About Ono Ranch
Welcome and Aloha!
We are Tim and Donna and this is the short story of our ranch.
Ono Ranch is a small ranch located outside of Redmond Oregon in Deschutes County. We are lucky that our piece of the world has amazing views of the Cascade Mountains to the West anchored by the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood. Our Ranch is full of juniper trees, sage brush and grasses all native to the High Desert environment.
This is not only our home but also the home to our two dogs (Pepper and Ginger), our three horses (Twister, Ruby and Rocky) and of course our small cattle herd. It also provides a homebase for our adult kids (Jess, Josh, Nina and Jon).
We started our journey raising cattle in 2018 as a way for us to have a healthier meat product for our family. But wait, only a few years ago? Yes, this is our retirement / 2nd career dream come true. Our first careers had us both serving the US military but in different capacities. Tim was a Navy Supply Officer and retired after 28 years of service. Donna spent her government career serving the active duty, military families and the retirees with the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Program in Pearl Harbor Hawaii. Yes, you read that correctly – Hawaii. In fact, Tim and Donna met at Pearl Harbor Naval Base and that is where our journey began.
Why Redmond Oregon? Tim is a lifelong Oregonian and when it was time to hang up the uniform for the last time, it was time for a change to a simpler, less stressful life. And what a change it has been! We said aloha to warm days, beautiful ocean colors, white beaches, wonderful flowers and their fragrances, crazy traffic, and exploding population. Unfortunately, we also had to say aloha to our wonderful “Ohana” and the amazing Hawaiian food choices.
Why cattle and why specifically Wagyu? We wanted to do something that was different, interesting, and tied us back to Hawaii and Japan (Donna is 4th generation Japanese American). Additionally, we wanted to embrace our new environment and the Western lifestyle. What better way to do all that than by raising a Japanese cattle breed in Central Oregon and sell it throughout the West Coast, Hawaii, and maybe even Japan.
As we settled on and learned more about the Wagyu breed, we were amazed at the health benefits that could be had by a red meat product. So, we set out to learn everything we could to provide our customers with the finest healthiest beef you will ever have.
Why the name Ono Ranch? Ono (actually ‘Ono) in Hawaiian means delicious. In Japanese, it means small farm. This coincidence seemed too perfect a name for a small ranch that raises a Japanese cattle breed by a couple that met and married in Hawaii. Not to mention, it is Donna’s mother’s maiden name!
We hope you enjoyed our story and can’t wait for you to try our exquisite grass fed, grass finished Wagyu beef!
