Working Ranch Magazine January/February 2025

Heads Up on the 7 Up

LESSONS LEARNED This ranch taught KJ that pick ing out the best genetics possible is important, but maintaining the cur rent herd’s health and well-being is even more critical. Cows have to be acclimated to this country. “In this country, you don’t drive a cow any where; you trail a cow somewhere, and you wait for her when she’s huffing and puffing,” says KJ. Conger Canyon, another large and impressive canyon on the ranch, rises to 2,000 feet in ele vation in less than a mile. The dozer trail that follows out of this canyon is a true example of how important trailing cattle is. “Those cows take fifteen steps, and you have to stop and give them a minute or two.” The higher elevations of the ranch see snow during the winter months, so cattle are managed at the lower elevations during that time. March sees the move back to the summer country where the bulls are turned out with the cows, scattering the bulls according to what each part of the herd needs. The summer is spent moving cattle closer to headquarters. The 7 Up Ranch is about 10 miles wide and 30 miles long, and the majority of the summer is spent shuffling cat tle closer to headquarters to be ready

KJ learned the ranch’s background, layout, and workings to make the best-informed decisions moving forward. Swayze was a true cattleman who spent his entire life with cattle. With a background as deep as Swayze’s, it offered him the chance to learn, grow, and operate in almost every part of the cattle industry, leading to his success and the continued success that KJ and Kathy now see on the 7 Up and in the other entities they own and operate. KJ reminisced saying, “He was a cowman. And if you had an issue with a piece of country or a set of cows, I could ride him into some pretty gnarly country and say, ‘Hey, look at this. What do we need to do with these cows?’” KJ learned all he could in his time with Swayze. “The hardest part of my job nowadays is losing my sounding board and a dear friend when Swayze passed, and that’s been difficult. Swayze always had my back. I could make a decision and bounce it off Swayze, and he’d know the best route forward.”

amounted to a 10-year course in cat tle management, a skill which trans ferred over to ranching. Arizona called him back when he had a chance to lease a small ranch from the McCraines. This started his adult relationship with the couple in earnest and after fall works in 2009, Swayze asked if he would like to own half the operation. His horse training career was successful, and they had saved up quite a bit; it still wasn’t enough to cover half the company, so Swayze carried a loan for KJ until he could pay it off. The first piece of advice Swayze gave KJ after bringing him into the operation was to keep everything the same for a year. He said, “Don’t change anything. You manage it all. You have me to lean on but don’t change anything for at least a spring and fall season. Figure out how this ranch works and then determine how the cows want to be worked. And then you can start mak ing changes.” This advice reflects the McCraines’ deep respect for the land, the cattle, and the people, ensuring

PHOTO BY KATHY MCCRAINE

KJ dragging calves at the Winter Camp branding pens on a son of A Streak of Fling.

66 I JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.