My name is Ron Young, and I grew up here in the hills of western Moore County and eastern Lincoln County, Tennessee. I have been actively raising beef for nearly thirty years. My first-known ancestors arrived in this area around 1821, and plenty more of them were here by the 1840's. My great-great-great-great uncle was the first per-manent white settler of Cades Cove, on the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina, and his brother migrated to the northeastern corner of Lincoln County near the community of Mulberry. My ancestors are all of Irish, Scottish and English descent, and they have successfully raised beef in this area for nearly 200 years.

I have a B.S. Degree in Food Science from the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology (through the Animal Science Department) from Iowa State University. I have worked as a University Professor and a NASA Research Scientist, but I have owned a farm most of my adult life, and I have never left my beef cattle roots. In 2004, I resigned my "paying job" and devoted myself full-time to raising beef.

My wife, Dr. Linda Harris Young, has her Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She teaches Microbiology, General Biology, and Environmental Science at Motlow State Community College.