SRF BLOG

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Stewardship  The world has changed a lot since Robert Rebholtz Sr. founded Agri Beef back in 1968. New conversations around sustainability, conservation, and the humane treatment of cattle, have pushed us to become peerless stewards of the land and the herd. Many companies will tell you who they are, then separately tell you what they do. At Snake River Farms, we are what we do. “Transparency is education, and education is trust,” Robert Rebholtz Jr. says about his desire for Snake River Farms to be known as a company of integrity when it comes to issues of stewardship. He wants others within this industry and consumers alike to understand the lengths we go to combat real problems with innovative solutions.   Sustainability At Snake River Farms, we’ve embraced constantly investigating new ways to minimize our carbon footprint and keep our cattle healthy. One change sends a ripple down the line. When we decided to procure crops from farmers within 150 miles of our feedlot, we knew we’d be getting fresher and more nutritious ingredients for our feed. We saw the immediate benefit to our cattle, but also knew we could cut down on emissions from transportation, too. With the local farmers, we recognized the opportunity to use animal waste in a composting program, selling nutrient-rich fertilizer back to the same farmers who provided us their crops. When we decided to graze our cows in the foothills of the Cascades, we thought the location would be an optimal high-altitude environment, in an ideal climate, for the well-being of the herd. But we also recognized we had to take care of those precious mountain meadows and instituted a grazing rotation to keep the rangeland healthy.   Cattle Welfare  For the welfare of our cattle, we see great benefit in keeping our feeding facilities as serene and quiet as possible. All our handlers are specially trained in calming methods, with the simple idea that calm cattle are healthier, and healthy cattle make for better beef. SRF Program Manager, Jordan Sparrowk, says, “We don’t treat them as a mass. Each cattle is tagged and treated as an individual, care taken to their specified needs in health, feeding, and comfort.” As proud as he is of the Gold-grade ribeyes the floor-workers produce, VAP Superintendent, Nate Dyun is equally as proud we’ve been able to reduce Washington Beef Processing Plant’s water use by 40% per pound of beef and use a bio-dome to capture methane to be recycled for 20% of our natural gas needs. “We’ve designed our stockyard at the specifications of Dr. Temple Grandin,” Dyun says of the yard that’s sun-shaded, with water always available to the stock, curved fences to avoid sharp angles that might injure the cattle, and cobble-stone floors especially suited for hooves to grip. “It’s top priority to keep the cattle calm and watered and safe.” Healthy lands and humanely treated cattle makes for a better environment and sustainable practices. Some might suggest there’s no bottom line benefit to being overly concerned about conservation and animal welfare. But the synergy of where healthy land and animals not only meets the important concerns of the day but also adds quality to our product drives us willingly and urgently into innovation and transparency. At Snake River Farms, we’re proud of what we’ve done. We’re dedicated to do more and are constantly searching out emerging technologies to move the industry toward the best environmental and animal welfare practices. When your business model is care and quality, what’s best for the environment, the cattle, and business, are one and the same.

Beef production requires many different entities independently contributing to the supply chain. The bulls are bred by ranchers, the feed yard operates on its own, and cattle is sent to a processing facility.How can one company control quality across the entire process when so much was out of their hands?

