By: Wendy Weitzel for Davis Farmers Market
Happy cattle lead to happy customers. So says Paul Hensleigh, who runs Hensleigh Healthy Beef with his wife, Michele.
The ranch, based in Elk Grove, has hundreds of Angus, Hereford and crossbreed cattle, along with a prized Wagyu bull. The owners have been selling their beef at the Davis Farmers Market since 2018.
“We’ve got a really good, loyal following,” Paul Hensleigh said of the Davis market. “A lot of regulars who enjoy our meat and want to come every week. They just love the quality, knowing that it’s local, that we raise the animals with love. That we care how they are raised.”
That means feeding the cows, heifers, steers and bulls in open pastures, with only natural feeds. The animals are rotated among more than 700 acres of grass: the 100 acres it owns in Sacramento County, and 600 acres it leases in Sacramento and Placer counties. During the summer, the cattle stay on the two areas that have irrigated pastures.
“We’re raising them the old-fashioned way, the right way,” he said.
The herd members are selected for composition as well as disposition. Hensleigh said he sells “any of the cows that are high-headed” or difficult. He wants them friendly and docile. That way, he can “move them between fields by calling them. I don’t have to chase them with a horse.”
The cattle are vaccinated but free from growth hormones or antibiotics. If one gets sick and needs antibiotics, it is sold at auction, not under their brand.
The steers are slaughtered at around 24 months old, to ensure tenderness. The ones that come from the Wagyu bull are sold under the HH Gold brand. Beef from the high-end Japanese breed is known for its flavor and marbling.
Its biggest sellers are ribeye steaks and ground beef.
Hamburger, really? That’s where you’ll taste the biggest difference from beef sold at large stores. That ground beef is typically made with scraps from processing meat from older beef and dairy cattle.
At their Davis Farmers Market booth, you can find a full range of frozen steaks, roasts, tri-tip and carne asada, as well as extras like tongue, heart, neck bone and knuckle. All have been processed at a USDA butcher in Orland. They recently added jerky and beef sticks, as well as skin care products made with beef tallow.
“We feel better, too,” Hensleigh said. “We’re using the whole animal.”
To make the skin care products, their oldest daughter, Meredith Sievers, renders the beef fat and uses it to make things like face cream, body butter, lip balm and beard balm. Soap is coming soon. The snacks and skincare items are available for purchase on their website.
Hensleigh is a happy rancher too. He recently retired from his job as deputy air pollution control officer with the Yolo-Solano Air Quality District, after 31 years in the business. He said it’s nice to be down to one full-time job.
Davis Farmers Market
Central Park, Fourth and C streets, Davis
Saturdays: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round
Wednesdays: 4 to 8 p.m. May through September for Picnic in the Park; 3 to 6 p.m. October through April
Hensleigh Healthy Beef
Find them at the Davis Farmers Market every Saturday, rain or shine.
Farm address: 7635 Sloughhouse Road, Elk Grove
Website: https://hhbeef.com/
Instagram: @hh_beef
Facebook: @HHBeef
Main image: Paul Hensleigh and his oldest grandchild, Orion, pose for a selfie after feeding the cows in January 2021. (Photo courtesy Paul Hensleigh)
