Our Story and Philosophy

Sunrise Ranch Today

After 63 years of sustainable agriculture, 2008 was the first year of Grassfed Beef sales.

We purchase steers and heifers from local range-based cow-calf ranches and let the cattle finish their growth on our irrigated pastures. We take our animals to a small, local, USDA-inspected processor and then sell the beef by whole, half, split quarter, package, or individual cuts to local folks.

We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of sustainable farming practices. We achieve this in a few ways:

First we have developed Land Literacy, meaning we understand the dynamic relationships in the ecosystems that house our farm. With Land Literacy we are able to observe our impact and alter our actions when our impact is not creating our desired results.

Secondly, we continue our education through attending workshops like Acres USA conference, Pastured Pork Class hosted by The Stockman Grass Farmer Magazine, and continuing our training and implementation of Holistic Management with consultant Byron Shelton of Landmark Harvest.

Third, we use Holistic Management, a system of visioning, decision making, and land management that ensures our actions will be sustainable ecologically, socially and economically.

We have purposefully kept almost half our acreage held in a reserve. On it are thriving communities of deer, coyotes, turkeys, eagles, geese, rattlesnakes, and a few bears and mountain lions.

We also have our own water-treatment plant on the property, and our wastewater system is currently an aerated lagoon system which includes a polishing pond.

History of Sunrise Ranch

The Farm at Sunrise Ranch continues to build on a legacy of sustainability, organic farming and land stewardship Sunrise Ranch has been proud of since 1945.

One of the first actions taken after the purchase of our land was the building of the soil in our garden. The first gardeners imported carbonaceous material, in the form of straw and horse manure, and set the precedent in our land-stewardship practices of building health instead of battling disease.

Those early practices have continued and expanded over the years. In 1995, we set up a Community Supported Agriculture farm operation, as well as a sustainable-agriculture education program through The Stewardship Community and Guidestone Farm, that thrived for over 10 years. Their work came to a close in 2006.

Their management of our farm property was fruitful and productive for the valley and for all the people who participated in the farm project with them.

Guidestone Farm has moved to Buena Vista in western Colorado.

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