124 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM “I’m a grass farmer,” Chris says with a laugh. What’s funny is that the cows themselves are really the grass farmers, joined by 300 goats and Chris’ team in a holistic process of regenerative agriculture that focuses on restoring the grasslands on this 2,700-acre ranch. The process itself is fairly simple to explain. 17 acres are divided into 76 pastures. Every other day throughout the growing season, the herd moves to a fresh, adjoining pasture, penned by electric fencing. They eat, trample, aerate and fertilize the soil, then move on, not returning to the same patch of ground for another 100 days. The cows move mid-morning, when the sugars in the grasses are coming up. Chris says the cows like being moved because they always want to eat fresh grass. The moving process only takes a few minutes. Later, the goats get into the mix. “We use the cows and the goats back and forth, because the cows will trample and knock that stuff down, and then the goats can come behind and eat it,” says Chris. “They work hand in hand because one wants to eat grass and one wants to browse. They don't eat the same stuff.” Chris says that it is part of the philosophy of the ranch that everything moves, including the pigs and the world-class show jumping horses that they raise. When new owners bought Pomponio Ranch in 2010 with an eye towards restoration of the Back to the Land
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