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Seeking a work-life balance Airola taught high school science and agriculture for seven years until the challenges of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 birth of his daughter prompted him to seek a better work-life balance. “The ranch is a nice spot where I can go, and it’s just me and the cows, and success or failure is nobody’s fault but my own,” Airola says. “I have a passion for it, and it keeps the legacy going.”
Calaveras County rancher Trevor Airola owns Ranch 75 Cattle Co. and raises Angus cattle.
Preserving the legacy Trevor Airola launches business to continue family’s ranching tradition
Story by Christine Souza • Photo by Josh Swanson
Carrying on the family’s ranching legacy, Trevor Airola runs a small cattle operation and represents his family’s sixth generation in Calaveras County. His third great-grandfather immigrated to California from Italy in 1856, not long after the peak of the Gold Rush. Airola’s ancestors owned a general store and later entered the cattle business in the Gold Country town of Angels Camp. “My family didn’t mine the gold, but they sold the shovels and the pans,” he says. Generations later, Airola’s father returned to the family ranch in the 1980s, raised cattle for 10 years, and then leased the land. Having grown up in the business, Airola says he formed Ranch 75 Cattle Co., a business of 45 cow-calf pairs of Angus cattle, to keep the family’s ranching tradition alive. “A few years ago, I had the opportunity to take over the lease on the ranch. I got a loan to buy some cows and started on my own,” Airola says. “What it’s all about for me is just preserving the legacy.” Airola and his wife, Jillian, have a daughter, Olivia, who is nearly 3 and represents the family’s seventh generation in Calaveras County.
A year-round cycle In the spring, calves are weaned from mother cows, and Airola administers vaccinations to prevent diseases and parasites. “As a cow-calf operation, we usually have the calves for nine months or until they reach 600 pounds,” he says. In June, calves are sold to a stocker, the next stop before a feedlot. Airola spends the summer irrigating pasture and, in the fall, places bulls with the cows for breeding the next cycle.
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Spring 2024
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