Birdhouse Ranch-Sarah and Dave met Cross U Cattle-Dennis and Deb Maroney at a farmers market in Southeastern Arizona that we both frequented in 2012 and continue to frequent. He selling his beef and us buying it. Dennis began his Criollo herd using the New Mexico Jornada Rangeland Research Programs, NMSU at Las Cruces.

In 2013,14 or15 Bay Nature Magazine hosted a hike at Birdhouse Ranch that included naturalists and biologists; they recommended cattle to us as a way to manage our hot, dry and grassy land.

In 2017 Birdhouse Ranch, a new family ranch, with no cattle experience, but friends with Dennis Maroney bought a small herd, 9 Criollo cattle and 1 bull. Dennis carefully selected the cattle for Birdhouse Free Range taking into account our lack of knowledge and arranged their transport from Arizona to Livermore California. Fortunately for Birdhouse Ranch the Criollo is a slow to mature active bovine and we had a few years to learn about our cows.

Somewhere along the way we met a real cowboy on a horse with very cool silent happy cattle dogs. Those very cool dogs have brought our cows home more than once. John, our cowboy has taught our son Emery how to brand, castrate, herd and feed but there is still much to learn. Emery spends most of his time at Birdhouse Ranch and has taken on learning about and providing for the cattle, as well as a lot of other ranch things.

In 2020, the year of the Pandemic we have 22 animals, this year was to be our first year to sell our beef. The difficulty for a small farm is finding a butcher willing to come to the Ranch that is also USDA certified. This year in particular it is more difficult than ever.

Wish us luck, ranchers need it, look Dennis up he’s cool and kinda famous!

Sarah from Birdhouse Ranch