The Young-Outlaw Ranch

First-generation rancher Josh Young is bringing innovation to his direct-to-consumer operation in North Carolina.

It’s not easy managing a ranch full of animals by yourself, especially when you’re a firefighter full time. It’s even more challenging when you’re building your knowledge base as you build your operation. But Josh Young has figured out a system that allows his livestock to thrive. His place in Dudley, North Carolina, is called Young-Outlaw Ranch, and he raises beef cattle on pasture, finished with local grain, and processed nearby. Not only does he offer direct-to-consumer meat products, but Young also opens his ranch up to his community for educational opportunities and field trips. He’s come a long way in a few short years; Young Outlaw was founded in 2021.

Josh Young (right) with the North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture. Photo courtesy of Josh Young Dreams Realized

Oftentimes, ranching is a tradition passed down from your grandparents or parents. For Young, being a marine was a childhood dream, along with being a cowboy like Roy Rogers or John Wayne, thanks to shows he watched with his grandfather growing up.

“I accomplished the first dream with some time in the military,” Young says. “I did five years active duty with the Marines and then three years with the Army.”

In 2021, when the opportunity to buy a place in Wayne County opened up, Young jumped at the chance. Possessing no agricultural knowledge at first, 34-year-old Young has been a sponge for knowledge from all kinds of sources.

“I just started YouTubing my way through, and we’ve exponentially grown in the past three years,” Young says.

Getting Started

His initial goal was to open a deer ranch and produce venison for consumers. But while that arm of his venture was tied up by government regulations, he bought one cow for himself to slaughter. Soon, he began to hear from folks about their dissatisfaction with grocery store meat and saw a chance to build his business.

“People were looking for something more local,” Young says. “That’s when I started diving into raising pork.”

Young’s pigs are raised on the ground, in the woods on his land.

Next, he looked into raising cattle but wanted to set himself apart from the Angus herds in his area. New to agriculture, he was attracted to Texas Longhorns because of the mystique.

“People might not know the name of my place, but they recognize the Texas Longhorns when they drive by,” Young says. “They’re kind of like an advertisement piece.”

Visitors to the ranch can learn about how and why longhorns’ horns grow the way they do. The sight of longhorns at Young-Outlaw draws interest from visitors.

Young has ramped up from harvesting four cattle to 18 last year, with more to come this year. In addition to longhorns, which are a cow-calf operation for both registered Longhorns and beef, he has Hereford-Angus cross cattle that he purchases at a stocker size and finishes out.

“My primary focus is going to the consumption livestock side of things — selling beef and pork direct to consumers,” Young says. “In the last three years, we’ve gone from just a farmer’s market here and there to online sales. We’ve shipped all the way to California. I wouldn’t say it’s a huge operation, but for one person, it gets pretty busy.”

His ultimate goal is to become the first United States Department of Agriculture-certified venison production ranch in the Carolinas.

“Eighty-five percent of the venison sold in the United States is imported from New Zealand,” Young says. “We’ve been working to provide a local, first-generation, veteran-owned ranch, offering venison as well as pork and beef.”

The Young-Outlaw Ranch also has about 150 free-range chickens, a few turkeys and hair sheep, which has helped with parasite control with the cattle herd, along with pasture rotation with a focus on regenerative-style pasture management. He also has a young kangaroo!

Opening the Gates

As the ranch grew its production and up to 50 acres in size, so did the ranch’s notoriety in the area and online. Using social media like Facebook and Instagram to grow its following, Young says his goal is to inspire the next generation to get into agriculture. The most effective platform, though, has been TikTok, where what he considered “cringey comedy” has led to ranch merch sales as far as Australia and England.

“This last year, we hosted veteran groups, had Boys Scouts come out and partnered up with the University of Mount Olive. They have been bringing their ag students out for a day with their ag summer camp,” Young says. “Our focus this year is to ramp that up and start bringing in more schools.”

Visitors can pet the ranch’s halter-broke longhorn and learn about his horn growth and other aspects of the livestock on-site.

When you arrive at the entrance of the place, you’ll see a 1940s car that Young found buried in the woods with bullet holes in the door.

Young designed the entrance of his ranch to be welcoming and draw in visitors. The old “Bonnie and Clyde” type vehicle with bullet holes in the side lent the “Outlaw” moniker to the ranch name.

