A few months ago I made an instagram (follow us @mccaffertyranchbeef) post talking about where good beef starts. “Good beef doesn’t start with a good feed program. It ends there. Good beef starts with genetics. We have spent many years refining our herd genetics so that we could produce not only a strong maternal herd, but one that produces an excellent tasting experience. Traits such as marbling, ribeye area, and yield grade have become more and more important in our herd as we sell more beef. Our herd has become more uniform, maternal, and producers of great tasting beef over the years. It ..read more

Happy New Year! We all hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and are refreshed for the New Year! As we head into the new year, we thought to catch you up on what has been happening around the ranch, and what we have to look forward to in the coming months. Through October and November we sold and shipped out a majority of our 2021 calves and sold quite a few cows. The drought we saw throughout 2021 has left us short on feed (hay and winter pasture)- so it was a necessity to sell some of our herd. This is not all bad, as we took it as an opportunity to “clean up” our herd. Any cows that we did n ..read more

May on the ranch is such a busy time! Just when calving season has ended and we think we can catch our breath, we get a whole other kind of busy! May is filled with branding cattle, moving cattle to summer pasture, preparing for breeding season, and AI'ing (artificially inseminating a portion of our herd). At each branding we round up the cattle on horseback and separate the cows from the calves. All of our cattle work is done on horseback, even in the corrals. Our corrals are set up specifically for horses, and we have found that this facilitates a very low stress environment for the cattle ..read more

Happy July! We hope you are enjoying a beautiful Fourth of July weekend with your friends and family. What a beautiful nation we live in! Our Fourth of July celebrations are generally spent from the tractor putting up hay. I recall plenty of years where I have watched fireworks from the tractor if I was lucky enough to get a view of it! June was filled with getting cattle out to summer pasture. Which means a lot of saddle time. We log a lot of hours in June, but they are some of my favorite hours. Ones I look forward to all year long! So, I apologize in advance for more photos than you probabl ..read more

There are many factors that affect beef quality, as well as the animal’s quality of life. Two of these factors include where the cattle are raised and how they are handled by the owners. As with humans, stress causes an adrenaline rush in cattle. Adrenaline acts directly on the muscle by breaking down glycogen and changing the pH, or acidity of the muscle. Even short-term stress causes changes in the muscle creating a tougher meat product. Long term stressors cause even further damage resulting in discolored, tough, and tasteless beef. It is important for us to be very transparent with our cu ..read more

I wrote this blog post five years ago, on our Grandma's 88th birthday. Today she turns 93. The words are just as true today, as they were then. Grandma is in the advanced stages of dementia, and it has not been easy the last few years. At the same time they have been wonderful. Every day is a gift. Each time I visit Grandma, she teaches wisdom and love- even when words are difficult. Her overwhelming love for Grandpa is always apparent, as well as the love for her family. Anytime family is around she visibly experiences peace and contentment. For as long as I can remember- the one thing Gran ..read more

Hello April! Every year March flies by in a whirlwind of baby calves and snow storms. We have spent most of our days and nights in the calving barns. It’s both the most tiring and rewarding time of year. This year we had a very tight breed up. In other words, during the breeding season, the majority of cows came into heat and were bred during the first three weeks. This is very important to a rancher because it means higher profitability. Having a short calving window means a more uniform and heavy calf crop. It is also an indication of fertility and health in your cow herd. March has been qu ..read more

May is finally here! Around this portion of Montana, April snow showers bring May mud, and eventually June flowers! After an uncharacteristically dry March, we have had a few fairly large, April snowstorms. The last of which was on April 29th. This is my uncle's birthday, and my aunt always makes him a birthday cake called, muddy corrals with a foot of snow on top! Without fail, we can always count on muddy corrals, with a foot of snow on top at the end of April. We are extremely grateful for all the moisture we receive and continue to pray for more. Most of Montana has been in a pretty sever ..read more

This recipe is always a hit over the holidays- but works for any day you want a special occasion meal! It would make the perfect Valentine’s day meal! Ingredients 1 lb steak of choice (Ribeye, New York, Sirloin, Picahna, etc…) 4 Tbsp butter 1 ½ Tbs minced garlic 8 oz cream cheese 2 cups of heavy whipping cream 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan 2- 4 Tbs Sun dried tomatoes (based on preference) 1 Tbs Fresh basil (can use basil paste) Pepper (to taste) Salt (to taste) Gorgonzola cheese crumbles (for garnish) Balsamic Directions Boil salted water in a pot Cook fettuccine according to box direction ..read more