Orvis Cattle Company is now offering to the public what we have raised for ourselves for generations, ranch raised grass fed beef. Our grass fed beef is grazed on our native range in the eastern central valley foothills, irrigated pasture, and summer alpine pastures of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our cattle are never implanted with hormones or given antibiotics. Because our cattle are born and raised on our ranch, the lack of shipping stress and their own natural immunity defends them against infection. Ranch raised beef was a tradition in California, and in keeping with that tradition, we offer you a taste of what we have been doing on the same location since the ranch was founded in 1873. California is a rare location that allows us to have green grass year round which gives us the opportunity to offer true pasture grass-fed beef year round as well.

Our ranch beef are selected from our registered Hereford herd and kept on the open range of our ranch and hand selected for harvest when they are individually ready and when customer orders are placed. We offer our beef in ¼ and ½ carcass lots. Each animal is USDA inspected and dry aged 12 to 18 days at a temperature of 32 degrees and about 70% humidity. Dry aging brings out the full flavor of our beef and reflects the traditional process of how beef used to be handled. Customers work with the butcher to give specific cutting instructions for their ½ beef order; ¼ beef orders have a standard cut and wrap. The beef is vacuum packed and immediately frozen. Contact us for further details of the "cut and wrap" options, we will gladly go through the process with you and help you select the options best suited to you. The beef you buy is from one animal not "an equivalent to" one animal, cuts are never mixed from different animals, and this includes the hamburger.

Why grass fed beef? The beef you buy in most supermarkets has been fed on grain for about 6 months to increase the fat content and to mellow out the meat. What this means is the meat loses the flavor imparted by the grass, flowers, and other natural foods the cattle have eaten all their lives and replaces it with a slightly bland flavor that is supposed to be pallitable the largest number of people. To those of us raised in the beef industry, we know the best tasting beef comes directly out of the field and does not need to have the flavor diminished to make us like it. That is like making tacos without the heat. While they are still good, it is just not the same. And, while more fat in the meat is good tasting, my doctor tells me I need to cut that out.

So, do you want beef that has been shipped in from Australia or South America or would you like to try some that is locally grown the way it was supposed to?