RANCH HISTORY

The story goes, one day my Dad and his brother were talking about real estate investments. John, my Dad’s brother, advised him to go West and invest in property. My Dad, Rudy Driscoll Sr.., drove through Woodside and out to La Honda where he fell in love with the setting and the idea of “open space”. So, in 1968 Driscoll Ranch was the proud owner of property in La Honda. Dad loved the rolling grass covered hills, the creeks and ponds, the beautiful stands of timber, and the abundant wildlife.

Dad shared his love of this property with us and we used to picnic on weekends in the summer along the Harrington Creek under the shade of Oak, Redwood and Willow trees. Dad was all about the bottom line, not in a monetary way with the ranch, but rather in a way of improving the characteristics of the land in a manner which was holistic and never hurt the land. Our ranch was and is maintained to very high standards which can be seen in all aspects of the Ranch’s infrastructure of roads, fences, water systems, the abundant healthy wildlife and the condition of our cattle.

I started to work for Driscoll Ranch in 1994 and took the reins over from my Dad’s trusted long time ranch manager George Shawback. With George at my side, I headed up two major land acquisitions of what was then known as the Wool property and the Folger property. The ranch more than doubled in size to almost 4,000 acres. We then began a campaign to grow our cow calf operation of Aberdeen Black Angus, improve the internal roads, water systems and hire on more talented employees who share our values and love of open space. By 1998 the ranch was in full swing and we were completely self sufficient when it came to maintaining and improving the ranch.

All was great at the ranch and my Dad focused his attention and time on his new found love, Hackney Ponies. His passion for the ponies was contagious and he spent every waking moment thinking of, or perhaps more accurately, dreaming of the ponies. He went on to win many shows. During this time it became apparent that the ranch needed quality horses, so we jumped into the Quarter Horse breeding business. As life would have it, we went into raising cutting horses and wound up raising reigning horses. As such we have had the great fortune of partnering with some of the best in the business. A special thank you to Bob and Pam Loomis for getting us started with great broodmares. We are currently working with Craig and Ginger Schmersal. They are great to work with and do a fantastic job for us and our horses. Currently we keep some horses at our facilities in La Honda while the majority of our horses are kept in Oklahoma at the Schmersal’s ranch.

Life was going extremely well for us and the ranch was coming into its own when my Dad unexpectedly had a stroke that was pretty disabilitating, followed up by a fall that broke his neck and then the discovery of cancer while at the hospital. Even from his hospital bed he was interested in what was happening at the ranch and wanted to make sure that it would always be open space.

I contacted the Peninsula Open Space Trust, POST, about the possibility of them acquiring a portion of the ranch. One thing that was important to me was that we have the right to graze cattle on the ranch for the remainder of my life. Why? Simply put, I believe and want to prove to the disbelievers that cattle are a very viable tool for land management when used properly. POST and Driscoll Ranch created, with the help of experts, a Rangeland Management Plan for the ranch with POST and Driscoll Ranch use to monitor the cattle’s performance. Fortunately for me, POST agreed to the conditions of the sale and my Dad knew prior to his death that his dream and vision that this land always be kept open space would be realized. In 2007, POST transferred ownership of the ranch to Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District. I look forward to building our relationship with the district and working with them to maintain the ranch.

My family still owns property in La Honda and part of the property is known as the Driscoll Ranch Event Center. The Event Center is host to many different events and to the Driscoll Ranch Rodeo held the last full weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in July. The rodeo is one of the few “open” rodeos left in California and is all about family being together and having fun.

Well, one might ask what you are doing now that the ranch has sold. We are pretty much still taking care of the ranch. As luck would have it some people have been so impressed by the ranch they have contracted with us to work on theirs and in the future, we may be managing other ranches near La Honda. We still manage our cattle and horse operations. The Event Center is growing in popularity and is hosting many different types of events.
Please check us out in person as we are in a beautiful setting and love to meet new people. In fact the Event Center motto is, a place for strangers to meet and leave as friends.

Rudy Driscoll, Jr.
Driscoll Ranch Owner