Introduction to Rancher’s Reserve
At daybreak on a misty-blue Wednesday, a herd of cows and bulls are horseplaying on a South Florida prairie when a tractor roars to life, hoisting in its jaws a hay bale as golden as the sun. Curious copper-red cows crook their heads toward the noise.
It’s ear-tagging and DNA tissue-sampling day at Rancher’s Reserve in Okeechobee, which can be stressful on cows and humans alike. The cattle — a mix of Akaushi, a rare Japanese heritage breed, and Florida Cracker Criollos — are creatures of habit, and familiar rhythms help keep the peace. Once ranch owner Nick Scalisi opens the paddock’s gates, cowboy Tayloe Glass steers the tractor onto the grazing field, waving a green flag, and eight stocky bulls saunter in behind him, lured by the aromas of the open grain bags in the rear cab.
Life on the Ranch
At 100 acres, Rancher’s Reserve hardly matches the Montana expanse of TV’s “Yellowstone.” For one, there are no horses or mountains. This is Everglades cattle country, with miles upon miles of slash pines and flat scrubland, pristine and still untouched by developers just 35 miles from Palm Beach County’s suburban sprawl.
“The old-school guys like doing this on horseback, but that’s not needed here,” says Glass, the ranch manager, with a laugh. “My buddies like ribbing me that herding cattle with a buggy instead of a horse isn’t real cowboying, but look at ’em: The cows are pretty gentle and obedient, no?”
Such is life on this reserve, home to 115 livestock and a cross-breeding program that’s serving one restaurant and multiple green markets — and is aiming for more.
A Day in the Life of a Rancher
Most days, these cattle live out docile, carefree lives on the ranch, grazing on tall grass. But not on this recent Wednesday — because the herd is restless. Glass, a professional bullfighter-turned-cowboy, is busy herding 22 Akaushi and Florida Crackers from wooden-fenced pens into a 4-by-10-foot green metal cage called a squeeze chute. They’re ushered one by one into this cow-shaped restraint, sort of like airport travelers at TSA checkpoints, so Glass can safely replace their ear tags and extract DNA tissue samples without harming the animal or himself.
Ranch-to-Table Concept
Right now, Rancher’s Reserve’s sole restaurant client is Fern, which is Scalisi’s downtown West Palm Beach eatery with partner Chris Muneio.
But that’s expected to change on March 25 when the pair open Steak Shop by Rancher’s Reserve, adding to their rising ranch-to-restaurant empire. Part boutique butchery and part sandwich shop, this new West Palm Beach spot will offer high-end cuts of American Wagyu steak, wood-fired burgers, chicken wings and steak-topped pizzas from Rancher’s Reserve, as well as pork products brought from a 600-acre ranch he leases near Ocala, called Kanapaha Prairie in Micanopy, where he breeds heritage Berkshire and Duroc pigs.
Sean Pitts/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Akaushi bulls eat hay at Rancher’s Reserve cattle ranch in Okeechobee. (Sean Pitts/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Then, sometime later in 2025, Scalisi and Muneio plan to open the steakhouse Rueshaw, also in West Palm Beach and incorporating his cattle. It’s named for what ranchers consider the cream of the American Wagyu crop, Rueshaw, one of four Japanese purebred bulls that were imported to the United States in the 1970s. High-end and beefy and packed with what Scalisi calls “excellent marbling genetics,” Rueshaw “grandfathered” all the Akaushi cows now living on his ranches, he says.
“It’s literally ranch-to-table,” Scalisi says of his beef operation. “America’s cattle industry is a profit-making machine that’s not necessarily in the best interest of consumers. So it’s a good thing to give the local community a beef they can trust. But this gives us cred in the farm-to-table world, because it proves to Florida cattlemen that we can move lots of high-quality beef quickly through our restaurants.”
