Page 39 - The Hunt - Summer 2021

Dillow estimates that just two other Chester County cowboys remain. “With my appearance, you’d never think I was a cowboy,” he says. “Most cowboys are skinny, and I have knees that need to be redone.”
and out of faded red sheds, when they’re not grazing on lush green grass. “God’s grass,” says Fairbairn. “This is sacred ground.”
After King Ranch divested interests, its large tracts went largely to the privileged. Fairbairn began leasing here from the Jones family 15 years ago, about the same time lawyer and equestrian Richie I.G. Jones passed away. “We wanted this grass to raise our cows, and the buildings were already here,” says the 63-year-old Fairbairn, whose family farm is in north Coatesville, with additional leased land in Glenmoore and West Chester. “We couldn’t have afforded to put these buildings up.”
The opportunity to export cattle has made the operation that much more expansive and valuable. Fairbairn started with Russia in 2010. Now, in coordination with others around the country, he exports largely to Middle Eastern countries like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
In the process, the ranch has become an impressive final export inspection facility for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On any
given few days, there may be as many
as 2,500 head of cattle here from all over
the country—as far away as Idaho, Kansas
or Texas, and as close as New York or Bedford, Pa. Then they’re loaded onto trucks bound for a ship—assuming their ship comes in. Once, a mechanical breakdown kept a herd destined for Turkey local for 30 days.
Though live animal export is the most critical part of the operation, the overseas business also includes the transfer of genetics (in the form of semen and embryos) and even stockmen and horses to impressive Middle Eastern farms owned by wealthy land owners faced with an overwhelming demand to feed people. “They’re all in agriculture, and we’re together,” Fairbairn says.
Largely based on the exchange rate of
the U.S. dollar, the export market is volatile. There could be two exports a month or one a year—or the ranch may go two or three years without a load. “We can’t depend on it. It’s
so tied to politics and whims,” says Fairbairn. “But our agricultural location is so close to the ports, and that’s what makes it work. We have the logistics.”
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