California Ag Network

Tag: Family Ranch

  • Tunzi Family: 119 Years of Farming in Roblar

    Santa Rosa, Calif., (January 18, 2018) – Six generations of the Tunzi family have grown up in Southern Sonoma County. Many of the six generations have two things in common: raising cattle and attending the small Dunham School in Roblar. The Tunzi family immigrated to America from Switzerland in 1882. Natale Tunzi, grandfather of the current family patriarch Jim, first lived in Lakeville before moving to Two Rock, and met his wife Isolena in Petaluma.

    Six generations of the Tunzi family have grown up in Southern Sonoma County. Many of the six generations have two things in common: raising cattle and attending the small Dunham School in Roblar. The Tunzi family immigrated to America from Switzerland in 1882.

    Natale and Isolena had three children and purchased a ranch in Roblar in 1898. They bought the ranch from a local doctor who owned a lot of property in the area. They built the first house on the property, which the family still lives in today, in 1906 and built their original barn around the same time.

    The Tunzi family had a small dairy and milked around 60 cows by hand. At the height of the family’s dairy, they had around 100 head of cattle. They built a grade A barn in 1937 and were one of the first families to have a milking machine in the county. At the time it was built, the barn had state of the art facilities.

    Before building this barn, the family packed the milk 100 feet to a separate room to separate the milk from the cream. They sold the cream to the Petaluma Coop Creamery in cans. The leftover milk was mixed with kale the family planted and used to feed their chickens.

    The family had a lot of chickens at the same time they were raising dairy cattle. They had multiple chicken and brooder houses as well as their own hatchery as part of their operation. The family said they made more money on eggs than milk at that time.

    In addition to raising cattle and chickens, the family grew hay on 110 acres in Roblar as well as at Hamilton Air Force Base during World War II. The family recalls hearing stories of cutting hay while bombers were taking off and landing at the base.

    The family raised dairy cattle and utilized their grade A barn until the late 50’s when they retired from the dairy business. Jim said milking cows was a seven day a week job and joked that the family decided they liked to deer hunt and didn’t want to be tied down. They bought a ranch in Geyserville, phased out milking and began raising beef cattle. Jim and his brother were not farming full time and were partners in their excavating business for 40 years.

    Today, the Tunzi family is still raising cattle on the same ranch in Roblar. The family has 342 acres split into three parcels, although the ranch was more than 500 at one point. Jim lived on the ranch with his wife Joan, who keeps track of their family history. They own their cattle in conjunction with Fred, a member of the fourth generation who didn’t grow up on the ranch but later became involved with the cattle.

    Over the years, the family has raised multiple different breeds of cattle including Herefords, Simmental, Brangus, Charolais and currently have Angus. They peaked at 100 head of beef cattle, but now have about 80 cattle on the property.

    Ten of these are Limousin cattle part of a small herd Robby, Jim’s grandson, is raising. Robby said his herd started when his uncle gave him a heifer when he was five. At the time, he was in kindergarten and from that bottle calf he raised, bred and built his herd off of. He bought a few head along the way and showed them at the fair which helped pay for college.
    With his cattle project, Robby won the carcass contest one year at the fair, an accomplishment he views as a better achievement than winning the show. He was also the recipient of the Farm Bureau Foundation of Sonoma County’s Gold Cup his last year showing.

    Robby is currently attending Oklahoma State University, majoring in Ag Business and Economics. After graduation, he has plans to come back to Sonoma County and keep the ranch going. While he doesn’t think the ranch is large enough to build a career on, he knows it will definitely be a part of his life going forward.
    Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the author and Sonoma County Farm Bureau when reprinting this item.

  • Anderson Family Ranch: 159 Years of Sonoma County Agriculture

    Santa Rosa, Calif., (October 17, 2017) – Twin brothers Henry and John Himbauch bought two 415 acre parcels on Petaluma Hill Road in August of 1848. The brothers had previously owned 83 acres in Two Rock, but when the opportunity arose to purchase the pieces of the Cotati Ranch, the family knew that was where they wanted to live.

    The Anderson Ranch circa 1920. Photo courtesy of the Anderson Family.

    At one point, the Himebauchs owned seven ranches, using the Petaluma Hill Road location as their headquarters.

    Nearly 160 years later, Henry Himbauch’s great-great-grandson, Henry James Anderson, and his family still operate approximately 300 acres of the original parcel. John sold his piece to the neighboring Brians family who still own that property and have also kept it in the family for more than 100 years.

    Anderson, 83, still lives on the Petaluma Hill Road ranch with his wife Grace and their two children Christy and James Porter. James Porter was named after relatives who farmed the Porter Ranch for more than 100 years before they sold it in 1944. Christy and James Porter are the 5th generation of the family to live on the ranch.

    The ranch is located directly across from Sonoma State University, and the family said they enjoy hearing live music from the Green Music Center. At one time, the land Sonoma State is built on also belonged to Anderson family.

