RIDGE SHINN, CEO founded Big Picture Beef in 2016.  His work with cattle stretches back to his twenties when he was herdsman for a dairy farm, but for the past 20 years he has focused on beef.  Ridge was the founding director of the New England Livestock Alliance and for two years ran a slaughterhouse in Stafford Springs, CT.  In 2002 he submitted a grass-fed filet mignon to a Wine Spectator competition, and this entry triumphed over the grain-fed entries, establishing that grass-fed beef can be a gourmet food. Subsequently Ridge co-founded a meat company and developed markets and distribution systems for grass-fed beef throughout the Northeast. Since then, in addition to managing his own herd, Ridge has consulted in New Zealand, England, Uruguay, Argentina, and all over North America. His work has been recognized in the Smithsonian, the Atlantic, the New York Times, and Time Magazine.