Everyone Knows the Cafes, But Do You Know Where Jeju's Ranches Began? It Starts With a Priest

Traveling around Jeju, especially near Hallim, you've probably come across cafes or shops known for their milk and ice cream. But if you trace that dairy story back to its roots, it's said to lead to an old ranch spread across the wide fields of Geumak-ri, Hallim — Saint Isidore Ranch. These days it's known mostly as a photo spot for tourists, but this ranch is said to hold a fairly significant page in the history of Jeju's livestock industry. Hallim-eup in particular is often named as a town that comes up whenever Jeju's livestock industry is discussed, which is why it felt worth taking a closer look at this local story. Today, instead of a cafe or dessert story, GYULI wants to walk you through how this ranch got its start and why it keeps coming up in conversations about Jeju's livestock industry — the story at its roots.

A Ranch Set Across the Wide Fields of Geumak, Hallim

Saint Isidore Ranch is said to spread widely across the Geumak-ri area of Hallim-eup, Jeju City. The name 'Isidore' is said to come from the saint regarded in Catholicism as the patron of farmers and herders — and the fact that a saint's name is attached to this ranch hints that it began with more than just an ordinary pasture behind it. Geumak-ri, with its wide-open oreum and grassland, is said to have long been considered land well suited to raising livestock, and that terrain likely played a large part in why a ranch of this scale took root here. Even now, passing by the ranch, you're said to be able to see cattle and horses grazing leisurely across the open grassland, a scene often introduced as capturing Jeju's pastoral character. Among tourists, it's also said to have become known by word of mouth as a photo spot for its unusual scenery — and that scenery itself might be seen as the result of the ranch having held this ground for such a long time.

The Priest From Ireland Who Built the Ranch

At the start of Saint Isidore Ranch, there's said to have been a priest from Ireland. In the hard years after the Korean War, this priest is said to have settled in Jeju and begun building a ranch to help support the livelihoods of the area's impoverished residents — though I'd rather not state the exact year the ranch opened here. What can be said is that not long after the war ended, livestock were brought in one by one onto the barren fields of Geumak-ri, and the ranch gradually took shape from there. Jeju, as a volcanic island, is said to have made it hard to get by on field farming alone back then, and it's worth noting that this hardship is part of the backdrop against which herding was proposed as a new way for the area to make a living. Attempting a new style of herding on unfamiliar land, in an unfamiliar climate, could not have been an easy thing to do.

🍊 More Photos, via GYULI

One thing that stands out about how this priest ran the ranch is said to be the improved livestock breeds he brought in. Larger, more productive cattle and sheep, different from the native breeds long raised in Jeju, are said to have been imported from abroad and raised here, and these animals were gradually crossbred with native Jeju livestock to improve the local stock over time. Beyond that, he's also said to have introduced Western-style ranch management — systematically managing pastureland and raising livestock efficiently — and passed these methods on to local farms. Alongside this, he's also said to have taught residents animal-raising skills directly and given them jobs on the ranch, passing on both employment and know-how at the same time. This approach is said to have had no small influence on Jeju's livestock industry as a whole, particularly in helping dairy farming take root.

Traces of the Old Dairy Facilities That Still Remain

The ranch that began this way is said to have gone beyond simply raising livestock, eventually building out dairy facilities to process the milk as well. Even now, walking around the ranch, you can find buildings from that earlier era still standing, said to hint at a time when this place actively produced dairy products. The ranch is also well known for its old housing with distinctive round, arched roofs — said to have been built using a special construction method that didn't require concrete or timber to stand sturdy, and these buildings are said to still retain their original form today. The ranch is said to be so large that touring the whole area even now is said to take quite a while, and traces of the facilities built back then are said to remain scattered across the wide field. Old warehouses and sheds, buildings carrying the marks of time, are scattered here and there, and seeing them is said to bring home just how long people and livestock have lived and worked side by side on this field.

These days, cafes carrying on that dairy tradition are said to be popping up one by one near the ranch, reinterpreting the dairy products once made here in a style suited to today. That cafe story might be one GYULI gets to tell separately sometime, but today the focus was on the ranch itself, the root of it all. If you're planning a Jeju trip, taking a slow walk across this field where so much time has settled, instead of sticking to the usual tourist route, could turn out to be a good experience of its own. Before your next bite of ice cream or sip of milk, taking a moment to think back on the long history that began on this field might make a trip to Hallim feel just a little more special.

🍊 Real Photos, via GYULI