BY Erin Finan, Gracie Metz, Lainey Novak and Kelly Larson
Dickinson Cattle Co ยท Barnesville
Dickinson Cattle Co. offers visitors the chance to take a tour and learn about the hundreds of Texas Longhorn and BueLingo cattle raised there.
In our modern era, it can be rare to have the chance to see where our food comes from, but at Dickinson Cattle Co. near Barnesville, ranching is a way of life. This sprawling 5,000-acre destination sits on reclaimed mining lands in Belmont County, where the Dickinson family has been herding hundreds of Texas Longhorns and other cattle breeds since 1994.
Photo by Brian Kaiser Darol and his wife, office manager Linda, live on the ranch where they work with other members of their family and dedicated staff to breed, herd and sell livestock.
“We raised our family in Colorado, but Colorado was prone to drought and blizzards ...,” says general manager Darol Dickinson. “Ohio was a clean place, and the grass was good here, the water was good.”
Dickinson Cattle Co. hosts fun public tours where visitors can get a taste of the cowboy life and even order some beef if they so desire. Participants board a bus for a 75-minute narrated tour to get an up-close look at the ranch’s BueLingo and Texas Longhorn breeds. Visitors can even purchase “cow candy” to feed the cattle through the windows of the bus during the tour.
Experienced tour narrators teach visitors about the day-to-day work that is done on the ranch and what it takes to care for hundreds of heads of cattle.
“[We] work every day, 24 hours a day, guarding the herd from all disease, or lack of nutrition or minerals, and you do everything to make them healthy and comfortable,” Dickinson says.
The tour also teaches visitors about the fascinating people tied to the land. Dickinson says two famous and controversial Ohioans — Gov. Wilson Shannon and his great-nephew “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker — were born on the property. He adds that William Boyd, who portrayed Hopalong Cassidy, grew up nearby, and one of Johnny Appleseed’s famed apple orchards once flourished just 4 miles northeast.
“There’s so much history here,” Dickinson says. 35000 Muskrat Rd., Barnesville 43713, 740/758-5050, texaslonghorn.com
Original Article pubished in Ohio Magazine titled 5 Reasons to Visit our 2025-26 Best Hometowns
