Working Lands. Living Laboratories.
Cal Poly’s working ranches bring agriculture, animal science and natural resource stewardship together. Across diverse working landscapes, students gain hands-on experience with cattle, grazing systems, land management and research while learning to care for the resources agriculture depends on.
Swanton Pacific Ranch
Swanton Pacific Ranch was donated to the Cal Poly College of Agriculture by Al Smith, founder of Orchard Supply Hardware. While numerous departments take advantage of the 3,200-acre rangeland, the Animal Science Department manages the grazing operations located there. Each February, 500 cattle are brought from Hawaii to graze at the ranch and are managed by the Swanton Pacific Enterprise. In addition, student interns manage a herd of grass-fed cattle for production at Cal Poly’s meat processing facilities. Besides grazing cattle, the ranch manages organic cropland and a redwood forest.
Brughelli Ranch
For 150 years, the 390-acre Brughelli Ranch has supported livestock, leafy greens, irrigated crops and dry farming. Now part of Cal Poly, its prime agricultural land and highly productive soils and rangeland will extend that legacy while creating new opportunities for hands-on learning, research and agricultural production.
Chorro Creek Ranch
Chorro Creek Ranch is a resource used by both the Animal Science Department and the Crop Science Department. The Animal Science Department uses this ranch to graze heifers both before and immediately after calving. The ranch is also used for the department’s farm operations.
Peterson and Serrano Ranches
The Peterson and Serrano ranches cover approximately 1,500 acres of Poly Canyon. Each fall, the Serrano Ranch is used to calve out the later-calving herd. The rest of the year, the herd is rotated through Peterson and Serrano Ranches using the rest-rotational grazing method. Because the ranches are located immediately adjacent to campus, students are able to visit these ranches during class.
Escuela and Walters Ranches
The Escuela and Walters ranches encompass approximately 2,500 acres of native rangeland located eight miles north of Cal Poly’s campus. The ranches support calving for Cal Poly’s early-calving herd, house embryo-transfer recipients and provide space for restoration research and projects. Students in the Escuela Cow-Calf Enterprise manage more than 100 cattle grazing on the ranches.
