• Patrick Montgomery founded KC Cattle Company with little ranching experience after leaving the Army. • His startup went viral overnight — then he had to learn how to scale fast. • KC Cattle Company has thrived as demand for premium American wagyu beef is surging nationwide.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patrick Montgomery, a former Army Ranger and the founder of KC Cattle Company, an American wagyu farm. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I thought I'd spend my whole life in Special Operations as part of the First Ranger Battalion — but when life had other plans and I left the Army in 2014, I certainly didn't expect to become a wagyu rancher.

I went back to school at the University of Missouri, planning to become a large-animal veterinarian. I loved

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