Year Inducted: 2025
Region IV
Victoria, TX
Texas Ranch Receives Regional Environmental Stewardship Award
Founded in 1877, McFaddin Ranch is a living testament to the resilience and innovation of Texas ranching. Located near the Gulf Coast, McFaddin Ranch has worked for decades to hone grazing management practices to match the environment and optimize ecosystem services. From proper stocking densities, genetics, handling, forage quality and flood and drought management, co-owner and general manager Bob McCan continually seeks out new tools and approaches that enhance all aspects of the operation. These efforts have improved wildlife habitat, protected and enhanced water quality, and increased carbon sequestration. These stewardship efforts are helping the ranch meet its goals of integrating research-proven strategies to enhance sustainability efforts, maintaining thriving wildlife and livestock populations through complementary practices, using economic, environmental and social sustainability to guide decisions, and continuing the family’s ranching legacy. In addition, McCan shares what he’s learned through leadership roles at the state, national and international levels.
“Our consumers, regardless of where they live and how far removed from the land they are, need to know that we take the responsibility of stewardship seriously,” said Bob McCan with McFaddin Ranch. “We do everything in our power to take care of the natural resources entrusted to us.”
“McFaddin Ranch embodies a stewardship ethic that is reflected in relationships with their family, their land and their livestock,” said Jeff Goodwin, director of the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management at Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “Bob McCan leads by example by providing international leadership through industry engagement and providing an environment of learning for peers, students and resource professionals.”
