2025 Year In Review

At Colvin Ranch, our mission is to take care of the land, animals, and people in our community. We accomplish this through conservation practices that enable us to produce healthy, high-quality beef, while helping native plants and animals flourish alongside our livestock.

In 2025, we expanded donations to a variety of community organizations and connected with more people to share how we use conservation practices to create the best possible environment for the native plants and endangered species that live at the ranch, as well as for our cattle. 

Donations

In partnership with our customers, we donated 178 pounds of stew meat and ground beef to the Tenino Food Bank and Nourish Pierce County, a 30% increase over last year. The next time you place an order online, you can add a package of stew meat to donate to the Tenino Food Bank. We'll deliver it to the food bank for you, along with our matching donation. It's an easy way to provide a meal to a local family.

We also expanded our donations 15 other community organizations, providing more than $11,000 in cash, beef, and local products from Colvin Ranch Provisions. That represents nearly 9 times what we were able to donate last year, which was possible thanks to all of you who supported our family business by purchasing directly from us. Here's the organizations we were proud to support in 2025: 

• Chehalis Tribe
• Community Farm Land Trust
• GRuB
• Larch Mountain Little League
• Lewis County Farm Bureau
• Lewis County Gospel Mission
• Olympia Community Sailing
• Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce
• Thurston County Cattlewomen
• Thurston County FFA
• Thurston County Food Bank
• Thurston County Youth Animal Market Sale
• Thurston EDC
• Washington Farm Bureau
• Wolf Haven 

Education And Advocacy

In 2025, we participated in 22 events reaching 1,670 people, a 40% increase over last year. Some of the highlights include the Washington Farm Bureau's National Ag Day at the Capital and the Washington Cattlemen's Association Beef Day on the Hill. 

We hosted tours for students from Evergreen State College, and visited the McCleary Elementary and North Tapps Middle School for Taste Washington Day to talk with kids and school nutrition staff about grass-fed, grass-finished beef. 
 
At the ranch, we welcomed guests from the Cascade Oak Prairie Conference, Lewis County Farm Bureau, Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, and Society for Range Management to share how our conservation grazing practices benefit both endangered species and our livestock.  

We also turned our focus to supporting workforce development in the agriculture sector, speaking with groups from  PacMountain Workforce Development and Leadership Thurston County, as well as participating in local efforts to establish training and job pathways for those interested in working in the meat industry (see the webinar Moving Forward Together to learn more about this initiative).

One of the most delicious events we participated in last year was the GRuB fundraiser. Chef Elise Landry (who ran Chicory restaurant in Olympia and is now working on her newest venture that will open later this year) cooked a special meal featuring local produce and Colvin Ranch beef. When community organizations, chefs, and farmers come together to support local food systems, it's perfection. 

Conservation Work

In 2025, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our conservation easement. More than 350 people attended Colvin Ranch Day to learn about local conservation efforts, the history of the cattle industry in Tenino, and how we raise our grass-fed, grass-finished beef. At the event, we were honored to present our NRCS partner Marty Chaney with the Colvin Ranch Conservation Partner Award in recognition of more than 20 years of collaboration and partnership.

We also continued our conservation grazing work at the the WDFW Violet Prairie Unit, where our cattle helped remove excess forage, create a better environment for native plants to grow, and do their part for wildfire mitigation. 

With less than 3% of native prairies remaining in the region, examples like this of prairies that fulfill multiple roles for conservation, recreation, and agriculture are more important the ever. We're grateful that Thurston County recognized the importance of the native prairies in our county with a proclamation designating May as Native Prairie Appreciation Month.

In November, the Washington Cattlemen's Association presented Colvin Ranch and our friends Ron and Kay Nelson from Nelson Ranch with the Centennial Ranch Award. It’s a pretty special thing for Tenino to be home to the two oldest cattle ranches in the state still operated by descendants of the original founders, and we're happy to share this award with such a well-respected family. 

Bringing Beef To More Places

Our biggest news of 2025 was the opening of our first retail store - Colvin Ranch Provisions. The store features the best food that's grown, raised, and made in Southwest Washington, including organic eggs, local cheese, seasonal produce, tallow products made at the ranch by Eric's mom Sue Smith, and of course Colvin Ranch beef. The Northwest and Rocky Mountain USDA Regional Food Business Center provided support and a Business Builder grant to help us get the store ready for opening. While the program was shut down this past summer, the benefits the program provided to the agriculture community live on.  

We also expanded our distribution so that you can now purchase our beef from The Market Place in Aberdeen, Hungry Hollow Farm in Shelton, and the Puyallup Farmers' Market. The Wandering Goose at the Tokeland Hotel hosted several delicious farm-to-table dinners featuring our beef and other locally grown products, creating special events centered around local food and good company. 

Eric worked hard to double the size of our cow herd to keep up with this expansion, focusing on infrastructure at the ranch, hiring new employees, and putting in new systems that will help us as we continue to grow. 

Looking Ahead

In 2026, we have some big plans in store. Look for a new website that will make it even easier for you to place an order in advance for pickup, and with the installation of a new walk-in freezer at the store, you'll soon be able to pick up your order during business hours Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. We'll also be hosting the annual Colvin Ranch Day on May 17 so be sure to come out to the ranch to join us for a fun day of music, food, and ranch tours. Hope to see you soon!