wa-ter-shed
1. a region or area bounded peripherally by a divide and draining ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water
2. a crucial dividing point, line, or factor; a turning point
Our Story:
We had just purchased 58 acres in the heart of Washoe Valley, Nevada. The house my husband grew up in is five minutes by car to the north. Many of his extended family members live just about 12 minutes to the south. And in between, there we now were, in a valley, more beautiful than a postcard, hemmed in by the backside of the same mountains I knew only from the other side, visible from the California side of Lake Tahoe. Our valley is anchored by a different lake, altogether, whose waters change with every variation of sky and every shift of color that rolls off the western ridges. We get the brunt of Lake Tahoe‘s “lake affect“, with powerful winds and icy storms that drive in with such gusts, it prompts the feeling you could be picked up off your feet at any moment.
The decision to purchase this ranch and uproot our family, leaving our home town of the past 15 years, and transplanting to this valley, was certainly our watershed moment. It was a new life. The transition was hard, but we have never stopped being grateful for what we have been blessed with since we came here.
We have a very particular philosophy when it comes to the animals on our ranch. That is, that they are the happiest they can possibly be while living with us. We do everything we can to give them a life that most closely resembles their natural psychology, energy, nutrition, and habitat. Although we do get a little too attached sometimes. Up until the very last day, we strive to have them be the most content animals they possibly can be.
Regenerative Farming
Here at Watershed Ranch we take pride in regenerative farming practices. Our cows graze on our own grass which is never treated with herbicides like glyphosate, just a shovel or flame. Our fertilization comes from the cattle themselves and they never receive hormones or non therapeutic antibiotics. We take pride in these grasslands and we aim to preserve and maintain their beauty and natural ecology.
"Grass Fed” and “Grain Finished”
Grass fed is an important term that has become popular to make the distinction between cows that eat their natural diet of grass, and those that eat from grain feeding troughs, which is commonly associated with added hormones and antibiotics. Our cattle are grass fed and grain finished, which means they eat the grass from our own ranch for the majority of their life, and a few months before they are harvested, their grass diet is supplemented with high quality grains, and there is a reason for this. Traditional Wagyu are pasture raised with a diet mixed of grains and grass, where the quality of both is most important. Grass feeding keeps the cattle healthy and happy as they grow and grain helps with the development of intramuscular fat, which is known as marbling. This results in maximum flavor and tenderness, which wagyu is so well known for.
Our Wagyu Genetics
Our cattle are mostly Wagyu, mixed with prime Black Angus. The reason for this is that Black Angus provides a quality and flavor profile that has been respected and used at steakhouses across the United States for years. Pairing Black Angus with the marbling and flavor of Japanese Wagyu provides a combination that is familiar yet unique, with a level of tenderness that cannot be matched. Cattle are bred to a 100% Wagyu bull, so as the years go on our cattle will slowly become more Wagyu than Black Angus.