About Us
Winchester Beef™ is a subsidiary business of Winchester Land & Cattle
Co.
Winchester Land and Cattle Co. was started in 1912 by John
Winchester. Mr. Winchester learned that the Wyoming Arapaho and
Shoshone Indian tribes were offering land at a very minimal price to
any white man willing to buy land on the reservation, and willing to
show them how to farm and ranch. He bought 80 acres and started the
Winchester Land & Cattle Co. Being allowed free range for his cattle on
the Wind River Indian Reservation, Mr. Winchester began to add to the
80 acres. When the time came that he was no longer allowed to run his
cattle on the reservation, he started purchasing land in the mountains
northwest of Dubois, Wyoming.
After John’s death, his son Albert took over the responsibilities of the
ranch and continued to purchase land. With the private land, forest
permits, and other leases, the Winchester ranch had grown to around
70,000 acres, and around 1000 head of cattle.
A five day cattle drive was required to move the cattle from the
summer mountain range to their winter range on the original
homestead.
After Albert's sudden death in 1985, his son Jack, who had been
working on the ranch since the 50’s, took over. Jack and his younger
brother Jerry, who had worked on the ranch off and on since the 60’s,
worked together until 1992 when Jerry sold his shares in the company
and started his own ranch. Jack's son, Larry started working full-time
on the Winchester ranch in 1983, making this the fourth generation for
the Winchester ranch.
After the 1988 Yellowstone fire, numerous grizzly bears were forced
over the mountain from Yellowstone to the area of the Winchester's
summer range. The Winchesters dealt with the grizzlies killing and
eating their livestock for several years. As the bears grew in numbers,
the Winchesters lost more and more livestock, making it virtually
impossible to make a living in the cattle business. It only took a few
years of losing cattle to the bears for the Winchesters to decide to sell
and move to an area that was free of the grizzly bear and wolf
competition.
In 2000, the Winchesters sold the Wyoming ranch to Nature
Conservancy, and purchased property near Parma, Idaho where their
Black Angus cattle graze peacefully near the Boise River.
Larry Winchester
Winchester land &
Cattle Owner /
Operator
Jack & Edna
Winchester
Ranch & Store Owners
Debbie Winchester
Store Owner / Operator
The Winchester Beef
Story in a nutshell
“Every day, Thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Help end the
violence. EAT BEEF”
American Cattlemen