The Rancher

Clair and Patty Pickard / Country Natural Beef
Baker County, Oregon

Clair and Patty Pickard are part of a new movement in ranching that takes an old approach to raising cattle: ranches, owned and operated by families raising sustainable, high-quality beef. In these days of massive corporate operations, the Pickards are proud to remain independent and true to their ranching history.

Clair and Patty are part of Country Natural Beef (CNB), a family-owned cooperative formed in 1986 that was founded on the principal of protecting open spaces and preserving the rural culture and the families that nurture them. Located in a picturesque valley between Eastern Oregon’s Blue and Wallowa Mountains, the Pickard ranch, along with ranchers like John and Nancy Boyer, are a throwback to a time when multiple generations worked the land and beef was raised naturally. Clair is a past chairman of CNB, and along with founders Doc and Connie Hatfield, helped CNB grow over the past 23 years to embrace 120 family ranches scattered across the west.

The goal of CNB is to connect urban consumers to rural ranchers by raising beef the old-fashioned way: grazing on open rangeland without hormones or antibiotics. Each family in the cooperative owns their cattle every step of the way, from birth to market.