Cattle and Cooking in the Flint Hills
Wrenn Pacheco isn’t a Kansas native, but the Sunflower State will always be home now that she’s had a taste of life in the Flint Hills of Wabaunsee County. She and her husband, Arturo, live on a small ranch near Alma where they’re raising their two boys, Leo and Ross, plus a few hundred head of cattle.
Wrenn lists three reasons for staking her claim in Kansas: the grass, the people and the opportunities.
“The Flint Hills are phenomenal grass country, the people here have been super welcoming and the business opportunities this state has brought to us have been huge,” Wrenn said. “We’ve really put down roots here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Those roots already run deep, connecting the ranch, Arturo’s cattle nutrition consulting company, Wrenn’s photography business and cooking blog, and their latest venture: Pacheco Beef, a direct-to-consumer retail store in Alma. Behind all of these efforts is a passion for agriculture and a desire to share that passion with others.
Pursuing Their Passion
College sweethearts, Wrenn and Arturo met on the livestock judging team at Texas Tech University. They married in 2007 just before moving to Kansas, where Arturo planned to further his education. While he pursued a doctorate in ruminant nutrition from Kansas State University, Wrenn put her agricultural communications degree to use and formed a photography business in Manhattan.
The Pachecos bought a house in Wabaunsee County and Wrenn kept snapping photos. Their son Leo arrived in 2014, and their youngest son Ross two years later. Life was good, but it had always been their dream to work with cattle together someday.
“We both grew up on cow-calf operations, so we always knew that we wanted to run cows together one day,” Wrenn said. “That was always the dream.”
Life on the Ranch
The Pachecos began living that dream in 2016, when they leased a piece of land in Wabaunsee County and began their custom grazing business, which includes heifer development and stocker operations.
In the heifer development portion of their ranching operation, they receive young heifers (female cattle that haven’t given birth), breed and care for them during pregnancy, then return them to the original owners just before they give birth.
For the other part of their ranch business, the Pachecos act as stocker-operators.
“As stocker-operators, we’re a piece of the big pie that is beef production,” Wrenn explained. “We’re the guy who takes 600-pound calves — usually steers about a year old — and grazes them from May to August on the nutrient-rich grass we have in the Flint Hills.”
During grazing season, they supervise the herd on horseback, watching for signs of illness such as foot rot or pink eye.
“When an animal is sick, we rope and doctor them on site in the pasture. This is less stressful for the animal than trying to move it to a pen, which might be two or three miles away,” Wrenn said. “If a calf has an infected foot, that’s a long way to ask it to walk.”
In August, the stocker cattle leave the Pachecos’ care and move on to the feed yard, which is the next phase in beef production.
“We care for them like they’re ours, but we’re custom grazers so these cattle don’t belong to us,” Wrenn said.
A Dream Come True
In April 2021 another dream was realized when Wrenn and Arturo purchased their own cows to start a cow-calf herd. They plan to sell the beef at the Pacheco Beef Shop, a retail storefront in Alma.
“It’s really exciting for us to have our own cows along with the grass to run them on,” Wrenn said with a big smile. “We’ve slowly put the pieces of a cow-calf operation into place over the years, and we finally have our first herd.”
It’s important to Wrenn that consumers know they have options when it comes to Pacheco Beef, and she’s proud of both the stocker-operator and cow-calf initiatives on the ranch.
“You can go to the grocery store and buy a safe and wholesome product from our ranch or, if you want to buy your beef from the producer, you can purchase from us directly,” she said. “You can visit us at the shop or order online — we will ship to anyone in the state of Kansas.”
‘Ag’vocating for Kansas Farms
Wrenn is passionate about her role in feeding Kansans and wants consumers to feel comfortable going to producers with questions about agriculture.
“If you have a question, ask a farmer,” Wrenn suggested. “Don’t go to Google; come to us. We believe strongly in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, because it’s our livelihood.”
Wrenn shares her passion for life on the ranch through her blog, Cooking with the Cowboy, along with interesting facts about agriculture and many delicious recipes made with Kansas foods. One of our favorites is this amazing-looking pizza.
Wrenn loves the view from her “office,” and hopes Leo and Ross can enjoy it too someday.
“Feeding the world: It’s something the generations ahead of us did, and something we want to continue doing for generations to come,” she said.
You can see what the Pachecos are up to on Facebook and Instagram.
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