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Bolinas rancher Bill Niman, who left the company he founded to pursue more ethical practices in raising grass-fed beef, says he stands to lose more than $300,000 if the U.S.D.A. does not exempt him from a mass recall of cattle slaughtered in Petaluma last year. Christopher Peak

If there is one steak you can trust in a marketplace dominated by factory farming, it comes from Bill Niman’s 800-acre ranch in Bolinas.  The owner of BN Ranch, Mr. Niman has toiled for decades to set the highest standards in the beef industry, verifying the source of all his cattle, spurning antibiotics and growth hormones and overseeing each animal’s slaughter and butchering.

But no matter how many precautions Mr. Niman has taken, the United…