The Visionary A photo of Agri Beef founder, Robert Rebholtz Sr., hangs in our Boise, Idaho headquarters. White cowboy hat on his head, red kerchief around his neck, he peers off into the distance like a man looking into tomorrow. As a child, he spent his summers working at a Basque lamb operation in Stockton, CA. This is where he developed his passion for ranching and livestock that would guide the direction of his life. It’s easy to care within the confines of the status quo. To care enough to follow one’s vision into something completely new is always a risk. The label of “visionary” is tossed around a lot these days, but when someone sees an opportunity no one else has the means or moxie to recognize then the label is justly earned. “He was an amazing man,” Robert Rebholtz Jr., Agri Beef’s CEO, says about his father. “Integrity. Hard work. He was an innovator within the industry.” Before 1988, Wagyu bulls were a rarity in America. Robert Rebholtz Sr. had been in the cattle-feeding and ranching business for twenty years, had done well in an industry that had hardly changed in decades. He could’ve continued riding the well-worn path, but on a trip to Japan he fell in love with an idea to bring something new and exciting to the U.S. market. Over years of hard work and persistence, Rebholtz Sr.’s vision became the full-scale Wagyu breeding program that today provides 100% of Snake River Farms’ beef. The reverberations of Robert Rebholtz Sr.’s vision are easy to be found. Bred from Wagyu bulls and high-quality Continental cattle, what’s now known as American Wagyu beef, began as a novelty but is now regularly found on the tables of fine-dining restaurants, home cooks, and grill masters alike. The spirit of innovation Rebholtz Sr. brought to his life and company are stitched into the fabric of Snake River Farms, where we continue to honor our founder’s visionary mission to look beyond what’s already here and find the best in what could be.   Lead Cowboy  Robert Rebholtz Jr. leans against a split-rail fence, the sun setting over the foothills casting golden light over the black cows in the Double R’s back pasture. To him, the view never gets old. Robert was just 10 years old when he went on his first cattle drive. He was cautious and a little nervous. He didn’t want to mess up. He had a job to do and his age meant nothing to the cattle. Though just a boy, he hopped into the saddle as just another cowboy helping drive the herd out through the sage and hills with the dust in the air and the sun on his face. In 1997, after his father’s passing and at the age of 33, Robert Rebholtz Jr. faced another immense challenge. He was now CEO of Agri Beef. He’d be responsible for the livelihoods of many people. He knew the company’s reputation was only as good as their next decision. He knew he’d have to navigate a spectrum of personalities in an industry in flux. There’d be many sleepless nights, risks he’d have to calculate, but like the 10-year-old cowboy, the 33-year-old Robert Rebholtz Jr. took the reins and drove the herd forward. As did his father, Robert Rebholtz Jr. leads Snake River Farms with a quiet strength, a foundational belief in kindness, and a passion for care. We could talk at length about the myriad of excellent business decisions he’s made in his tenure, the purchasing of the Washington Beef Processing Facility, moving the company into controlling every aspect of the beef supply chain, buying the Double R Ranch, putting more energy and resources into developing the Snake River Farms’ brand, but to understand Robert Rebholtz Jr. is to know he’d rather be called Lead Cowboy than CEO. There are companies whose leadership got their starts in other industries and took the blind-leap into the beef business. We wish them well. But in some things experience matters. There’s no replicating a lifetime on horse-back in the herd, a long-held passion for the cattle and the land, and decades of relationships built to ensure Snake River Farms is not just another ranch-hand in a competitive industry, but through Robert Rebholtz Jr.’s example of hard work, integrity, and vision, we’ll sit as lead cowboy, tireless stewards of the best industry practices and the highest quality standards.    

The Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City decided to run a promotion. They’d make a hamburger out of  Snake River Farms American Wagyu Beef. They’d put it on the menu for $41, making it the most expensive burger in the city.

You’ll find our herd grazing up in the foothills east of the Double R Ranch in Loomis, Washington. The cowboys ride their rounds, tracking down stragglers, checking on the health of the animals. In small bunches, a dozen head here, a mother and calf over there, the herd mills in the cool shade within the pine and aspen, feeding on high mountain grass.

What is sustainability? How does Snake River Farms work to be a more sustainable company?Many companies use the term “sustainability” as a marketing buzzword, but at Snake River Farms we go beyond words to take real steps to lower our carbon footprint.

Snake River Farms is the Pioneer of American Wagyu beef. We're a family owned and operated company that's been in business for 55 years. Learn about our history, our integrated approach to beef production and how we work every day to achieve the goal of our founder, Robert Rebholtz Sr. “We want our customers to want to do business with us.”

New to ordering our products online? We have years of experience packaging, shipping and delivering high quality beef and pork right to our customers' door. Put your fears to rest about shipping American Wagyu steaks to your door with detailed info about how we protect your Snake River Farms order on the road.

How are we so certain that Snake River Farms American Wagyu beef tastes better than the best wet or dry aged choices at most grocery stores and high-end restaurants?We’re so glad you asked! Here are four reasons SRF leads the pack: