We are a family owned, family run business in South West Montana. Our family has been working in agriculture for 9 generations, 5 generations in Montana. Our kids will be the 10th generation growing up in agriculture.

Larry and Lisa both grew up in ranching families. Larry being from North Dakota move to Montana with his family in 1980. Larry's family moved to Livingston where he met Lisa. They began their lives together ranching and ended up in Sheridan, MT in 1991. Four of their five kids are very involved on the ranch. Everyone has their favorite parts of the ranch and it makes work much better when you enjoy what you do.

We grow all of our forage here in Montana as well. Harvesting all of our own hay and silage to feed the cattle through the Montana winters, when we don't have grass for them to graze. As a family we work together to supply high quality meat to our community and beyond. We believe you should know the rancher behind the meat you eat.

Meet the Family

We started Ruby Valley Meats in June 2020.  There was a great need for meat around the world.  We had the beef and wanted to start suppling our local communities with high quality beef raised locally. 

  We strive to raise cattle with great carcass traits throughout our cow herd. We raise all the Beef just outside of Sheridan, MT. Our beef is mainly Red Angus and some Charolais crosses. All our meet is all natural, no added hormones and antibiotic free. We offer pasture raised Grain Finished Beef as well as 100% Grassfed Beef. We dry age all the beef for 2-3 weeks to add extra flavor and tenderness.
Our Grain finished beef is fed grain for the last 100-110 days before they are butchered to add the extra marbling & flavor.
Our 100% Grassfed Beef is summered on grass and during the winter when there is no fresh grass we feed hay that we grow right here on our ranch in Southwest Montana. They will never have grain in their lifetime.

  We carcass ultrasound all of our beef before we send it to the butcher. Which means we take a picture of the steaks from the outside of the steer. This tells us how well the steer will grade (how much marbling), the size of the ribeye, how much back fat and a tenderness score. It is very important to us to bring you quality meat consistently. By doing the ultrasound it gives us a chance to cull anything that doesn't meet our high standards before we ever send them to the butcher.

How we got started selling our Meat

We started Ruby Valley Meats by going to Farmers Markets around Montana.  Which was a great way to get our name out around the state.  After the summer markets were over we needed to have another option to sell our meat.  So we opened a store front in Sheridan.  It was a big jump for us but it was a great decision for both our business and our community.  We still continued to make deliveries to larger communities around us every other week. 

Shipping Our Meat

After opening our store front we were looking for more ways to grow our meat business.  The answer seemed to lie in shipping our meats directly to customers - and finding customers who want to know where their meat comes from and  appreciate high-quality, well-raised meats.

We shipped out first boxes of meat in December 2020 and continue to ship meat right to your doorstep.  We want you to have the highest quality meat you can get with the least amount of hassle.

The 5L Brand

5L represents a family of five L’s—Lawrence, Lillian, Larry, Linda and Lenny Mehlhoff. Descending from a long line of farmers and ranchers, 5L Red Angus began raising Red Angus cattle in the late 1970s in North Dakota. Previously, they raised registered Shorthorns and commercial cattle. In 1977, they purchased a few registered Red Angus and moved to Paradise Valley, south of Livingston, Montana in 1979. In 1979, they purchased the Centurion Cattle Co. Red Angus herd from Nebraska. Their son, Larry purchased some Red Angus females after graduating from high school in 1979 and started his own herd of reds. When Lawrence was forced to sell out in 1985, Larry purchased some of his cattle as well. Since then, Larry has expanded using an extensive A.I. program and retaining most of the heifer calves.  

The five L’s have now grown to seven L’s in the second generation. Larry married Lisa Stands in Paradise Valley in 1983, and they now have the five L children—Laramie, Larisa (married to Zach Oldenburger in 2014), Landon (married to Amy Shibe in 2012), Larinda (married to David Aborn in 2015), and Logan. Most of them play a very vital part of the ranch operation, working in all phases of it, from haying and irrigating to all aspects of the cattle work.

The 10th generation of ranchers have started here at 5L.  There is 5 little ones running around the ranch learning the ropes now. 

Presley is 5 and full of energy!  He loves the cows and of course his pony named Oreo.  When he isn't outside he is being Batman flying around the house

Charlynn is 4 she is the little princess.  She loves packing her cat "Sprinkles" around everywhere she goes and taking care of the "her" chickens. She also has a horse (Rose) that she loves to ride around the ranch.

Oakley is 2 and a little tom boy.  She enjoys doing anything her big sister does. She loves all animals and of course riding around in the side by side to looking at all the cows.

Laredo is 2 he is such a little ham.  His little personality brings a smile to everyones face.  He loves riding around looking at all the animals.  Just like the other 3 he would much rather be outside running around. 

Larriat is the newest addition to the crew. He mostly just enjoys eating, sleeping and watching his brothers be crazy. I know it won't be long before he is running around with the rest of them.