J-Bar-H Longhorn
Ranch, located on 1200 acres of rolling hills in SE Copper butting up
to the lake, is home to approximately 60 head of Texas Longhorn cattle.
While longhorn are most notably utilized for show or ornamentation on
Texas style Cadillac’s, up here, they are known for their lean,
delicious, healthy meat. Texas Longhorn beef has less calories, less fat
and less cholesterol than chicken. For a 3.5 oz serving, Texas Longhorn
beef has 114 calories, 3.7 grams of fat (mostly saturated) and 48.0 mgs
of cholesterol.
Owner,
Jim Hix, never pictured himself as a cattle rancher when he was working
in the real estate industry for the better part of his life. Then one
day he says he made “the worst decision of my life.” He asked a friend who was traveling to Arizona to bring him home some longhorns because
he thought they "would be great pasture art.” 6 1/2
years later he knows each steer, each bull, each cow in his herd. He
hand feeds them and walks about among them as if he belonged with them.
He points to the ones that he will utilize for beef and points to others that he says are "keepers" and will be utilized as breeding stock or Trophy Steers.
Case in point, his favorite bull
‘Kill Kindly’ (affectionately called Killer) standing over 70 inches at
shoulder height and is the world's tallest longhorn bull, with a horn span of more then 6 feet, Killer is anything but
a cute puppy dog, but to Jim that’s exactly what he is. Jim stands at
just over 6 feet tall yet extends his arm fully above his head to hand feed
special treats to Killer. He can point to each cow or steer in the herd
that was sired by Killer and boasts about Killer's achievements like a
proud papa.
At
a 90/10 ratio one would expect the meat to possibly lack in flavor;
that is absolutely false. Flavor abounds with each cut, each package,
and each serving of meat from these cattle. J-Bar-H,
in an effort to stay exclusive, only carries their USDA beef in markets
and restaurants geographically separated by many miles, but gladly sells special orders to individuals to the residents Copperopolis.
Luckily, here in Copper our own Griff’s bbg offers J-Bar-H longhorn beef on their menu. When asked how the longhorn sells at Griffs, one waitress said, “People always choose the longhorn over regular beef, and when they come back, that is what they will have again and again. People love it!” A package of J-Bar-H Louisiana hot links was delivered to the CFPD firehouse to cook up and sample. Their reaction was, “The sausage is awesome!” At a recent bbq, a sampling of Habanero hot links, Louisiana hot links, hot dogs, and hamburgers, all from J-Bar-H longhorn was bar-b-qued slowly over a low heat and then put out for sampling. There was not a speck of beef left. The comments ranged from, “delicious” to “is this really longhorn” and “where do I get this” to “this is amazing.”
Luckily, here in Copper our own Griff’s bbg offers J-Bar-H longhorn beef on their menu. When asked how the longhorn sells at Griffs, one waitress said, “People always choose the longhorn over regular beef, and when they come back, that is what they will have again and again. People love it!” A package of J-Bar-H Louisiana hot links was delivered to the CFPD firehouse to cook up and sample. Their reaction was, “The sausage is awesome!” At a recent bbq, a sampling of Habanero hot links, Louisiana hot links, hot dogs, and hamburgers, all from J-Bar-H longhorn was bar-b-qued slowly over a low heat and then put out for sampling. There was not a speck of beef left. The comments ranged from, “delicious” to “is this really longhorn” and “where do I get this” to “this is amazing.”
Jim
is interested is seeing more people enjoy his longhorn, not just for
the amazing taste, but for a healthier cut of meat. If you are
interested in longhorn products from sausage to hotdogs, steak to beef
jerky, http://jbarhlonghornranch.com/
by,
Charity Maness
