C.O. cows have a special mission

(Update: Adding it’s a Christian orphanage)

A Sisters man began cattle ranching as a way to feed his family and be connected with his food. Three years later, the purpose has changed.

Now, d ozens of cows graze in a pasture east of Sisters. And although it’s a common sight in Central Oregon, this herd has a higher mission.

” It all started a couple years ago with my wife and I, and another family, decided we wanted to raise our own cow for beef, ” Jared Vogt told NewsChannel 21.

” It would be a way we could help afford our food a little more, ” he said. ” And also, it’s becoming increasingly more important to be connected to our food. ”

Jared Vogt and his wife, Crystal, bought a few cows and said they had fun for a couple years as hobby cattle ranchers.

” This last year, in 2019, I decided to scale it and create a non-profit called Holy Cow, where we seek to connect people to their food and care for life and land and then all the proceeds go to good causes, ” Vogt said.

” Our first cause is, there’s an orphanage in India with 67 beautiful kids. And I went there two years ago and saw the orphanage. There were timbers hanging from the ceiling, about to fall down. In fact, later that year they had to tear it down because of a windstorm, ” Jared Vogt said.

” I came back and I thought, ‘Man, what can I do to help these kids? I either need to adopt them all and bring them home or help them find a new home.’ And so, we thought through, ‘How can we do this? ‘ ”

E ven though building an orphanage in India is less expensive than it would be here in the US, Vogt said they realized it would take far too long to raise the money just by asking for donations.

” So that’s where I thought, ‘ Why don’t I take this all-natural, grass-fed beef that we were doing as a hobby ranch and scale it and buy some more cows, in hopes some more people will want to experience a connection to their food like we do. And then we’d take all the money and give it away, ” he said.

Jared and Crystal bought 23 cows for the first year.

Jared Vogt said, “This year, actually, we’ve earned enough for the orphanage to break ground and start. And so I hope, if all goes well, we can build this orphanage in two years ”

All the cows on the ranch are beef cows, from Angus and Red Angus to Shorthorn and more. And the only thing the money goes to, aside from the orphanage, is the cost to purchase the cow and the land they graze on.

Jared Vogt told NewsChannel 21 he’s not stopping here.

“We want to have a chance for young people, maybe even troubled youth, to come on out and be able to see how there’s value in coming and working with your hands, to accomplish something as great as raising cows,” he said.

This month, P astor Prakash , who runs the Christian orphanage in India, came to Central Oregon with his family.

They were able to see the ranch and meet the cows that will be providing their orphans a new home.

What started as a desire for Jared Vogt to feed his family turned into a mission to help children around the world.

For more information, visit Holy Cow’s website or their Facebook page.

KTVZ 2019