History

The Path to Profits in the Cattle Business
Ridgefield Farm was established by E. J. Whitmire in 1954. The farm is located in southwestern North Carolina, near Georgia and Tennessee, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Since the original purchase of 200 acres, the farm has now grown to approximately 1,023 acres, including 410 acres of pasture and additional acreage of steep, forested terrain.

The farm was primarily a commercial cow-calf operation until 1998 when E.J. left us as a result of a farm accident. Our family – like so many agricultural families – was forced to make tough decisions regarding the future of the farm. Do we keep or sell it? And if we keep it, how do we make it profitable? 

A plan was implemented to increase farm income by improving utilization of the land with higher stocking rates. Approximately twenty miles of new fence was built to bolster property boundaries and provide smaller grazing paddocks, and a rotational grazing strategy was implemented for more efficient use of the grass.

It was obvious that good cattle genetics were necessary to make the farm profitable so we decided to pursue higher profit potential in the seedstock business. While Angus cattle were popular and had some good characteristics, we sought a breed that would perform better in the feedyard and be more profitable on the rail. We wanted cattle that were docile, known for feed efficiency, expressed heavy muscle and produced exceptional mother cows. On several visits to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) convention, the Braunvieh cattle exhibited there caught our attention. 

In 1999, we purchased our first two Braunvieh bulls to breed to our remaining commercial cows. We liked the calves so much that, in 2000, we made the decision to become a breeder of Braunvieh seedstock. We now keep 165 registered Braunvieh cows and 12 herd sires that represent some of the top genetics in the breed. 

Braunvieh have Swiss origins and are one of the oldest cattle breeds in the world. Although Braunvieh numbers in the U.S. are limited, the cattle have demonstrated outstanding performance at numerous beef cattle comparative contests such as the Great Western Beef Expo and The Beef Empire Days contests. 

We formed Brasstown Beef, LLC in 2009 to market “Aged-All Natural” beef and further enhance the profitability of the farm.

Today, Ridgefield Farm is a fully-integrated livestock operation providing breed-leading genetics to our seedstock customers and highly-efficient, rapidly-growing cattle with outstanding carcass traits to commercial cattle customers. We also feed and supply meat of superior quality to the consumer. 
Steve Whitmire
President

Read more about how you can participate with us to earn more money from your commercial cows by “clicking” on the information about The Ridgefield Farm Braunvieh Bull Deal.