National Cattlemen August 2026

National Cattlemen’ s Beef Association

AUGUST 2026 | Vol. 42, No. 10 | NCBA. org

The Rancho Largo Ranch in southeastern Colorado is rooted in a series of essential partnerships, with individuals, companies and industry associations and, most importantly, with the land itself.

In fact, Rancho Largo could not have begun in 1995 without its first partnership between Grady Grissom and his business partner, Rob Lovelace. Grissom and Lovelace’ s friendship formed in college, when they were assigned as roommates at Princeton University. Grissom grew up in Colorado and Lovelace in California, so they quickly bonded over their shared culture shock living on the East Coast. The two had very different interests and careers. Grissom saw himself as an introvert, tending to focus on the problems in front of him and Lovelace is a communicator who often viewed the bigger picture. Grissom studied geology in graduate school and then worked on ranches in Colorado while Lovelace’ s career led him to investment banking.

Despite their diverse paths, the two remained friends and 10 years after graduating Princeton, Lovelace phoned Grissom to propose they buy a cattle ranch together, something they had often joked about but was now becoming a reality. As a kid, Grissom spent time on his family’ s ranches in Colorado and Kansas, where he“ caught the ranching bug,” and this was an opportunity for him to reconnect with the land and livestock. Lovelace was able to provide equity, which paired with Grissom’ s experience in the cattle business. Grissom and his family live on the ranch and manage the cattle, and Lovelace’ s“ big picture” perspective allows the two to make business decisions that lead to profitability.

When they started, they were primarily a cow-calf operation. And in those early years of Rancho Largo, Grissom received a clear indication from the cattle, the margins, and the herd’ s conception rate that he was doing something wrong.

“ The first four or five years were pretty rough. In those years the economy was pretty hard, paying a mortgage and

Cattle graze in southeastern Colorado.

supporting a family on 200 mother cows was forcing me to push my stocking rate. That got me into trouble with a conception rate of only 80 %,” he said.

Seeing himself as a steward of the land, Grissom adjusted. His background in geology helped him dig into the soil and forage health and refined his grazing plan. He realized he needed to find the right stocking rate to support cattle health and forage recovery.

“ In the early 2000s, we cut back to two-thirds of our stocked mother cows. Then, we got the grass back in proper order. In years of plenty, I would winter some of our own calves, buy calves or run yearlings. That gave us greater flexibility to cut back as needed when grass was limited,” he explained.

That relationship with the land is a top priority for Grissom and Lovelace, and Grissom soon became focused on ecology and grazing management. He had a lot of questions: why should

Continued on page 7

MIDTERMS DON’ T MATTER? | PG. 6

NCBA CEO Colin Woodall analyzes the impact the midterm elections could have on the cattle industry.

FOCUSED ON FAMILY | PG. 8

Will Derting and his family are committed to raising beef to serve their community, and he’ s proud to teach his children about the beef industry.

NATIONAL CHECKOFF NEWS | PG. 14

Digital marketing, consumer advertising and social media are all important components of NCBA’ s work as a checkoff contractor.