GARLINGER CATTLE RANCH
The Legacy of Teamwork By CCA Director of Communications Malorie Bankhead
T
he family members who make up Garlinger Cattle Ranch embody every essence of the word team, and uniquely so. The cow-calf operation covers pastureland in the Salinas Valley in the Gabilan Mountains and is managed by five sisters, their spouses and their mother. The family also grows and leases farm land for crops including lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, peas, bok choy and more. The 137-year-old ranch was homesteaded by Hans Hansen, which would later be run by his grandson, Del Garlinger. Del and Pat Garlinger were married in 1942. After having three daughters together, they tried for a son, and ended up with twin girls, leaving them with five very capable women to help them run the ranch when the time came. Before Del Garlinger passed away in 1984, he left the cattle business to his daughters and their husbands, because they had expressed the desire to carry on his legacy. Daughter Joanie Ketcham says Del was the most honest person you’d ever find. He never owed anyone a penny in his life, except for the one time he took his neighbor up on a deal to expand the ranch, but he paid him back in full, as quickly as possible. The sisters were all told at a very young age that the ranch would not support all of them, so they’d have to go out and get their own jobs. No matter where their careers took them, they always stayed true to their love of their family ranch. Ketcham was always her father’s right hand “man” when it came to the cattle, and today, she manages the cattle herd. Ron and Debbie Blomquist also help with the daily cattle work and live on the ranch. For the Garlinger Cattle Ranch sisters, carrying on the legacy their parents provided them is so important. Ketcham worked as a nurse in San Luis Obispo in preoperation and post-operation for 44 years, but she says her 26 California Cattleman March 2017
cows and horses were always her first love. “Dad would always teach me things as he was going,” Ketcham said. “Every Sunday I would go roping with him, and I learned so much when we were out riding or driving around the ranch.” Ketcham says her two sons Ross and Tyler are really capable cowboys and help out on the ranch in addition to her nieces and nephews, too. Ketcham takes pride in helping run the ranch as a woman, but she says she tells her friends, there’s no doubt about men being phyisically stronger, so it’s nice to have sons to help. Between the six of them, the Garlinger sisters and their mom work really well together. On the ranch, each sister has a specific job. Their husbands are involved with the cattle, too, and have a part in the cattle ranch. None of them grew up in ranching, but now they really enjoy it. Pat Garlinger, ranch matriarch, lives life to the fullest each day at the young age of 94 and isn’t afraid to voice her opinions. “She keeps very involved,” Ketcham said. “But she lets us make the decisions.” What began as a Hereford operation slowly brought in Red Angus genetics. Then the family had a vote among the nine of them. The vote was seven to two, favoring the addition of black Angus genetics. Today, the Garlinger Cattle Ranch has mostly black Angus calves on the ground. Daughter Kathy Paolino handles the ranch’s farmland leases and together she and her husband Louie are the chefs for the ranch brandings and cattle pregnancy testing. They have two children, Khristin and Louie. The ranch branding, which takes place each year in the