Raptor Ridge Pinzgauers

We May Be Small, but Quality is Our Goal

Welcome to Raptor Ridge Pinzgauers. We are located in Northern California at the base of the Sierra Foothills in the small town of Loomis. My husband, Walt and I have been into Pinzgauer since 1984 when a Ag Teacher at the local Junior College showed us the advantages of the breed. Starting our with our old cow Mini, a Jersey/Angus, we AI'ed for our first Pinzgauers. We had named our ranch Mini Acres after this great cow but it caused confusion - folks thought we we raised Mini Aussies and Mini Cattle. Thus, with all the Hawks in our area we renamed our ranch to Raptor Ridge

First a little on why we chose Pinzgauer - Pinzgauer Cattle are extremely hardy and almost never have eye or tick problems. They do well even on inexpensive or fairly poor feed or sparse grazing, and survive well in both Alpine cold and tropical heat. Ribeye measurements have proved conclusively good quality beef, and marbling scores are also very high for Pinzgauer meat. Pinzgauer is the breed for "Tender Beef" and are part of the Tender Beef

Breeder Alliance (TBBA). A high percentage of Pinzgauers now being DNAtested by GeneStar for the Tenderness Genes are showing that most are showing both of the tenderness genes present in the first Pinzgauers being tested. There have been a total of 60 Pinzgauer cattle Tenderness DNA tested for GeneSTAR tenderness markers. 53 animals tested GeneSTAR 2 Stars (88.3%). This is over 12% better than Angus and Angus X animals tested. Only 1 tested GeneSTAR 0 (1.6%) compared to 17% for Hereford. Tenderness is heritable, therefore TENDER SIRES HAVE TENDER CALVES. No single trait should be used to select sires but when you consider the docility of Pinzgauers, the mother ability, the early maturity, the climate adaptability and ease of maintenance, Tenderness should be the final straw for selecting PINZGAUERS. Click here for more info on GeneStar

Pinzgauer Cattle are valued as cross breeders because of the natural vigor they impart to their progeny. Cows have tight udder conformations and are good milkers. They are easy calvers and their calves have consistently above average weaning weights. Recently, Pinzgauer Cattle have been experimentally crossed with the Red Holstein. The American Pinzgauer Association aids new breeders in “breeding up” impure stock and will admit livestock as purebred if heifers are at least 7/8 Pinzgauer and bulls are 15/16 Pinzgauer.

With only 5 acres, we had to be very selective in our stock and have had to live up to our motto "We may be small, but quality is our goal". At the moment have a small herd of 4 mother cows, We have kept one of our heifers this past year and will sell the other. In addition we have added a nice fullblood heifer to our herd who is polled. We will still be using top AI Sires to cover select cows and "Buddy", our new bull will take care of the rest.

Our new herd bull, BR Explosive
04 National Pinzgauer Show
Bull Calf Champion- His first calves are really special

Josie has done very well in the show ring, and has produced a great heifer, her second calf is due in December

Diamond Josie
has been sold, but is continuing her winning ways

See some our our youth Project animals
and how they have been doing

Tina's Tulip - Tulip is bred to
Buddy for a spring calf
Her 06 steer will be shown shown
at the fairs in 07