We have owned our closed herd of Barzona cattle for over 35 years and continue to breed and raise them in Carisso Plains and Trabuco Canyon, within Southern California. No injections or worming chemicals have been used in over 22 years, neither on the cows nor their offspring. And because we maintain a closed herd, we can be sure of that. To keep the cattle as close to nature as intended, we do not de-horn or castrate our herd, nor use any man-made chemicals including hormones, vaccines and antibiotics.

The yearlings are brought to the ranch in Trabuco Canyon and run for two years. They are raised on natural grasses and browse. During the summer months when grass is scarce, their diet is supplemented with organic produce and forage (summer hay). No hard grain is fed. Ever.

We harvest our animals at 30 to 36 months old, rather than the expedited 12-14 months common in commercial agriculture. When done right, grass feeding takes 2 additional years to reach ideal fat content on our pastured cattle. Conventional Choice and Prime meats (35-65% fat content) are raised or finished on grain to achieve ideal marbling, which unfortunately leads to an unhealthy animal with unhealthy fat. 5 Bar Beef cattle on the other hand reach 15-25% fat content with a unique wonderful flavor that comes from the meat itself. The result is delicious and healthy beef that is higher in healthy omega-3 fats and low in inflammatory omega-6 fats.

Barzona cattle are a composite breed of Afrikaner, Hereford, and Santa Gertrudes beef cattle which was developed in the high desert, inter-mountain region of Arizona in the 1920s and 1930s. These hardy, red haired cattle are adaptable to extreme temperatures, sparse rainfall, rigorous range conditions, and calve naturally without human help.