stock - bovine and equine - there. Julian quickly changed their minds, and everything he'd told them had been seconded by the Martinezes.
Julian pointed out it would be better to acquire horses straight from the ranchers who'd raised them. "You get an idea when you meet the rancher what condition the animals are in," he said. "At auction, often, you don't get any opportunity to do this."
Bloodlines were important, but so was the environment into which those fillies had been born, and raised. There were a wide variety of well-known horse farms - most in Texas, but a few they'd heard of in Colorado - whose business was selling horses. There were cattle ranches looking to cull their herds. Chase and Brian had their trust funds, and they also had the money they'd made in the corporate arena and through their own investments.
This ranch was going to be their life's work, and so they had no qualms investing damn near everything they had, provided they were acquiring good stock in return.
The cattle were the easiest to purchase because they knew exactly what they wanted. They'd both agreed right from the start their herd would be Texas longhorns. They believed since the breed evolved right here in the state, it was best suited to the unique climate and environment Texas offered. Then, too, longhorns were generally considered to be the most cost effective of all the breeds, based on the higher fertility rates compared to other North American breeds, as well as its documented ease with calving and its resistance to disease.
Granted, their chosen breed didn't have the pizzazz of Black Angus. But the beef was leaner than other breeds, and lower in saturated fats. The trend in restaurants was toward healthier eating, and the Texas longhorn was tailor made for that trend.
They had plenty of acreage, and fences that were sound now, thanks to their Uncle Jon's advice. They had water on the land in the form of a creek, and water beneath the land accessible via wells that they could use for irrigation. Because they wanted to aim toward raising cattle that were as free of man-made chemicals as possible, they intended to grow their own hay and corn to supplement the natural grass from the pasture lands.
They asked their cousin, Jordan Kendall, to draw up plans for a bunkhouse. They intended to pay for it themselves, but any additional buildings or ranch improvements - like eventually constructing a manager's house similar to the one they'd seen at the Divine Creek Ranch - that would come later, when the ranch began to turn a profit.
After discussing the matter with Julian, he and Brian had decided they would hire two hands to begin with, likely in October or November.
There was too much money sense bred into both of them to even once consider spending the rest of their lives throwing good money after bad. They'd invest heavily at the outset, but then the onus would be on them to make this ranch work.
By God, this ranch will work if I have to give it every drop of my blood.
Just because he and Brian had been born into a wealthy family didn't mean they could lie back and do nothing with their lives. They'd needed to be strong enough to reach out for their dream, and they needed to work hard enough and smart enough to make it a reality. Being wealthy was all well and good, but in the end it didn't make them men - or men of substance.
What made them men was the sum total of the decisions they made, and the actions they took. What made them men was the content of their characters, not the contents of their wallets.
As Chase sat astride Jasper and took a moment as he often did, to look at the land and reflect upon their progress, he knew they were on the right path.
He turned and watched Julian ride through the small herd of cattle - they only had twenty at the moment - heading toward the gate that would let him out of the large corral on the east side of the barn.
They'd move the longhorns soon enough to one of the smaller pastures.
Brian rode up and joined him, and for a moment neither of them said anything. Finally, Brian sighed. "We won't find another wrangler who's as comfortable with the spreadsheets as he is with riding herd as that man right there."
"I know, damn it."
Julian had promised them two