Here's the Beef: a Visit to Harris Ranch on Highway 5 in California

Harris Ranch, one of California's beef producers with a popular restaurant and inn on Highway 5 in California, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
They also have many delicious California produce crops.
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[@Judi7Caroler]

HAPPY July 4th - 2023!!!

[@joseantoniomunoz9672]

GRACIAS HARRIS RANCH GOD BLESS

[@Dom57383]

When my family goes on a road trip and we pass there we call it cow city

[@christopherchristianvanlan1809]

Wonderful

[@stanleyjohnson6046]

I'm from Nevada, so I never heard of Harris, but I stumbled across the name when I saw a STUPID video by an organization called SHARK. I grew up on a 200 acer ranch in northern Nevada that my grandpa homesteaded. We grew alfalfa, sadan grass, rye, field corn, ect for local dairies, so even those I'm a "city slicker" now watching this video feels a bit like home to me. I echo Jose's comment and say God bless ranchers and farmers!

[@bobtheburglar9714]

If you drove by their feeding lot on interstate 5 you'd understand exactly what shark was talking about. The smell is atrocious, and lingers for miles. There's literally twenty foot piles of cow dung as far as the eye can see, and the cattle there are practically living on top of each other. I'm by no means a vegan however even the most die-hard meat eater can tell you there's something wrong going on there.
Even worse is that they decided to build an inn next to it. Yuck! 🤢

[@stanleyjohnson6046]

@@bobtheburglar9714 I’ll grant that I’ve never driven by there so I only have the video and my own experiences living in a dairy community to draw from. Addressing the smell first… cows stink. There is no getting around that. If you put any number of them together, it multiplies. It’s not half as bad as pig farms, but it’s pretty rank. Still, that doesn’t mean the livestock are being abused in any way. Same with the manure piles. Now based off of the video I am sure that “literally twenty foot piles of cow dung as far as the eye can see” is no so literal in this case. That said, every dairy I’ve ever seen had big problems mounds of manure. Why? Because where the cows hangout… they poop. Like pigs, cows don’t mind hanging out where they do their business. The farmers therefore will frequently sure tractors with frontend loaders to push the crap into big piles. Think of it like making a dust pile while sweeping the floor. Again, the cows aren’t put off by these piles. They’ll walk right up a pile and lay down on top. What happens then is that they start scooping these piles into “spreader trucks” and fertilize their own fields or sell it to other farms for the same purpose.
I’ll tell you how well I know the smell you’re describing. On more than Saturday of my teenaged years, my family would buy manure from a local dairy farm to fertilize our four fields on our 200 acer family farm. I wore watertight boots and my job was to hang out in the corral for hours on end while my dad would drive the spreader tuck in, use the loader to fill the truck with manure, drive out again, and go spread it in our own field. I would just open and close the gate and make sure the cows didn’t leave the corral. Believe you me… I know what cow manure smells like. And, by the way, I could tell you blind if I were smell cow, horse, goats, or pig dropping.
As far as the the “cattle practically living on top of each other”, that’s not likely in general, even specifically I looked up other videos of this company and can clearly see it’s not true. It just doesn’t makes since to pack them in that tightly. It’s doesn’t help the rancher in any way. Perhaps they bunched themselves together, which happens. Cattle are herd animals, after all, and like resting together to mutual protection and if they are out to pasture in a large area they stick together. If there is a watering hole, for example, they’ll ALL go to get water together, then they’ll go together to graze the same fields.
Finally, to your point about building an inn… you got me there. It likely wouldn’t both ME too much because I grew up with that smell, but I can see your point about asking motorists to stop for the night next to a giant corral. Still, it wouldn’t stay in business if SOMEONE wasn’t staying there. Maybe they have above average air filters?? ;)

[@phototristan]

John Harris has now sold it to new owners. I guess he wanted to retire.

[@yaseenreid5123]

Can someone guide me to those in authority of Harris Ranch I want to establish business relationship with them. Thank you

[@yaseenreid5123]

Looking for halal beef. Could someone please direct me to this company administration team?

[@stoundingresults]

Cows deserve bigger fields but I will take steak over animal rights any day.