.

I think growing up I kind of thought of ranchers as people who owned cattle and just had them out on a piece of land and that was that. You know, they sold them off whenever they needed to sell beef or whatever. Now, knowing more of the ins and outs of it, it's such an intricate and detailed and eclectic kind of way of living. We learn so many different trades, from carpentry to plumbing to electric work. Horsemanship and stockmanship.

There’s an art and a science behind everything out here. And learning about the land that we’re taking care of and helping to grow and get stronger and better. I’d say that overall it’s just way more detailed than I thought, there's a lot that goes into it."

Meet Dylan, an apprentice on the Chico Basin Ranch. In this video, Dylan shares some of his background—from his youth in suburban Texas to starting a wildly successful BBQ restaurant with his high school friends and his eventual transition from life in the city to living and working on large scale cattle ranches in Colorado.