Let's Start At the Beginning

Back in 1972, I was sitting at an open-air café and bar, El Nido, viewing the beautiful tropical sights in downtown San José, Costa Rica.  My favorite waiter knew that I'd had a long and dusty two day journey (by horseback, boat, and train), so without asking he set a frosty mug of a local brew in front of me, and an appetizer of fresh tuna mixed with green salsa, onions, and cured with lemon juice.

Less than ten minutes later, the real reason I came to El Nido was placed on my table, "beef steak".  Along with fried rice, black beans, and a simple lettuce salad, this is what I had been thinking about for over a month.  The meat's taste was very flavorful (I use the terms "full bodied" or "beefy"), it had a great smell to it, and the texture was dense, but very juicy.  Since I worked with cattlemen in the western coastal region, I knew these mostly Brahman cattle never received an ounce of grain, but after two seasons, some of the most promising critters were herded to the lusher grasses for domestic consumption.

Fast Forward

By 1990, I was determined to find or raise beef in Wisconsin that tasted and smelled like my earlier cowboy eating experiences.  My wife, Susan, and I were both office professionals living in the Fox River Valley.  Fortunately, I happened upon Beefalo Bill's while I was driving to one of my work assignments east of Fond du Lac.  After my work was done, I talked with Bill Thackray for over two hours, about how he raised and sold his pastured Beefalo.  I left Bill's place with several pounds of meat.  From that day until 1995, Sue and I drove 80 miles roundtrip to Bill's place to buy our meat.  I had finally found beef in the USA that matched my Costa Rican eating experience, … and it also started Sue and me on a new adventure.  In 1993, we established Cattleana Ranch.  By 2001 the business was developed to allow both of us to work full-time on the land.

Thomas & Susan Wrchota

Cattleana Ranch

5200 O'Reilly Rd.

Omro, WI 54963

Cattleana Ranch has been developed as an environmentally sustainable cattle-grazing operation.  We bring to you clover finished beef.  Our animals are not stressed by the competition of feedlot operations or force fed corn.  Instead, they enjoy a serene, peaceful life on lush green pastures of clover and grass during the growing season, and hay during the snow and cold weather.

We are part of a very small segment of North American livestock producers who call themselves sustainable grass farmers, or graziers. We have used an environmentally and economically viable cattle-feeding system called Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) for more than a dozen years. Tom has developed Black Galloway cattle (www.americangalloway.com) genetics for 100% grass and hay feeding and finishing, using no grains in the animals' diet—he is one of the first to accomplish this in the Upper Great Lakes Region. We also raise pastured poultry and chemical free, naturally fertilized vegetables during the summer months.

In 1994, Tom was instrumental in the development of the Fox River Grazers, one of approximately 15 active sustainable grass farmer networks in Wisconsin. He has been a board member of GrassWorks, Inc.(www.grassworks.org a grass farmer-run association), and has written articles for the professional grazing magazine, GRAZE (www.grazeonline.com) . We have received two sustainable agricultural research grants. Currently, both of us serve on the Citizens Advisory Council for the Center for Integrated Agricultural System at the University of Wisconsin Madison (http://www.cias.wisc.edu/).

In 2003, we received the Agriculture Decade River Champion Award from the River Alliance of Wisconsin, for educating citizens and environmental groups, about the beneficial impact that sustainable agriculture and MIG has on Wisconsin's waterways.