“It’s a little Bonnie-and-Clyde atmosphere, and it added the ‘Outlaw’ side of the ranch name,” Young says.

In the spring and summer, Young sets up a self-serve egg stand at the entrance. During the winter, he puts out hay bales that he decorates for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“We make it a photo opportunity right when people come in,” Young says.

Having visitors to his ranch has been a highlight, he says.

“[It’s] the excitement on people’s faces when they get to come to the ranch and see what all goes into it, and the joy on kids’ faces when they get to see the animals and experience a little bit of my life,” Young says.

The agri-tourism venture, meat sales online and at festivals, and merchandise with the ranch logo are all ways Young is marketing his brand.

“I don’t have a lot of ag-related friends. Everyone I know is prior military or works with the fire department and a whole world that isn’t used to buying directly from a rancher or a farmer,” Young says. “But I have a good following through word of mouth.”

He mostly fulfills local deliveries and ranch pickup orders through his website.

“I offer pickup at the ranch, so if you want to see where your food is coming from, this is why we do what we do,” Young says. “I’ve had a phenomenal response, just on that.”

Innovation

Challenges abound from being a first-generation rancher, Young says. For example, trying to find the right kind of fencing or how to navigate government programs like the USDA and Farm Service Agency. Mistakes have been made, but Young says they’ve been his best education.

Young is constantly seeking knowledge from online classes, conferences and organizations.

“I’m part of associations like the NC Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers, Carolina Deer Ranchers, North Carolina Cattlemen’s Association and several more,” Young says. “Conferences like the Carolina Meat Conference and short-term courses offered from [North Carolina State University], such as regenerative pasture management and cattle AI, are just a couple of the many opportunities I have had. I was able to go to Texas for the Exotic Wildlife Association conference and visited multiple ranch operations to get insight from industry experts to effectively grow my ranch.”

He is also a federal firefighter for the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, and his hours are on duty for 48 hours and off for 72. This presents a real challenge for a rancher with livestock at home.

“I’ve had to think outside the box of where I might not be there for three days, so how can I be effective in sales and good animal husbandry while still maintaining a full-time job?” Young says.

He’s found ways to keep everything going at home. He’s recently hired someone who can check on his animals on his second-day shift to count the animals and ensure all of his mechanical processes are working.

Pictured is Young-Outlaw’s newest resident, a baby kangaroo.

“While I’m here [on base], everything is set up to where they’ve got food and water with automatic waterers,” Young says. “The chickens have a modified deer feeder to where it times putting out feed. The mouser cats and herding K9 have custom feeders built out of PVC tubes.”

The cattle on grass and hay don’t need a daily feeding machine, but he’s working on one for the grain-finishing cattle.

Young’s ranch has come a long way, and so has his understanding of his field. He’s grateful for those who’ve helped him on this journey.

“Looking back and recognizing how much has evolved is hard sometimes because of the constant drive to grow and inspire and feed more people,” Young says. “I am extremely thankful for the amount of help and support I have received from my friends. I would not have gotten to where I am without them, from people like Melissa, who has gone on to start her own ranch in Alabama; coworker Adam, who is always down to bring his equipment to help clear land or build fencing; Elizabeth, who was once terrified of chickens and can now maintain the ranch while I’m gone at conferences; Chris, who I drag to every class with me and has now been infected with the dream and has cattle of his own; and to every single person who likes and shares my story, both word of mouth and online.”

Future Plans

Young is on the board of directors for the Carolina Deer Ranchers association, which has recently started to build that industry in North Carolina. The deer ranching operations now fall under the North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s purview with Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler. Young feels this type of ranch operation is ideal for folks like himself, such as veterans getting out of the military and wanting to buy small amounts of acreage.

“You can get started with a 5-acre property, and with raising deer, you can eventually be sustainable,” Young says. “You wouldn’t be able to do that with 5 acres of cows.”

He sees raising deer versus operating a hunting operation as an ideal way for non-hunters to still purchase venison.

As he continues to care for his animals and look for ways to improve his business, Young has a saying he likes to keep in mind.

“We have a ranch motto. Everything’s always chaotic on the ranch, so our ranch motto is ‘Embrace the chaos and wreak havoc,’” Young says.

For more info, visit https://www.youngoutlawranch.com.

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