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Alamo Grande Ranch
About us
Alamo Grande Ranch is located 11 miles east of Ignacio, Colorado in a rural area called Tiffany. The ranch is a forty acre property with a large home built by our family. Chris and Stephanie Ribera, owners, purchased the property in 1998 for a place to raise their four children in an agrarian setting. Upon arrival to the property the only structure was a beat up small barn and a row of eight or so large cottonwood trees. In Spanish, cottonwood trees are called Alamos hence the name Alamo Grande meaning “big cottonwoods”.
Chris and Stephanie began to raise Navajo Churro sheep after doing some research to find out which sheep had the best quality of meat and wool. Navajo Churro sheep differ from all other types of lamb meat by the lesser amount of fat content and how they store it. Most lamb a person could buy at the store the sheep sold store their fat between the meats; Navajo Churro sheep store their fat on the outside of their meat next to their skin giving the buyer a less fatty meat. Navajo Churro sheep also have different wool than most sheep; their wool is long and smooth versus curly and coarse like other wool.
The herd began with around twenty four sheep that Stephanie bought at the sale barn in 2000. The herd grazes on natural grass on our property and pretty much keep to themselves in the field all day. When evening time rolls around they herd themselves into the barn corral to sleep for the night. Lambing season is quite the event to see. We watch the herd from in the house and wait for the ewes to lamb. Once they have their lambs one of us walks out into the field and drives the mother and new born lamb to the barn where we pen them up for a couple of days to bond and let the lambs gain some strength in a safe environment. After a couple of days mother and lamb are let out into the corral where the lamb learns to follow their mother around. Finally mother and lamb are reunited with the herd to graze the field.
Chris has been building up our cattle... show more herd for a couple of decades now; by only buying a bull every few years or every other year to ensure a quality breeding program. All the cows with bad traits culled out of the herd. Therefore the herd is on gentle and aggressive grazers and broughzers who have the physical qualities to endure the Colorado seasons while producing a calf crop on plenty of milk. Cattle differ from the sheep by the methods of how they graze. We take our herd of cows between four different properties throughout the year. They go from a property in Tiffany to another one by Caracas Mesa to another one in Pagosa Junction. The combination of pastures and grasses creates a unique natural taste to the beef.
Chris grew up on a ranch riding horses; our major mode of transportation for caretaking of sheep, cattle and hay. His parents (my grandpa and grandma) grew up on horseback but I think in their childhood it was mostly cattle- no hay or sheep. And their forefathers were vaqueros and cabarellos too. We are continuing to raise our animals the way that our ancestors have done for generations. We are also continuing to instill this lifestyle into our future generations.
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Chris and Stephanie began to raise Navajo Churro sheep after doing some research to find out which sheep had the best quality of meat and wool. Navajo Churro sheep differ from all other types of lamb meat by the lesser amount of fat content and how they store it. Most lamb a person could buy at the store the sheep sold store their fat between the meats; Navajo Churro sheep store their fat on the outside of their meat next to their skin giving the buyer a less fatty meat. Navajo Churro sheep also have different wool than most sheep; their wool is long and smooth versus curly and coarse like other wool.
The herd began with around twenty four sheep that Stephanie bought at the sale barn in 2000. The herd grazes on natural grass on our property and pretty much keep to themselves in the field all day. When evening time rolls around they herd themselves into the barn corral to sleep for the night. Lambing season is quite the event to see. We watch the herd from in the house and wait for the ewes to lamb. Once they have their lambs one of us walks out into the field and drives the mother and new born lamb to the barn where we pen them up for a couple of days to bond and let the lambs gain some strength in a safe environment. After a couple of days mother and lamb are let out into the corral where the lamb learns to follow their mother around. Finally mother and lamb are reunited with the herd to graze the field.
Chris has been building up our cattle... show more herd for a couple of decades now; by only buying a bull every few years or every other year to ensure a quality breeding program. All the cows with bad traits culled out of the herd. Therefore the herd is on gentle and aggressive grazers and broughzers who have the physical qualities to endure the Colorado seasons while producing a calf crop on plenty of milk. Cattle differ from the sheep by the methods of how they graze. We take our herd of cows between four different properties throughout the year. They go from a property in Tiffany to another one by Caracas Mesa to another one in Pagosa Junction. The combination of pastures and grasses creates a unique natural taste to the beef.
Chris grew up on a ranch riding horses; our major mode of transportation for caretaking of sheep, cattle and hay. His parents (my grandpa and grandma) grew up on horseback but I think in their childhood it was mostly cattle- no hay or sheep. And their forefathers were vaqueros and cabarellos too. We are continuing to raise our animals the way that our ancestors have done for generations. We are also continuing to instill this lifestyle into our future generations.
show more
Recommendations and reviews from 1 person
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Referral from
July 24, 2014
Rachel A. asked:Does anyone know of a local source for grass fed beef? (Not James Ranch. Way too expensive!) I'd be interested in buying 1/4 to 1/2 of a cow sometime within the next few months.Gerri E. replied:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alamo-Grande-Ranch/671266262940895 These are some local folks...
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