Game Ranch Produces Elk Meat, Bison Meat and Reindeer Meat for Restaurants
To ensure top produce at its resorts and restaurants, a Canadian game ranch raises its own bison, elk and reindeer.
March/April 2010
Libby Platus
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Grassfed bison is one luxury enjoyed by visitors to the Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch.
iStockphoto.com/Rick Partlow
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CALGARY, ALBERTA – In the rolling hills south of Calgary, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch (CRMR) raises game for its herd of resorts and restaurants.
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These hills are a special place, visited by chinook winds, called the “snow eater” by locals as warm winds come over the mountains, melting the snow and exposing the grasses. Once the wintering ground for bison, this Southern Alberta region became a ranching hotspot about 120 years ago.
The CRMR was organized in 1996 on 550 acres, now surrounded by 8-foot game fences. The owners, Pat and Connie O’Conner, now have additional land to raise hay feed for 500 to 600 animals, making the operation essentially self-sufficient.
“It was natural to start raising our own elk, bison and reindeer to get the quality and consistency we wanted,” Executive Chef Alistair Barnes says. Before the ranch, “we would get great product one week, then we’d order again, and it wouldn’t be the same quality. Now, we have Alberta lamb, duck, chicken and quail, but game is definitely our big seller. It makes up more than 50 percent of sales in our restaurants.”
When visiting the ranch, Terry Church, the director, will tell you the cold-adapted animals live outside year-round. They are moved around, depending upon the amount of grass and forage available, and as pastures start declining in the fall, they are fed hay.
Young, weaned calves 5 to 7 months old find it hard to get enough energy out of hay to grow to their optimal level, called “good body condition.”
“So we feed them some grain as well,” Church says. “We raise all our animals without hormones, antibiotics or animal protein (in the feed). This is increasingly attractive to a lot of customers.”
The animals give birth in spring. After a year and a half to two years, they are moved for processing. Then the meat is aged 21 to 28 days and shipped to Barnes at the CRMR facility in Canmore, the site of the company’s bakery, pastry kitchen and commissary, as well as a large refrigerator and huge freezer. When chefs at the company’s various locations require meat, freshly baked bread, jams or other products, they let Barnes know, and the item is shipped out on a CRMR truck. About 85 percent of the meat goes to the lodges and restaurants. The remaining 15 percent is sold to outside customers.