About Us

Donati Ranch is located in the northern part of Sacramento Valley and is a family-run operation. Founders Tom and Sally Donati grew up in commercial beef cattle production and are both graduates of the agriculture program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Donati Ranch started with a commercial herd and continued to strive to improve the performance and carcass merit of the feeder cattle they were selling by participating in the Young Sire Evaluation Program in cooperation with the American Angus Association.

The purebred herd began in the early 1990s as a 4-H project for Sally and Tom's two sons Rocky and Chris. Originally the registered Angus bull calves were used in the Donati Ranch commercial herd. As the purebred herd continued to grow, the ranch began marketing bulls to commercial producers in private treaty and consignment sales. For over twenty years, the bulls had been marketed in the Black Gold Bull Sale. As all things evolve, now we market our bulls at the ranch at our annual bull sale, the second Thursday in September. The sale will again be at the ranch in Oroville, CA.

Our program continues to emphasize fertility, structure, and performance. We strive to have one of the most fertile and productive herds. That goal is proven by the number of Pathfinder cows we have achieved annually.

In the 1980’s Donati Ranch commercial herd participated in the Young Sire Evaluation program for the American Angus Association. Through that experience Donati Ranch learned the value of receiving the performance and carcass data of the progeny. That information we obtained has guided us with our genetic selection. That experience has been a road map to improving our registered herd. We continue to get the performance and carcass data from our steers and heifers that do not stay in our registered program. The last couple of years they have graded 63% prime.

The Donati family takes pride in selecting cattle based on industry factors that drive profitability in the commercial sector. Calving ease, maternal traits and growth are the cornerstones of a profitable commercial cattle operation. Those traits coupled with selection for carcass merit, means that Donati Ranch bulls offer a complete package for commercial ranches.

Donati Ranch remains a family operation with the help of Rocky, his wife Lisa and their three children Nico, Gemma, and Leo. Donati Ranch takes pride in being a family-run operation that is based in production agriculture.