PRACTICES

Herd History - Our pedigreed purebred beef comes from calves born to cows known to us, either here at the ranch or from cooperating Ancient White Park breeders whose practices are similar to if not identical to ours. We know the history of the animals that produce our beef from start to finish. All of our animals are individually identified at birth to allow us to track each animal throughout its life.

Feed - Cows and calves are grazed on pasture for as much of the year as possible. This includes native range, irrigated pasture, dormant hayfields and crop aftermath from our organic farming operations. During the winter when pasture is not available the herd is fed haylage made from our organically raised crops or hay. We produce all of our own haylage and all of our hay in most years. Occasionally we will buy hay from our neighbors from fields that are not sprayed for weeds with herbicides. We have minimized grain use on the ranch for many years and have not fed any to our Ancient White Park cattle for several years. We occasionally find it necessary to supplement minerals and vitamins and are careful to use only products that do not contain animal byproducts.

Humane Treatment -We strive to provide a low stress environment for our animals by handling them carefully and skillfully. All of the ranch crew has been trained in low stress stockmanship and we practice it diligently daily. Our facilities are designed and maintained to be safe and efficient for the animals.

Land- Our crop and pasture lands at the Big Timber operation are managed organically and were first certified in 1993. No synthetic fertilizer has been applied since 1989 when herbicide use was discontinued. We manage our pastures with attention paid to the energy reserves of the plants so they can rejuvenate when rested.

Artificial Growth promotants and hormones - We use no hormones or other synthetics either through implants or feed additives to increase growth rates. We also do not use hormones to synchronize estrus in our cows and heifers or improve breeding rates. On very rare occasions after a difficult birth we may administer oxytocin to a cow to help shrink her uterus and stimulate lactation. Any cow receiving this treatment is ineligible for our beef program.