Back to the 122 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM words by CLARKE CONDE • photography by GINO DE GRANDIS Pomponio Ranch uses innovative techniques to raise their herds Land Roughly five miles from the ocean and due west of Silicon Valley, just on the other side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Chris Giannini looks after 250 head of cattle as the ranch manager of the Pomponio Ranch in San Gregorio. It wouldn’t be wrong to call him a cattleman, given the herd he manages, but if your imagination veers towards big hats, horses and dusty trails, you’ve got the wrong idea. Considering this is coastal California, it stands to reason things are done a bit differently here. At the Pomponio Ranch, the marine layer hugs the hillsides, keeping the dust down, the ranchers wear hoodies and the horses are spared in favor of Polaris UTVs. In fact, the whole approach to raising cattle is different at Pomponio Ranch. Chris might even go so far as to say he’s not a cattleman at all.
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