Posted on: Thursday, June 10, 2004

Kahuku Ranch on Big Island to close

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

Damon Estate announced plans this week to close its Kahuku Ranch cattle operations on the Big Island sometime shortly after July 31.

Most of the ranch — 116,000 acres on the southern slopes of Mauna Loa — was sold for $22 million to the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i and the National Park Service last year.

The closing of the ranch comes as the estate prepares to end the trust as required upon the death of Samuel Mills Damon's last living grandchild, Joan Haig, who is in her 80s.

About seven employees of the ranch will lose their jobs, and the ranch's cattle will be sold, the estate said in a notice to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Labor. Damon officials were unavailable for comment.

The closing of the ranch should have minimal impact on Hawai'i's industry, said Corky Bryan, president of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council.

Bryan, also vice president for cattle operations at Parker Ranch, said that while Kahuku Ranch has had "a lot of land area in terms of the industry as a whole," the size of its herd ranks between No. 4 and No. 6 in the state.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.