About Us
Our Journey
The Rone family moved to Northwest Arkansas, Highfill area, from Tennessee in the 1860s. In 1958 Clyde and Bonnie Rone purchased land in the Osage Valley (just west of Cave Springs) and established Ronedale Farm. Don grew up in the little white house on the corner of Phillips Cemetery and Mill Dam Roads. The Rone family had registered Holstein milk cows at that time. In the 1980’s the milk cows were sold and beef cows were introduced onto the ranch.
Don attended Bentonville schools and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Arkansas. He then earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Oklahoma State University.
Monica (nee Ritz) grew up in Siloam Springs where her parents raised broiler chickens and had a dairy farm. She attended the University of Arkansas where she received a bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science and a minor in Journalism.
We met in 4-H showing Holstein cattle, in 1974 we married and moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to attend OSU. Following graduation, we moved to Wisconsin where Dr. Don Rone worked in a 6-man dairy practice. In 1979 we returned to the Bentonville area and established Osage Veterinary Clinic where we worked for the next 20 years. Our three sons, Rob, Nick, and Nate, grew up here and attended Bentonville schools.
In 2003, Dr. Rone sold the veterinary practice and we spent the next 10 years working in East Africa.
To read more, continue to the bottom of the page, or visit our products page to see what we offer.
Our Journey Continued
Returning to Arkansas in 2012, we took over the ranch and renamed it Shamba Ranch, Shamba, meaning farm in the Swahili language. Since then, we have been working to make the Black Angus cattle on the ranch some of the best in the breed. Using focused genetics we have been able to breed cattle that are high in marbling, tender, and flavorful - all qualities today’s consumers are looking for. At the same time, we work to conserve our natural resources and raise our cattle on high-quality grass pastures. We never use hormones or growth-promoting antibiotics. We sell Angus bulls with many of them ranking in the top 1-3% in the breed, according to Angus.org DNA testing. We also sell replacement cows and heifers to other ranchers across several states.
The little white house on the corner of Phillips Cemetery and Mill Dam Roads was built in the 1940s. It has seen many families, including our own, come and go, as well as a lot of change in the Osage Valley! Now, the house is preparing for a change of its own.
Shamba Ranch is excited to be a Certified Angus Beef® Ranch to Table partner and bring you beef that’s certified for flavor raised right here in Bentonville, directly from our family to yours.
Don and Monica will continue to be involved in ranching operations, breeding, and raising of the cattle. Son, Nate and his wife Lindsay will be working on the meat retail part of the operation. We are excited to be entering this new phase of the ranch and look forward to serving the needs of our community with our exceptional beef.
