JEFFERSON, Colo. — Even at 9,000 feet above sea level, cattle graze the fields at Eagle Rock Ranch, and the Gottenborg family stays busy completing the necessary tasks for the day. They are first-generation ranchers, busy tending to the land and livestock while also paving their own path to success in providing the highest quality beef possible.
Louis Holt founded the ranch in 1868, and for over 150 years it has remained a working cattle ranch. Dave and Jean Gottenborg bought the ranch in 2012, and even as first-generation ranchers, they have kept the land true to its roots.
"If the ranch wasn't here, you know what moves in after ranches leave, and that would just break my heart because it's been a working ranch for over 150 years. Not the easiest place to ranch, either, cause we didn't know that when we started out, because we didn't have anyone telling us that we were crazy to buy a ranch at 9,000 feet, but here we are," Jean Gottenborg said.
The family ranches on a total of 10,000 acres, with other leases up and down the valley. Being in the Colorado high country, they have experienced the challenges the high elevation brings.
"Well, the elevation is 9,000 feet, and it's mostly a challenge with respiratory disease in the cattle and it's also called brisket, which is like pulmonary edema in humans, where they're they get a lot of fluid around their heart, in their lungs, and it kind of suffocates them. We've spent our 13th year going through a herd and culling or letting go of the ones that seem to have a tendency to have brisket," Jean Gottenborg said.
Erin Michalski, the Gottenborg's daughter, has also found purpose on the ranch, helping with the day-to-day operations and marketing their direct-to-consumer beef.
"We run cow-calf pairs out here. We have some yearlings as well, you can see in the background, but we're primarily a cow-calf operation. But then we finish all of our own beef, and then we sell it to consumers. So we really have the cattle from birth to butcher, here and then we sell it all through the store in Fairplay or online," Michalski said.
The Eagle Rock Ranch Mercantile store is located in Fairplay at 530 Front Street. It opened in December 2020, which Michalski said was good timing, as people were curious where their food was coming from.
- Watch Michalski talk about the store in the video player below
Growing up, Michalski remembers earning money to lease barn space down the road from her childhood home so she could horseback ride. Now, as a mother, she shares how her children received a gift when they grew up on this ranch and were able to help their grandparents with daily tasks.
Michalski explained that being a first-generation ranching family has benefits and drawbacks. While they do not have an elder family member guiding them on the ranch, they work through the challenges together and have determined how to best operate it.
"The benefit is we do things our way, so when we purchased the ranch, none of this infrastructure was here. It was much different, and my parents took a long time really drawing out exactly how we were to make it work for how we wanted to run our operation," said Michalski. "So that was a huge benefit of being first generation, is that we get to kind of start how we want to do it.
While life on this ranch is hectic, the memories being made and the skills being shared are ones this family hopes to continue for decades to come.
"It's been a crazy ride, but really fulfilling. I didn't really vision a ranch like this with a big cattle operation and everything when we decided to buy a ranch, but, you know, now, we wouldn't have it any other way," Jean Gottenborg said.
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