Paradise Valley Beef

Our Ranch History

Our family has been here in California since the mid 1800’s, so it is hard to decide where to start the story. In the 1860’s, a man named Henry Pierce brought the first stock of Durham, Holstein and Jersey cattle to California, as well as Shropshire sheep. He stocked a farm that comprised the whole of Visitacion Valley (San Francisco and San Mateo). He added to this some Jersey cattle he kept at Evergreen, Santa Clara County on a ranch of 10,000 acres.

Henrys brother Lewis was born in 1832 and came to San Francisco in 1851. Sometime in the 1860’s he moved to Suisun Valley in Solano County with a few thousand dollars and engaged in the grain trade with his brother Henry. Lewis amassed a fortune equaled by few in the county. He married and built a beautiful home on Suisun Creek.

Their son – Lewis Pierce II, lived in The Suisun Valley. He was a rugged individualist. A cattleman from way back. He inherited his land, but he rode in the saddle like the rest of the cowpunchers. He was a cowboy. A pretty wealthy cowboy. He could buy cattle like you and I buy hamburgers. He passed in 1956, survived by his widow Aline Pierce who was left with thousands of acres in the Suisun Valley. It was because of my great aunt Aline Pierce that my grandparents Chuck & Nancy Green inherited 300 acres. When my grandmother Nancy Green passed away in 1992 the remaining 300 acres was inherited by family, which is now our ranch where my children will grow up and hopefully keep this property in the family for many generations to come.

Apparently, raising cattle is in my blood line. My great aunt Aline Pierce had the distinction of becoming the first woman director of the California Cattlemen’s Association. A native Californian, the cattleman of the Solano-Napa County Association, of which she was a long-time member, elected her to represent them on the CCA Board of Directors. She was also a member of the county and state Cow Belle groups. She was also a member of the American National Cattlemen’s Association and the national Cow Belle group.

Our Personal Story

Almost 10 years ago when my wife and I met, we both worked in the corporate world and often talked about how we could do something different, something more meaningful with our lives. In 2005 we found out we were going to be parents for the very first time and that was the conception of our plan for the future. We collectively decided that we need to do something to provide a legacy for our children. In 2006 we gave birth to our first daughter, and in 2007 we gave birth to our second daughter. With my wife quitting her job to be a stay at home mother, I now new our “talk” needed to turn into action.

We have been given so many gifts in this life, and are blessed to reside on a beautiful ranch nestled in the rolling hills of Paradise Valley in Fairfield, CA. This ranch has been in the family for over 100 years, but mostly for grazing and keeping the property groomed. So now with a few years of research under our belt and hundreds of years of experience with cattle we have set the stage for raising our very own entirely grass fed Black Angus herd.

As we sit and look at our daughters faces, we realize they are faced with even more challenges than we had. Us, like most parents want to provide them with everything we can, and the one thing that we can do is give them the best beef. Talk about knowing where you meat comes from. As parents we can’t control everything they consume, but we sure can give them good beef.

Because we live right here with our cattle, our girls are involved daily with raising the cattle and that is a beautiful thing. Along with having cattle, we have many other animals here; horses and working dogs, donkeys, a pony, dogs, cats, and plenty of visiting critters. Even though our oldest is only 3 she is already bossing the dogs around and helping daddy herd the cattle.

At the end of the day, we ask ourselves… are we doing the right thing by our children and I have to say..Yes we are. So, if we can do that for our children why not take that passion and share it with our community… and with that Paradise Valley Beef was born. I am more of a work with the cattle kind of guy, so my wife took it a step further and went to the World Wide Web. We are so excited about this venture; and look forward to the future and all it has to offer as well as meeting new folks to build long lasting relationships with.