Raising cattle is more than just a business for the owners of Garibay Ranch; it’s a labor of love. 

Juan and Inga Garibay of Yakima believe in taking a hands-on approach with their grass-fed cows, giving them the kind of personal attention usually reserved for household pets.

The end result is a low-fat, protein-rich beef product that is unrivaled in flavor and tenderness.

“It’s all about giving the cows a good experience and making their lives as stress-free as possible,” said Juan, who started raising grass-fed cows in 2005 before expanding the business about 10 years ago. 

“The key word here is ‘stressless,’” added Inga, who joined the operation in January when the couple got married. “We interact with our cows every day because we truly love what we do.”

The cows’ response to all that extra TLC is nothing short of heartwarming. When the Garibays and their children walk out to the pasture, the animals quickly surround them and lean in for a scratch on the rump or behind the ears. Some, like the 2-year-old bull, Martinez, even let out bellows of approval.

You’d be forgiven if you mistook these happy, outgoing cows for a pack of Labrador retrievers.

“As soon as they are born, we start talking to them and petting them,” Juan said, crediting the hands-on technique to his longtime friend and former dairy farmer, Warren Dickman. “We put a collar on the calves and lead them around with a rope for three or four weeks. The rope helps us get closer to them, and they eventually get used to it.”

Since the mother cows have been raised in the same way, their calves don’t fear humans, leading to a relatively carefree first month of life. Once the calves become too big to be collared, they are already accustomed to their handlers and want to stay nearby.

“The calves look at their moms’ body language, and when they see us walking up and feeding them alfalfa out of our hands, they feel safe,” Juan said. “That’s all it takes.”

The Garibays also take special care of the cows when moving them from one pasture to another (they lease about 80 additional acres in west Yakima). Instead of transporting the cattle en masse, the couple pairs up the mothers and calves so they don’t become stressed. 

“We are very patient with them,” Inga said. “We never force them to do anything. We just let them take their time and they always get in the trailer eventually.”

Martinez recently breached the Garibays’ 10-acre property and ended up in a nearby pasture. The neighbors could hardly believe their eyes when Juan and Inga calmly leashed up the bull and walked him back to the ranch.

“He just walked right over to us, like ‘no big deal,’” Juan said with a laugh. “Most people haven’t seen a bull that tame.”

The Garibays insist on sharing these unique relationships with their customers, welcoming people to the ranch every week to witness their unconventional yet highly effective cattle-raising methods.

They wholeheartedly believe that managing a cattle ranch should be about the full experience, not just business.

“We like to give our customers full transparency from beginning to end,” Juan said. “They can play with the cows and feed them by hand, which helps people understand how stressless their lives are. By coming out here to visit us, they truly understand where their beef comes from.”

• This article appeared in the Capital Press in December 2022.