Hearst Ranch, Historical cattle ranch in San Simeon, California.

Hearst Ranch is a cattle operation made up of two ranches in central California. The original ranch surrounds Hearst Castle and covers about 80,000 acres of rolling, dry-golden hills dotted with dark green trees; the second is the 73,000-acre Jack Ranch at Cholame. The ranch produces branded grass-fed beef, sold mainly to Whole Foods in Southern California.

George Hearst bought over 30,000 acres of Rancho Piedra Blanca, an 1840 Mexican land grant, in the late 19th century, adding most of Rancho San Simeon and part of Rancho Santa Rosa. The Hearst Corporation acquired the 73,000-acre Jack Ranch at Cholame, most of the 1844 Rancho Cholame grant, in 1966. A third collection of Hearst lands became Fort Hunter Liggett.

The Circle C brand belongs to the Jack Ranch at Cholame, the Hearst Corporation's 73,000-acre property acquired in 1966, and is the oldest registered brand still in use in California. The ranch's grass-fed beef, sold mainly to Whole Foods in Southern California, carries that name to shoppers.

The ranch is private working land with no public access; Hearst Castle, which it surrounds, is the visitable site nearby. Its grass-fed beef is sold mainly to Whole Foods in Southern California. The private Hearst Airport airstrip is closed to public traffic.

Hearst Airport, the ranch's private airstrip, was first built in 1928 or earlier, moved to a second site in 1935 or 1936, and shifted to its present location in 1946. It is closed to public air traffic, so the strip serves only the ranch itself.