By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
What looks like desolate country to one person may simply be a vision waiting to be realized for another. According to fourth-generation rancher Grant Giles, it just takes hard work, perseverance and long-range planning.
Hillingdon Ranch in Comfort has been in the Giles family for 130 years, and through continued sustainability planning and conservative livestock management, Grant is working to keep it that way.
History
“My great-grandfather, Alfred Giles, came to America from Hillingdon, England,” he said. “He was an architect who designed many courthouses in the Hill Country area, and while he was building the Gillespie County courthouse, he started purchasing land in the area, eventually putting together over 13,000 acres. A lot of the German settlers had already settled the river bottoms and better farmland by then, but he saw value in the hills between the Pedernales and Guadalupe rivers.”
As part of a big land purchase, Alfred also purchased a cattle brand and any existing cattle associated with that brand. The previous owner said he had 200 head, but when all were rounded up, he had more than 600.
The land was extremely overgrazed. Grass coverage was poor, and brushy growth was heavy.
“But he made lemonade out of lemons by purchasing goats to graze all that brush,” Giles said. “He was probably ahead of his time, but he did something a little out of the ordinary and brought Angora goats into the area in 1890.”
Alfred’s bet that the rocky, brushy country would be suitable for goats paid off. Soon, the ranch was a thriving operation where the Giles family raised Angora goats, sheep and Angus cattle.
“This was actually a Hereford area, but my great-grandfather brought three Angus cows from Scotland,” Grant said. “Now, all of our replacement cows can be traced back to those original three cows. We’ve brought outside bulls in, but the Angus breed and our cows are something we’ve stuck with and tried to improve upon. Not that Angus are any better at this landscape than any other breed, but we can continue to put that pressure on our breeding program and produce animals that are best suited to our environment.”
Today
Now, Alfred’s descendants encompass a sprawling, multi-generational family tree.
“There are multiple families here on the land,” Grant said. “In 2017, we did the 130th anniversary of the ranch, and we have about 350 people who are in some way directly related to this land. Over 600 people attended that ranch gathering. We had color dots for each family, and most people in attendance were related and had something to do with different parcels of land that make up the original 13,000 acres.”
Other descendants own interests in cattle or live on the ranch. But by the 1990s, Grant’s father and Alfred’s grandson, Robin, were the only ones who remained in production agriculture full-time.
“We’re very much dependent on the family overall, and we just hope our activity and operation is benefitting how they want to enjoy their land and enhances that land,” Grant said. “Our stewardship demonstrates the responsibility and how to stay on this land and keep it intact.”
He still raises dual-purpose sheep and goats and Angus cattle, leasing out other parcels of land to support his flocks and herds.
In dry years, the sheep and goats perform exceptionally well.
“This kind of country lends itself to sheep and goats, because it’s definitely not great cow country,” he said. “It’s best to have multiple browsing species. I run around 3,000 head of sheep and goats on somewhere around 10,000 acres, but that’s highly variable.”
Sheep and goats are tougher to count than cattle, he explained.
“Everything has to be sheared in a timely fashion, so that’s when we try to get all of our animals in and get an accurate count,” Grant said. “We try to do as many things at that time as we can, like all the vet treatments. We try to do shearing days right before parturition so some key veterinary tasks can be accomplished, like dewormer and that sort of thing.”
Having dual-purpose animals that can be raised for fiber and meat is another way to increase profitability.
“We’re in a time period right now where it’s a little uncertain what the profitability of the fiber animals are, but that’s nothing new,” he said. “The good thing about fiber is that it has a very flexible shelf life. If you can stand the lack of cash flow, you can hold off for a better market.”
Wool in its raw form can be stored for a short while, he said. But by scouring and cleaning the fiber to rid it of the oily lanolin, then compressing it into tight bales using large hydraulic presses, fiber can be stored successfully for years.
Grant noted mohair is a drier fiber that doesn’t have the oiliness which compromises fiber integrity.
“The mohair business has been very up and down in years past,” he said. “It’s one of those commodities that definitely rewards patience.”
Agritourism
While ranching remains profitable, Grant realizes he must keep diversification in mind as part of long-term sustainability goals.
“The recreational value of this land is definitely much higher than the agricultural value of this land,” he said. “What I pay to lease land for grazing value is not comparable to recreational value that can be obtained, so I have to keep that in mind and work with it. And the hunting revenue could be the difference in being able to hold onto the land or selling it. So, it’s something to work around in the agricultural operation.”
Grant helps other landowners manage hunting leases. The family offers white-tailed deer and exotic species leases across several sections.
“My goal is to help the landowners manage hunting in hopes that we can possibly see all or a portion of the revenue can go back into enhancing usability of the land,” he said. “Things like keeping roads up, fencing, keeping the invasive brush under control. We can utilize this demand from people wanting to come hunt recreationally to improve the land. The best scenario is to manage hunting for those landowners.”
On average, leases run for a six-month period, with species and bag limits, he said. They charge per hunter to avoid people bringing crowds of hunters with them who may depopulate the wildlife too quickly. The free-roaming herds of axis and sika deer found across the ranch enhance hunting value, he added.
“We’re able to offer a pretty neat experience. We’re close enough to Fredericksburg or San Antonio, so everyone can go share a nice meal at a restaurant together, but it still feels very rural here on the ranch,” Grant, who is a Texas Farm Bureau member, said.
The future
Alfred’s innovative spirit lives on in Grant, who hopes his management and conservation efforts contribute to keeping the land in his family for another 130 years.
“A lot of people will say, ‘That’s really rough country. That must be hard to raise livestock there,’” he said. “But like my great-grandfather realized, everything is an opportunity in the eye of the beholder. The mindset that you have makes all the difference. Many things like weeds can be a benefit for us, because we have livestock that can utilize those things.
Negatives can be positives.
“Figure out how to create a revenue source. There are a lot of complaints in the area about so many people moving here and the recreational use of land, but we’ve actually seen many people who really appreciate what we do and want to be involved somehow,” Grant said. “They’re just yearning to be involved in agriculture, and there’s an opportunity there. Many people we lease from just enjoy having livestock on their land. If you have the right attitude and talk to people and foster relationships, you can have everybody on the land, even hunters, be ambassadors for your program.”