Nancy Chapman
What do you get when you take horses that need to be fed and add airplanes? The Rolling Horse Ranch. The ranch is a hay, horse, and cow operation providing hay, beef, and chicken eggs.
Andrew and Karla Craig would rotate through Fallon as Andrew was a fighter jet pilot and a TOPGUN Instructor. The US Navy brought the Craig family to Fallon in 2009. After their tour, they headed to their next station, and the family decided they wanted the kids to stay in one place and have some roots. Fallon drew them back as NAS Fallon is one of four bases with a Navy Reserve squadron, so Andrew could retire from active military duty and maintain his flying skills. Andrew is now the Reserve Component Commander for the Naval Aviation Warfare Development Center. Karla is a nurse, which allowed her to use her skills as they were stationed in new areas. She is an ER nurse with Banner Hospital, though as their ranch has grown, she has cut down her hours at the hospital, now working as needed.
Their livestock brand also explains their life, the quarter circle RHR quarter circle. The quarter circle on top and the bottom adds in fighter jet maneuvers, the rolling scissors. Karla had a horse that she rode English jumping style in high school in Chicago and would later give riding lessons on. When she and her husband started their life together, she could not take the horse with them. The horse has now also made the move to Fallon. With Andrew and Karla having an agriculture background, it was only a matter of time before watching the horses rolling in their riding arena and enjoying the pasture would lead to the name Rolling Horse Ranch. Since TOPGUN brought them to Fallon in the first place, it is only fitting that all those elements should be represented in their branding iron.
They purchased an irrigated property and started raising hay to feed Karla’s horse and the two cows they had bought when they chose Fallon as their new home. Initially, they relied on custom hay companies to cut, bale, and stack their crops. As all things change, so did this. Grass hay can be tricky to put up correctly. Too wet, it molds. To dry, it is like trying to feed powdered sugar. They decided to purchase their own haying and farming equipment. The business has become a family operation, and their children are very active on the ranch. The Craigs advertise their hay as planted and cut at specific times, giving it optimal freshness and nutrients. The ranch grows fescue, teff grasses, and an alfalfa and grass mix, mostly with horse hay in mind.
Being in the haying business, there are always bales that don’t fit in a stack, bales that did not tie correctly in the baler, or bales that broke when picked up. This allowed them to take one more step in their operation and produce beef ready to butcher from their cow and calf operation. The addition has worked so well that they have a one-year waiting list for their born and raised on the ranch grass-fed beef.
If you would like to contact Rolling Horse Ranch about purchasing hay, a half of a beef, or a whole beef, call 775-294-5560 or visit rollinghorseranch.com.
Now you know how to take cows, horses, hay, and airplanes and make them a business.
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