About Rubia Gallega Cattle


Originating in Galicia, a province in Spain, the Rubia Gallega cattle are best known for their tenderness and great beef flavor. This breed has won gold, silver, and bronze medals while competing against the best breeds of beef in the World Steak Competition. The breed is a naturally large breed with cows averaging 1500 pounds and bulls averaging 2000-2500 pounds for servicing cows but can reach up to 4,000 pounds. Rubia Gallega, originally a dual purpose breed like many old world breeds, for work and milk production, but is primarily a beef breed now, although some are still used for milk production to make tetilla cheese.

For the cattleman, the breed offers great temperament, explosive growth and harvest-ready steers within a year, without compromising quality and retaining the tenderness the breed is known. The unique and breed-specific ability to age on the hoof gives the cattlemen an opportunity to convert a cow who has become infertile later in her life into the premium luxury beef that can command thousands of dollars.

Rubia Gallega beef is often harvested at 10-12 months of age at a staggering 1,200-1,400 pounds. Even at that age, the beef gives a strong beefy flavor and is ultra tender. The longer the breed is aged on the hoof, the more desirable it becomes. In Spain and throughout its European beef exports the luxury grade Rubia Gallega is often aged on the hoof for 3-10 years, with live weights up to 4,000 pounds commanding five figure wholesale prices.



Origin of the Breed

THE ORIGINATION OF THE RUBIA GALLEGA


Rubia Gallega is a breed of cattle indigenous to Spain, more specifically from Galicia in the North West part of Spain, Rubia Gallega translates to Galician Blonde. The breed has influence from Simmental, Swiss Braunvieh, British Shorthorn and Portuguese Barrosã. A herdbook was established in 1933, the current herd size according to the registry in 2015 was just under 40,000 head. The breed was first brought to North America in 2019 by Reserve Cattle Company.

Benefits of Rubia Gallega


The benefit of Rubia Gallega can be measured by a number of things from the seed stock producer to the end market. Let’s talk about marketing first. The breed is extremely rare with top chefs from around the world wanting this beef. The demand is there, unfilled and the market is wide open! In all reality the demand will outpace production for the next decade or two.

The breed in general is a naturally docile breed and easy to handle. They have a beautiful coat color from red/orange to blonde. The growth rates are explosive with select sire data showing 4 pounds per day. Steers can be harvested as early as 10 months and the beef is ultra tender.

The maternal aspects of Rubia Gallega are great, milk production is very good being a dual purpose breed. The cows are calving unassisted at a 95% rate with plenty of room in the pelvis for the largest calf.

Rubia Gallega do well on a variety of grasses and can also be finished on silage or grains. They will adapt well to any climate, the first Rubia Gallega were born in Iowa with temperatures that reached -30 degrees when the first ones were just a month old housed in a mono slope calf barn. Rubia Gallega semen is now being used in Brazil to improve growth and meat quality with the Nelore and Brahman cattle.

Rubia Gallega gives the producer the opportunity to offer a luxury brand of beef to the most exclusive restaurants in North America while at the same time being part of the newest and most exclusive breed as well.


North American Importation

RESERVE CATTLE COMPANY AND HOW RUBIA GALLEGA BECAME NORTH AMERICA’S NEWEST BREED OF CATTLE.

Reserve Cattle Company is located in Warsaw, Missouri right in the center of the Heartland.

In 2010, we went on a quest for the best tasting beef in the world with intentions to take our beef from farm to table. That quest led us to discover Japanese Wagyu, most commonly known as Kobe beef. Wagyu beef is known for intense marbling , melt in your mouth tenderness and rich buttery flavor, which will later act as a benchmark when we entertained the idea of importing the very first Rubia Gallega to North America.

In 2015, we entered our beef in the American Royal Steak Competition. Our first contest ever. We were Awarded Grand Champion Grain Fed and Reserve Champion Grass Fed. The following year we entered a few more and picked up some more ribbons.

In 2017, we took a trip to Japan to attend the National Wagyu show that happens every 5 years. The show has only two categories, Breed Improvement and Meat Quality. There we saw hundreds of Wagyu competing for the highest awards and opportunity for the top carcass bulls to become the most sought after sires in the breed, all based on performance data and carcass measurements. We spent nearly a month in Japan traveling from the most southern Island to the most northern island learning about the breed from the masters.

With the knowledge we’ve gained, and our multiple awards we decide to take the leap and direct-market to restaurants , not just any restaurants but the most Exclusive in the US. For a luxury brand of beef we knew we must focus on cities that are known for being culinary destinations. Places like New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Since 2017, we’ve been selling our beef in some of those cities with great success. We’ve had the opportunity to have our beef served to multiple Celebrity Chefs who have James Beard Awards and multiple Michelin Stars to their names. We have even had our beef served to a former President of the United States!

The direct relationships that we have grown with the Executive Chefs is the sole reason we began to explore importing Rubia Gallega. We had never heard about the breed until one day we asked a chef if there was any other breed he would like us to feed out. Every breed has different traits and flavors and we really enjoy feeding out steers. We suggested a couple breeds and feeding methods with little interest. Then we get an email and the chef says this breed, can you get this breed, Rubia Gallega. Attached were links to a few restaurants in Spain and also a few articles about the breed.

We started researching the breed and the articles supported the notion it’s a superior beef breed. Luckily we had several customers in Spain we had been working with so we reached out to them to see what they had to say. They too said it was the best beef in the world, at the least equal to Wagyu. We were not going to import an entirely new breed of cattle without tasting the beef so in 2019, we took a trip to Spain to see the breed in person and most importantly taste it.

We were not disappointed! Rubia Gallega is equal to Wagyu, some even say it’s the best beef in the world with the Awards to back it up. It’s claimed Gold , Silver and Bronze Medals in the World Steak Challenge where it competed against multiple breeds from around the world including Japanese Wagyu. Not only does it have those awards it’s being served in the most Exclusive restaurants in Europe, many of which have earned multiple Michelin Stars. It is exceptionally tender beef with great depth of flavor. When dry aged you will experience a sophisticated concentration of beefy and succulent flavors with undertones of summer meadows and a rich buttery taste. The more mature the animal at harvest the more concentrated the flavors while the tenderness the breed is known for remains the star.

It is the real deal and it is our pleasure to offer these genetics to the cattleman that’s looking for the best tasting steak in the world. The opportunity to get in on a new breed of cattle to North America does not happen in anyone’s lifetimes and this opportunity allows you to start off on the ground floor and become a foundation seed stock producer.


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