Just a Working Cattle Ranch
The Flint Hills Ranch Experience
 “We’re just a working cattle ranch,” Rose Bacon says. “It’s nothing fancy. We wear our work clothes, and we show them what we do.”
That’s the undefined marketing formula for the Flint Hills Ranch Experience, run by Kent and Rose Bacon at the R.K. Cattle Company on the Four Mile Road outside Council Grove, Kansas. Groups from throughout the U.S., and visiting groups from Sweden and Germany have eagerly paid to come see this glimpse of real ranching.
Each individual pays $10, with a minimum of $150 per group (smaller groups of less than 15 will be accommodated as long as they pay the $150 minimum). Rose indicates that the groups usually come in by bus and she meets them in Council Grove. On the way out to the ranch, she boards the bus and has this time to explain a little about the history of the ranch, and the beautiful Flint Hills.
 “In the cattle industry, we are stockers, or backgrounders,” Rose tells her guests. Most react the same way this writer did-they have no clue what that means. Rose expects that, and has an explanation ready.
“What we provide is basically an ‘elementary school for calves.’ When the young calves are ready to leave their momma, we bring them here and prepare them for getting along well at the feed lots. Here, they’ll get used to the horses working among them. We’ll introduce them to the chutes, the feed bunks, the vaccinations, give them ear tags, teach them to get used to automatic water systems, and all that.”
Rose explains that this transitional phase significantly reduces the sickness and death rate among cattle moving from birth to the feedlots. The calves can make the transition without the backgrounders, but this middle step results in healthier cattle.
At the ranch, Kent and Rose will walk their guests through the process she has just explained on the bus.
 “Horses are our main equipment,” she tells them. She’ll explain a working saddle, and talk about what the horses are expected to do. Better yet, she lets a visitor pick a calf in the herd. “Then we get on the horse, cut out the calf, move it up the alley and into the tub.” Some may have seen this in a western, but now the crowd is amazed to see rider and horse actually separate the calf and move it where they want it.
“There’s always someone who wants to ride the horses,” Rose says, “So I explain that cowboy’s horse is kind of like a husband. Once a woman has one trained and broken in right, you don’t lend them out. Chances are they’ll come back ruined, or spoiled.”
Stories like this, Rose says, help her guests feel at home. She and Kent really encourage all the questions, and love sharing the ranch experience with their guests. She says they always have a lot of fun asking visitors to guess the weight of a calf. Some are off by several hundred pounds, while some-Rose says you can spot the ranchers-have a pretty good idea and will be within just a few pounds.
Rose said she did learn with the first group that it is necessary to explain the hydraulic chute in advance of leading a calf into it for demonstration.
 “Some folks were upset when the chute held the animal, and they needed to understand that it’s not hurting them. I point out that a mother will hold her child still for vaccinations, and that’s what we are doing here.”
“But we answer every question, and we show them the shots, the huge pills, and the branding iron,” she said. “I want them to understand what we are doing, and that we have genuine concern for the well being of the animals.”
After explaining cattle brands, and showing them the “Bar-R-K” brand, every guest is given a board of cedar, and given the opportunity to sear the brand into the wood. The guests also receive a bandana neckerchief to remember their visit.
After the demonstrations, guests are invited up to the deck by the house. Rose has more she wants to share. She shows them some grass samples-big blue, little blue, and Indian grass-and she shows them samples of the limestone and flint, and points out the fossils from around the spring. Many are amazed to learn that this area was once covered by an ocean or inland sea.
 Rose also passes around large 14 x17 photos of other aspects of cattle ranching, ranging from photos of Kent and Rose helping to move the big herds, to shots of native wildflowers they’ve see in the open prairie. The tour ends with recitation of some original cowboy or country poetry, and a sincere invitation to come back again.
Many do come back again. The Flint Hills Ranch Experience attracts anywhere from 500 to 1,200 visitors a year, although Kent and Rose prefer to have only 1 or 2 groups visit each week. They are a working ranch, you know. Their tour season is open from April through October.
The groups find out about the Experience primarily through word of mouth. The first tours were organized by a friend in the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau office in Council Grove, and most of the referrals still come from CVBs and tour agencies. A modest website, www.flinthillsranch.com, and a brochure also are used for marketing.
“There’s just nothing fancy about us,” Rose concludes. “They’ll visit the Tallgrass Prairie National Park, which is only about 15 minutes away, or maybe have lunch in Cottonwood Falls or Council Grove. And then we hope they’ll come see us.”
“I think what they like is we are just a ‘mom and pop’ shop. We do it all. It’s not fancy. We are what we are.”
Editor’s Note: AgriTourism, as demonstrated by the Bacon family, does not require merry-go-rounds and trains, vast playgrounds, or live entertainment. These tourists are eager to not see just another theme park, they want to see the farm or ranch-just as it is. This is something no one else can provide them. You can share your unique lifestyle, and still say “we are what we are.”
To learn more, visit www.flinthillsranch.com
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