The Galt Ranch has integrated Wagyu bulls, specifically the Tajima bloodlines, into the breeding program for the first calf heifers.
Crossing the Wagyu bull with an Angus heifer produces a calf with a lower birth weight than a straight Angus cross. The heifers are
able to calve more often than not on their own without human interference allowing their natural instinct to prevail lowering the stress
on the cattle, as well as the amount of work and crew that used to go into calving.
The first calf heifers calve from the beginning of April to mid May. They are held in pasture near the ranch facility so they can be
monitored more closely than the older cows incase assistance is needed if one has trouble calving. These cow/calf pairs go on to spend
the late spring and summer grazing in the mountains to be brought in and weaned in October. Once the calves are weaned approximately
150 head of steers stay on the ranch to become part of the ranch’s di-rect-marketing program for beef.
The Wagyu cross provides a high quality of beef due to the intramuscular marbling. This mar-bling not only enhances the flavor and
tenderness, but the marbling fat is heart healthy being high in both essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6. The Galt Ranch direct
markets some 140 head annually, due the high quality of the meat, selling to individual buyers in quarter, half, or whole beef.
The Galt Ranch uses ethical and sustainable practices to raise our American Wagyu. These steers are what we call "grass fed and grain
finished." They are never in a feedlot and we do not use any hormones or antibiotics. They are fed only what can be grown on the ranch,
out on pas-ture to graze on native grasses, supplemented with hay when needed, and allowed free choice ground oat/barley mix with free
flowing water from the creek that goes through their pasture.