The Texas longhorn is the breed that started it all. They were the original cattle in this hemisphere, brought by Christopher Columbus in 1494. These Spanish cattle have been raised with a minimum of human interference for five hundred years in North America, and since medieval times in the Andalusian Mountains of Spain.
Survival of the fittest is the natural breeding mechanism that produced these remarkable beef animals. Bred almost out of existence following the great trail drives of the 1800s by cross breeding with English and Asian bulls, the venerable, purebred Texas Longhorn is coming back again to lead American beef into yet another century. Its superior taste, old-fashioned tenderness, added protein and lower fat, lower cholesterol and calories of the leanest of seafood, makes Texas Longhorn beef truly unique.
Santa Rita Ranch in Durango, Colorado sells pure, all-natural Texas Longhorn beef from its reputation herd located on the Bondad stretch of the Animas River Valley to discriminating and health-conscious customers. Our cattle are natural conservationists: they don’t require predator control, browse weeds for their minerals, and fertilize the soil with their manure.
Santa Rita Ranch conforms to the welfare standards of the American Humane Association and the quality assurance protocol of the Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Beef Cooperative. We are proud of our cattle, the humane, respectful way we treat them, and the improvements they make to the land.
Santa Rita cattle have not been administered medication of any kind, because they are naturally disease resistant. We give them no growth hormones, because they grow just fine by themselves. And we finish our market steers on pure, natural brewer’s barley with no animal by-product additives.
All Santa Rita Ranch branded beef is dry aged the traditional way to bring out the natural bloom of the meat. We control our animals from birth to beef: no middlemen, no commodity owners, no shippers, no stress. Santa Rita Ranch animals have never left La Plata County. We even supervise the butchering and packing of every cut at a local USDA packing plant.
Santa Rita Longhorn beef has been featured on Ming’s Quest on the Food Network, and Santa Rita Ranch played an important role in the acclaimed documentary Heart & Soil.