    The family’s effort to maintain the ranch can be seen by the area around them. With such a close proximity to Sonoma State, the land surrounding the University had continued to be developed into subdivisions.

    Over the years, the family has raised many different commodities including chickens, winegrapes, beef and dairy cattle, sheep and hogs. At one point, the family had more than 5,000 egg producing chickens.

    “They were very diversified because they had to be to have beef to eat, milk to drink and eggs to cook with,” said Anderson. “We had everything here. It was absolutely great and still is.”

    Today, the family grows winegrapes and runs beef cattle. Their current herd is around 50 head of Beefmaster cattle. They have 15 acres of Chardonnay planted which they sell to Sonoma-Cutrer.

    Anderson said “it’s all about the great people you’re related to.” The family is connected to all their neighbors and related to many of them. In addition to the Porters, Anderson is related many of the other long term farming families in the county and friends with a considerable amount more.

    For Anderson, farming has always been his second job. He spent most of his career transporting livestock, and considers himself one of the pioneering people to transport livestock by aircraft. But his two careers were not his only involvement in agriculture. In addition to running the ranch and moving livestock, Anderson received his FFA American Degree, showed sheep and judged fairs throughout the country.

    His daughter Christy is attending Sonoma State where she is pursuing a degree in Economics as well as her MBA. Both Christy and her brother are committed to keeping the family business running and the ranch in the family for the next generation.

    “Everything I have studied and everything I do is to handle the day to day operations and keep the ranch running,” said Christy.

    Courtesy of Rachel LaFranchi and Sonoma County Farm Bureau

  • Denner Ranch: 125 Years of Farming In Santa Rosa

    Santa Rosa, Calif., (February 10, 2017) – Denner Ranches, established in 1890, is operated by Kathy Reese and her husband Steve, Russ Denner and his wife Joanne and their son Brian Denner.

    The property was purchased by Reese and Denner’s great grandfather who emigrated from Devonshire England, originally settling in Illinois before coming west and deciding Santa Rosa was the place he wanted to live.

    The ranch was purchased in two parts, with the second half acquired in 1935. When the original piece of property was purchased in the 1890’s, it was growing winegrapes, but the vines were removed and the ranch transitioned through many other crops. Over the years, the ranch has raised horses for the U.S. Calvary, hogs, potatoes, hops, beef and dairy cattle, corn silage and hay.

    The family is currently growing 42 acres of Russian River Chardonnay. Additionally, the property has 258 acres of organic pasture most of which is leased to a local cattle company, but the family also runs their own small herd of cattle on the property. The remaining 180 acres are leased to a farmer growing vegetables which include squash, peppers, tomatoes and other seasonal items.

    While Kathy is passionate about the cattle and said she couldn’t see herself without them, Russ describes himself as the instigator of the vineyard. The 42 acres of winegrapes brings the property full circle, back to what it was originally planted with when the family purchased the land more than 125 years ago.

    Russ and his wife Joanne married in 1972 and moved back to the property in 1977 where they live in the original house built in the early 1900’s, which, as a remodeling contractor, he has restored.  Kathy and Steve married in 1970 and moved back to the property in 1982, building a new house.

    Russ’s son Brian, 29, joined the family business in 2013. He grew up on the ranch attending El Molino High School and Santa Rosa Junior College before working in security and construction. He was partway through the hiring process with the Richmond police department before deciding to come back and spend a year working on the family farm. He fell in love with the farm and has continued to work in the vineyard and is involved with day to day operations.

    Brian’s son, Silas, is six and will be the sixth generation of the Denner family to grow up on the property.

    Between 1984 and 1985, Russ and Steve were working on the farm, but the property wasn’t able to sustain both families. Russ and Steve went back to their day jobs. The parents were still operating the property and weren’t quite ready to let go.

    “It all worked out,” said Kathy, “timing is everything. Our fathers worked hard to build this ranch.”

    In 1994, Kathy and Russ returned to the property to take over the day to day operations. The family transitioned 46 acres of the property to vineyard in 1996. Russ said the family would have expanded more but were restricted due to the tiger salamander and the regulations surrounding it.

    “For farming to be sustainable you have to be able to change crops,” said Russ which has been vibrantly demonstrated by the family over the last 100 years. “The tiger salamander has made it so you can’t till the ground. We’re stuck with pastures we can only run cattle on.”

    The family has been working with NRCS on various projects and has had their pastures certified organic. They have also worked with the City of Santa Rosa to use reclaimed wastewater since 1976.

    The ranch has been used as a filming location for movies as wells as local sheriff’s department trainings. The Reeses are actively involved in Sonoma County Farm Bureau, where Kathy Reese sits on the board of directors, and are committed to ensuring future generations have the ability to farm in Sonoma County.

    “The scary part,” said Russ, “is not knowing how we’re going to keep going and change crops.”

    Kathy said, “How do you plan for succession when you don’t know how you’re going to survive?”