Robert Rebholtz Sr. and the Making of Agri Beef

Who was Robert Rebholtz Sr.?

Robert Rebholtz Sr., known as Bob, founded Agri Beef Co. and served as its owner and chairman of the board until his death in 1997 at age 58. The company he started with a single feedyard now spans breeding and ranching, commercial feeding, nutritional products and beef processing, and it sells beef under brands such as Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms.

He was inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2012, fifteen years after his death. The Hall of Fame page says he showed exceptional vision and leadership in building the company.

Early life and first ranch job

Agri Beef's own history says Rebholtz was the son of a San Francisco banker. As a boy he spent summers at a Basque lamb operation in Stockton, California, and the company traces his interest in ranching to those summers.

A Beef Magazine profile of the Hall of Fame class says his cattle career began in 1962, when he took the job of managing the T Lazy S Ranch, a 300,000-acre cow and calf outfit at Battle Mountain, Nevada. Running a cow herd on that much range gave him a view of the beef business from the ranch end, before he moved toward feeding.

How Agri Beef began in 1968

In 1968, Rebholtz bought Snake River Cattle Feeders in American Falls, Idaho. Agri Beef describes that purchase as its founding, and says he set out to produce some of the highest-quality beef in the world. The company started as a small family operation.

From that feedyard the business grew in both directions along the supply chain: back toward breeding and ranching, and forward toward processing and branding. The company's materials describe a ranch-to-table system today, though they do not give a year-by-year account of when each piece was added, so this profile does not either.

What does Agri Beef do today?

The Hall of Fame biography lists the divisions as livestock breeding and ranching, commercial feeding, nutritional solutions and beef processing. Beef Magazine adds trucking, risk-management services and mineral exploration. The company stresses sustainability, product quality, animal well-being and stewardship toward employees and the community.

Its ranch brand, Double R Ranch, draws on cattle raised and fed by a network of supplier families, and the company's family page says supplier ranches breed cows to Agri Beef's Wagyu bulls and lists Snake River Farms among its brands. Leadership passed to his son, Robert Rebholtz Jr., who runs the company and keeps what the firm calls its core values of leadership, integrity and innovation.

Industry service and honors

Rebholtz held leadership roles in the former National Live Stock and Meat Board, the American National Cattlemen's Association and the Idaho Cattle Feeders Association. The University of California, Davis, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences gave him its Award of Distinction, and the profile says he was known for philanthropy and community outreach.

His 2012 induction is documented on the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame page, and Beef Magazine's Hall of Fame class report gives the fuller career details.

A family company

Agri Beef presents itself as a family story, and the company's own family history page credits Rebholtz Sr. with the 1968 start and Rebholtz Jr. with carrying it forward. His son was also inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame, with a page listing a 2025 induction.

Company histories are written by the company, so figures such as brand reach or herd sizes should be checked against current reports before they are repeated.

Learn more about beef feeding and ranching

For related reading on how feedyards, ranches and packers fit together, visit the ranching pages at farm.FM or try a farm.FM story on cattle feeding.