A local ranch that dates back over four generations of the Elster family is under new stewardship.   Elster Ranch located off McCourtney road in  Grass Valley  was started in 1895 as a dairy and cattle ranch by the first generation of Elsters.  Under the  Homestead act of 1862 under Presidents Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, the ranch expanded to 320 acres. In 2006 the last generation of Elsters sold the property to Bay Area engineer George Nolte.
click to hear George Nolte

But Nolte discovered  cattle is just what the land needed.

click to hear George Nolte

Nolte  found a breed of cattle developed in Australia from full blood Angus stock which are efficient at converting energy from the lands rich grasses and adapted to a similar climate.
click to hear George Nolte

Nolte also invested in a New Zealand system of impact sprinklers that  quadrupled  the irrigated acreage using the same amount of water.
The Nolte Family now have 90 animals grazing that will be sold as grass fed beef in local markets  and shipped to other markets.