Meet the Maytags

Maytag Mountain Ranch is different from the traditional western ranch. It uses different ranching practices and techniques, but is built on a different vision.

It's no wonder - Russ's background is a little different from many of today's ranchers. He grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He loved the outdoors - hiking, camping and particularly skiing. In order to finance his ski racing career, he would spend his summers working on his father's ranches in Canada and Colorado. Gradually, he found his job not only provided him with the latest skis, but it planted a seed that would grow into a passion for his style of ranching: respecting the land, while working with it.

With college and his ski racing career behind him, Russ purchased a beautiful and historic piece of land at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado. The energetic 24 year old charged into a career and lifestyle that would lay the foundation for the Maytag Mountain Ranch. Not saddled with the accepted paradigms of ranch life, Russ questioned many conventional ranching practices. He wondered, for example, after helping half frozen calves survive by thawing them in his kitchen, why ranchers traditionally calved their cows in January and February: the coldest months of the year.

After a ranch conference which emphasized working with instead of against nature, Russ embraced the philosophy of sustainable agriculture. The sound of this design seemed to be in harmony with his gut feelings. He thought it intuitively right as well as scientifically sound. A study of the grazing behavior of wild herbivores in Africa led to a system of grazing cattle that would increase the diversity and quality of forage, and therefore the health of the animals. The use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics was discouraged. This age old design was different to practices followed in the American West in the late Twentieth century; Russ saw it as both environmentally sensitive and potentially economically viable.

As time went on, Russ envisioned a time that he and his wife Jeannie might retire. Not wishing to follow traditional development models, he imagined a sustainable ranch that could be enjoyed by his daughter and others who welcomed his vision. He decided to create The Maytag Mountain Ranch, which is introduced to you on this web site. It is built on a carefully thought out formula that includes a beautiful ranch at the footsteps of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with a community of like minded owners.

It is a ranch which raises healthy grass-finished beef, produces free-range eggs and has a permaculture garden, a spectacular communal lodge, an equestrian facility, fishing ponds and streams, visitor lodges, and private, scenic home sites.

All of this is set in one of the most beautiful and dramatic landscapes surviving in the American west.