Who We Are

Stone family

Raise grass-finished, natural cattle in Woodland, California

Yolo Land & Cattle Co. was formed as a partnership between Henry Stone and John Anderson in 1976. The partnership was dissolved in 1983, and today, Scott Stone, his wife, Karen, and their two sons are active partners in the business. This cow/calf, stocker and registered cattle operation won the 2007 National Environmental Stewardship Award.

Yolo Land & Cattle Co. runs on deeded, leased and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres that encompass more than 12,000 acres. Yolo Land & Cattle Co. has taken advantage of their location near the California Bay Area and is a diversified family agri-business that includes raising a cattle herd of 700 cows, producing Yolo Land & Cattle Co. branded products like bay leaves, beef jerky and starthistle honey and offering ranch tours to international guests, grade school children and culinary students.

Among other conservation practices, the Yolo Land & Cattle Co. has implemented rotational grazing, grazing on CRP lands and invasive weed control. Additionally, they partnered with the California Audubon Society and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to create the largest Vegetative Management Plan (VMP) in the state in order to conduct annual spring grass burns and fall brush burns on 45,000 acres.

Important to forage production and conservation efforts, Yolo Land & Cattle Co. cleared a 30-acre parcel that was plagued with erosion and invasive weed problems. After eight years of cultivating the land, the parcel is a lush riparian area with native perennial vegetation that is currently used as a testing site for controlling annual grasses and invasive weeds. Carbon sequestration has been another focus of the Stones. They are partnering with NRCS, the University of California-Davis and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to measure the amount of carbon stored in the roots of perennial grasses and compare it to the amount of carbon stored in the roots of annual grasses. This data could greatly assist Yolo Land & Cattle Co. and fellow producers to diversify their operations.

The Stone family is proud to be meeting consumer demand for beef in a number of ways, including raising grass-finished natural cattle and working to be good stewards of the environment.

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