From Ranch to Dinner Plate
Rancher’s Reserve is a start-to-finish breeding program: Some calves are raised in Micanopy, until they’re weaned from their mothers about a year later, then some are brought to Okeechobee for “finishing” (in which they’re fattened with a nutrient-heavy, energy-rich diet of alfalfa, corn, barley and oats).
A third party handles slaughtering in Gainesville and ships the meat to a 1,000-square-foot industrial freezer on the Okeechobee ranch, where Scalisi takes inventory and devises the menu. The whole supply-chain pipeline, from calves to customers’ dinner plates, takes 24 to 28 months, Scalisi says.
Preserving Florida’s Cattle Legacy
The privately owned Rancher’s Reserve is the latest reminder of Florida’s rich cattle heritage. America’s first cowboys ranched in Florida 500 years ago, after explorer Ponce de Leon brought the country’s first cattle along with Spanish colonizers to the Sunshine State, according to the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, a nonprofit promoting Florida’s beef industry. These so-called Cracker cowboys would use whips to lure what became known as Cracker Cattle out of the swamp and thickets.
Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Restaurant owner and cattle rancher Nick Scalisi heads to the pasture to feed Akaushi bulls. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Florida beef operations like Rancher’s Reserve are a $546 million industry, according to the nonprofit Florida Beef Council, with 15,000 beef producers in the state owning roughly 886,000 head of cattle. Rancher’s Reserve is among the closest to South Florida, although many more are clustered farther west in Lake Placid, southeast of Orlando and around Gainesville.
Unique Ranch-to-Restaurant Formula
In the tricounty area, a few exist in Southwest Ranches, and some small-herd outfits thrive in Miami-Dade’s Redlands. But Ranchers Reserve’s ranch-to-restaurant formula appears to be one of a kind. In Palm Beach County, for example, chefs like Clay Conley, Pushkar Marathe and Jimmy Everett source herbs and specialty greens from local farms, but don’t operate their own.
Scalisi, in sharp contrast to Glass, says his farm experience is strictly self-taught. Meat price instabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic “lit a fire under my butt” to build a ranch-to-restaurant supply chain from scratch, he says. After some deep-dive research into America’s cattle industry, Scalisi and his Fern partner, Muneio, spent $100,000 on Akaushi bulls and cows at a Texas cattle auction.
“These bulls carry the best genetics,” says Scalisi, 39, whose parents own a produce wholesaler, Oceanside Produce in West Palm Beach. “We ended up with 40 cows and two bulls to start, which allowed us to keep our high-end genetics in-house. And honestly? They’re super majestic. They do really well in the Florida heat, they’re docile and friendly, and they’re 100% Wagyu. We got lucky picking the right breed on our first try.”
Conclusion
Rancher’s Reserve is a unique and innovative approach to the cattle industry, providing high-quality beef to the local community while promoting sustainable and humane farming practices. With its ranch-to-restaurant formula, the reserve is setting a new standard for the industry and providing a model for other farmers and restaurateurs to follow.
FAQs
Q: What is Rancher’s Reserve?
A: Rancher’s Reserve is a 100-acre cattle ranch in Okeechobee, Florida, that raises Akaushi and Florida Cracker cattle for its own restaurants and green markets.
Q: What is the ranch-to-restaurant concept?
A: The ranch-to-restaurant concept refers to the practice of raising cattle on a ranch and then serving the beef in the ranch’s own restaurants, eliminating the need for middlemen and ensuring the highest quality and freshness of the meat.
Q: What types of cattle are raised on Rancher’s Reserve?
A: Rancher’s Reserve raises Akaushi and Florida Cracker cattle, both of which are known for their high-quality beef and unique characteristics.
Q: Where can I buy Rancher’s Reserve beef?
A: Rancher’s Reserve beef is currently available at the ranch’s own restaurants, including Fern and Steak Shop by Rancher’s Reserve, as well as at several green markets in the area.
Q: Is Rancher’s Reserve open to the public?
A: Yes, Rancher’s Reserve is open to the public and offers tours and educational programs for those interested in learning more about sustainable and humane farming practices.
