PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The RENAISSANCE RANCHER
Don’t let Clay Humphries’ boyish good looks fool
you. As manager of the Circle I Ranch in Port St.
Lucie, the seventh-generation rancher who wants to
take agriculture into the 21st century writes so well
a teacher accused him of plagiarism and embodies the same
pioneer spirit his ancestors brought to the region in 1878.
“Agriculture is dying,” Humphries says. “Young people
aren’t getting involved. We don’t want to outsource all our
food, especially to countries that aren’t regulated.”
One idea he’s working on is getting landowners to pledge
sections for student use.
Humphries grew up on the Circle I, beginning ranch work
when he was 6.
“There’s always tractor work, fence to mend, minerals to
put out, grass to be measured,” he says.
While measuring grass doesn’t necessarily conjure up
pictures of cowboys, good stewardship requires rotational
grazing for optimal nutrition. “A good cattle rancher is only a
great grass farmer.”
Humphries and his father, Fred, share the load, but periodically
others help round up the 600 head for doctoring,
branding and castrations, a pattern that he says encourages
honesty, hard work and doing your fair share.
Ranching taught Humphries important lessons as a boy.
“My sister and I would be out in the pasture on the fourwheeler,
and the engine might die,” he says. “A rattlesnake
could appear out of nowhere. Those things teach problemsolving
skills. You have to face things, not fear them.”
Humphries says one problem that needs solving is a future
with “less land, and more people eating.” Humphries’ vision
includes creating a small Florida cracker herd of cattle that
will be more productive.
“We put three units on 10 acres now, but with this herd,
we could do five,” he says. “Smaller animals, but more total
tonnage.”
A student of Florida history, Humphries explains that
Spaniards left behind a variety of breeds; only the strong survived.
They had to be light enough to avoid getting bogged
down in swamps and able to calve easily, withstand mosquitoes
and resist disease.
“What we call yellow hammers made it,” he says. “They’ll
eat almost everything, stay under 800 pounds, and are
42 Port St. Lucie Magazine
>>
BY ELLEN GILLETTE
ELLEN GILLETTE
Whether he’s on horseback or behind the wheel, Clay Humphries loves working his family’s ranch and says agriculture needs a balanced voice that can
bring various factions to mutual understanding for the good of the state.