FARE Idaho Feature: Wilsey Ranch
Photos by Marilyn Isaac Photography
Wilsey Ranch, a woman owned and operated ranch in Marsing, Idaho, was founded over 50 years ago by fourth-generation ranchers. The ranch produces high-quality, hormone-free meat from cattle raised on sustainable, intensively managed rangeland in the Owyhee Mountains. Wilsey Ranch is committed to humane animal care and environmental sustainability, aiming to pass on a thriving ranch to future generations.
Tell us a little bit about the history of Wilsey Ranch:
Debby and her late husband purchased the ranch located in the Owyhee Mountains. Debby now operates the ranch with her daughters Lisa, Rachel with the assistance of Jake (Rachel's husband) and their daughter Hayden.
Debby’s family ranched on Kidder Ridge in Idaho County where she learned her expertise of calving and animal husbandry. She is the head organizer, wild cow milker, heifer calving guru, and also creates the best huckleberry cheesecake around. Debby is also a founding member of The Boise Farmers Market that prides itself in being a producers market. In 2010, Debby was recognized as Owyhee County Conservationist of the Year for many water projects, no till planting, and pasture rotation.
After graduation, Lisa studied Culinary Arts at Boise State and after many years in the restaurant field decided that producing rather than creating was the place to be. On the ranch, she holds the role of a little of everything–irrigator, hay feeder, cow mover, McNab pup wrangler, social media and soil management worker.
When not leading the local 4-H group or running after track loving Hayden, Rachel and Jake are branding, sales and cattle drive essentials.
The meat business cattle are a mixed breed of Devon mother cows that are bred to Akaushi Bulls (red wagyu) for a tender quality product. The cross bred cattle, perfected to thrive on the desert soil, run on intensely managed rangeland in the Owyhee Mountains, feeding on a unique mix of grass and forbs. They are given no hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified feeds.
Our fall calving herd is strictly Devon; we breed for replacement heifers and commercial bulls. The Devon disposition is calm, with deep bodies that will pack on the pounds even in drought years. Our bulls are raised on the Owyhee Range ensuring the hardiness of the animal. We handle all our animals humanely, with respect while providing them with a stress-free life.
In the fall of 2023 we launched our own Tallow Skin Balm line. Each balm was created with nature using our grass fed beef tallow, local herbs, wild berries and plants harvested from the Owyhee Mountains and local honey. They are wonderful for Idaho's dry climate; just choose your fragrance!
Our mission is to produce a healthy, nutritious, sustainable product, with minimal impact on the environment. We care for the animals and land humanely with the goal to pass it on to our future generations.
What products do you offer and where can we find them?
Our main line of beef is 100% Grass Fed American Wagyu both in bulk or individual cuts. We now offer Non-GMO Grain finished American Wagyu in bulk only. Our newest (and favorite) items we have is a line of Tallow Skin Balms. All created with local herbs, plants, flowers, honey and our 100% grass fed line of beef tallow.
All of our products are available at our online store or every Saturday at The Boise Farmers Market.
Can you tell us more about the sustainable practices implemented at Wilsey Ranch, and how these methods have impacted both the environment and your production quality?
We strive to be the best conservationist that we can while shorting steps of the food chain. Our animals are born, raised and harvested all within a 30 mile radius of the ranch. We don't ship the animals to off ranch pastures, utilizing mostly horses to move the cattle.
We use solar power to pump the house water, most of the irrigation is gravity fed essentially using the water no less than 3 times before it enters into McBride Creek, no till farming methods, streamline our tractor usage to minimize carbon output, we transplanted fish into the reservoir for fertilizing of the fields.
We preserve the bird habitat by not utilizing certain pastures during the nesting season. As a result the diversity of the bird population has grown; this year we have seen an increase in the Curlew, California Quail, Meadowlarks, Huns, Sage Hens, various ducks and even have a pair of Sandhill Cranes. All of this along with as little stress as possible creates a product that we definitely are proud to offer to our customers.
Funding for project/publication was made possible by a grant/cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.
