Rosebud Beef Ranch

Rosebud Beef Ranch is a small family owned ranch located in South Central South Dakota about 10 miles north of the Nebraska border and 2 miles east of Burke SD. Dwaine’s grandfather homesteaded here in 1905. Dwaine was an agricultural economist with the USDA until 1979 when the family decided to move back home and try ranching. We have been health “nuts” for the past decade, which is how we got into raising all natural beef without hormones or drugs-- first for ourselves and now we are offering the product for your enjoyment.

Our current program is the result of experimenting with several different breeds of cattle and production methods (at considerable expense). Finally, we discovered a breed of cattle which became available in the United States in the mid-90s. Lowline cattle (www.usa-lowling.org) were developed in Australia to fatten on grass and be tender and tasty to meet the criteria of the upscale restaurant market. They are genetically tender due to their small size and shorter muscle fiber with a full sized steer weighing in at about 800 lbs versus 1350 lbs for a typical steer.

Given the uniqueness of the Lowline cattle, their limited number and high prices for breeding stock, our program consists of offering the half blood and three forth blood Lowline steers from our Angus and Angus/Lowline cows breed to Lowline bulls. Our Lowline cross grass-fed steers are raised and fattened on our native and tame pastures and, due to our cold winters, supplemented with our green alfalfa hay. This is done without drugs, added hormones, or any off farm feed sources except salt and mineral. . (We do, however, fatten a few animals on grain, in separate facilities. to satisfy our customers who want grain-fed beef.) We are currently starting a scanning program (new technology) on all our Lowline steers and heifers that will allow us to verify the tenderness of each animal while they are still alive. We have recently started using ultra-sound technology tp verify the tenderness of our cattle, offering only those who gqualify as premium beef.