Maveric Heritage Ranch

While preparing for our just-concluded trip to my partner's family reunion in Sioux Falls, SD, I typed in a Sioux Falls zip code into the Eat Well Guide. I was suprised to learn about Maveric Heritage Ranch, a Dell Rapids based ranch:

... established to raise and preserve rare breeds of livestock for the purposes of conservation, genetic diversity and to benefit future generations of all creatures, via selective breeding, increased production and public education.

After a series of emails and calls, the owners agreed to take some time from their busy schedule, and give us a tour of the Ranch. We were extremely excited and thankful, from the little I know about farming, there is no shortage of things to do.

We were treated to about an hour and half tour, in a golf cart, and they patiently explained to us their ranching methods and their goal of preserving rare breeds of hogs, cattle, sheep, and goats. Maveric really reminded me of the farm Michael Pollan wrote extensively about in his recent book. Just like Polyface, the animals at Maveric Heritage Ranch are treated humanely, are fed grass, and are "free-range" and free of hormones and steroids. It was such an educational treat to be able to ask questions in such a relaxed and informal setting.

For some of the rare breeds, Maveric Heritage Ranch actually has 50% or more of the known population in the world. They have been working with researchers from the University of Illinois and Spain, and genetic samples will be used to track these populations over time.

They envision their primary income will be higher-end restaurants, and they are finalizing a contract to supply a restaurant in Wisconsin. We brought back a lot of their ground beef and served up grilled burgers to our family, who seemed to really to love their meat. I can't wait to see their meat in the SF Bay Area restaurant scene.

They feel that their Guinea Forest Hogs and their Mulefoot Hogs are their most promising breeds. We loved the hogs, and they seemed so happy in their open air, tree shaded pens. I also loved going out to one of their open grass fields and walking up to their Belted Galloways, and was amazed to see two calm bulls in the same group of cows. They said the cows dictate their feeding schedule: when they are done with a particular grass field, they walk up to the fence near an adjacent field they want to graze next. What a simple concept, but in such stark contrast to the industrial ranching techniques descibed in Michael Pollan's book.

We were really inspired by this unlikely pair of ranchers: she is a Ph.D. in Nutrition and is the visionary behind the ranch, he is a Systems Engineer (with EROS) by day who would like to someday be a fulltime rancher. Based on our short interaction with them, we expect to hear big things about them in the future. They have the right vision, business plan, the right skill sets, and most importantly, they are really passionate about what they are doing.