His grandfather’s hobby of raising bison in Leakey, Texas, is today rancher Patrick Bierschwale’s business Katerra Exotics. The former mixed martial arts fighter – he competed professionally for seven years – was inspired to go into the business when his friends kept asking to buy bison meat from him and his father, who had taken over his grandfather’s ranch. So in 2013, Patrick retired from professional fighting and filed for his LLC.

Patrick Bierschwale of Katerra Exotics

Katerra Exotics now consists of a 100-acre ranch in Katy, the 2,700-acre ranch in Leakey, 500 acres of leased land in Chappell Hill and 300 acres in College Station with trapping rights to wild boar. The Bierschwale family lives together on the Katy Ranch: Patrick, his wife and their four children (with another on the way) live in one house, Patrick’s father and mother in another, and Patrick’s sister – she’s the ranch veterinarian – and her family are in a third house. It’s a Bierschwale family village.

What is a benefit of working with family?
I work closest with my dad now. My dad is always there when I need him and he wants me to succeed.

Drawback?
It’s family – sometimes it too close for comfort. It’s always trying to live up to what you think your family’s expectations are. You always want to make your dad proud. It puts more pressure on you.

Someone wants to go into business with his or her family. What advice do you have?
Get ready to work harder than you’ve worked before, make less money then you’ve made before, but you’ll enjoy it. It’s worth it.

What legacy do you and your family want to leave behind?
My idea was if our family’s ranches weren’t being used for a purpose, we shouldn’t have them. I wanted to make sure I kept the ranching legacy in my family alive.

What do you want the public to know about ranch families?
I wish everyone knew how much we love and care for these animals. My animals are my pets, but they taste good so we eat them. I give them the best life possible from beginning to end. I take my animals to an animal welfare-approved slaughtering facility. There is no stress.

Do your children show an interest in carrying on the family business?
My oldest daughter Ella, who is nine, she is the one who wants to be front and center. If someone is writing an article about us, she is there holding a goat for a picture. She goes to farmers’ markets and works with me. Max (11 years old) and Corinne (8 years old) will help if I ask them to. Ethan (3 years old) likes it, too, but we’ll see.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
We had career day at school, and I wanted to be a pro wrestler because I thought that was real fighting. So I actually kind of did that.

What ambitions do you still have?
I want to be a good parent and I want my kids to succeed. My professional goal is that I want my business to grow, especially my store, which has been open for four months. I would like to be able to focus on that. Working farmers’ markets every Saturday, it takes me away from my family. In my store, it’s my meat and different products from farmers’ market vendors. Everything is locally grown or produced. I would like to be able to supply more restaurants, too.

“Every day I read …”
The weather. That’s the most important thing. I read it to know whether my day is going to be good or bad.

What keeps you awake at night?
Oh, dear. The health of my animals; my kids’ grades at school; wondering if this month is going to be as good as last month; being able to pay the bills; the construction around my store, which is my biggest worry right now.

What’s the best thing about your job?
I work for me, and I’m doing something I love.

The feature Families That Ranch Together appeared in the Spring 2017 issue of My Table magazine, now on newsstands or available digitally.