Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Prescott Land and Livestock

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — A man of many hats, Jerome’s Roy Prescott says one role he plays is his truest form.

“I am a beef cow/calve operator. That’s my life and has always been,” he said. A second-generation rancher, Prescott has been working his whole life on his beef ranch in Jerome County.

“My dad started this with 120 acres around here in 1954. We’ve developed everything from that point forward,” said Prescott.

And develop he did.

Prescott now oversees hundreds of acres of farmland and 1200 head of beef cow, which he grazes on a whopping 185,000 acres of private, state and federal land across four southern Idaho counties.

Even with all that work, Prescott has kept himself involved in the area; sitting as a County Commissioner, Planning and Zoning Chair and on the EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee.

He says it is vital in areas like the Magic Valley to be invested in the past, present and future of the area.

“If you’re going to maintain it, you the locals have to speak and it’s not enough to say, ‘ok well I went and voted,’ you have to get involved,” he said.

Prescott tells me he is extraordinarily proud to be an Idaho rancher and hopes the state’s rich agricultural tradition continues.

“It teaches you honesty. It takes us back to a part of history where a man’s word was his contract. We need more of that kind of thing. This kind of living and the work helps develop that,” he said.

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