Working Ranch Magazine January/February 2025

Heads Up on the 7 Up

calves to the company do as well. KJ aims to market the cattle in his management as best as possible and take advantage of everything to make the ranch profitable. He says, “One of my biggest pet peeves is people not understanding how to market their own cattle.” The grow yard was added to the operation when they realized a 450-pound steer on native grass at the elevation of their stocker ground wouldn’t thrive. Instead of handing those ani mals over to the sale barn and getting whatever came in, the company made an intentional deci sion to capitalize on the animals they already had. KJ notes that the quality of Arizona calves has significantly increased because of the work ranchers are doing. Kathy and Swayze McCraine’s legacy will always be cowboy. Kathy’s goal is to leave the 7 Up the way it is and to always be a place where cowboys come to work. The terrain helps to accomplish half of this goal, but the other half is with KJ and his family. With a feeling of true reverence and respect, KJ said, “Before Swayze passed away, he told me, you take care of this ranch, and you take care of Kathy, what ever she needs. He had already entrusted the management of our operations to me years ago. But now he trusted me with his wife and legacy, and I don’t take that lightly. That’s a big deal. He had a plan for this ranch to be here for a long time from now.”

PHOTO BY KATHY MCCRAINE

In 2009 Swayze (left) brought KJ Kasun in as a partner in Campwood Cattle Company.

PHOTO BY KATHY MCCRAINE

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