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internal fences or roads, and the place is three by three kilometers. We needed some roads for access to animals in the back part of the ranch, so we had to put in a lot of BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS infrastructure,” says Rainer. “We got 106 cows our first year rom early days as a landscape architect in Germany, Rainer here on the ranch, but the only Krumsiek has developed a growing market for the grassfed meat thing I knew about cows was what I he produces on the 2,200-acre Big Bear Ranch near Horsefly learned as a kid going to my uncle’s in central British Columbia. Ranier and his wife, Gigi, and their dairy farm during holiday. After children came to Canada from Germany in 1995, where she was a we got our cattle for the ranch, I physician’s assistant and then worked in the landscaping business. In learned a lot more about cattle, and Ranier Krumsiek Germany, they also had a huge garden and raised their own vegetables, how to handle them with low-stress raised chickens, and hunted wild game. methods,” he says. “After 25 years in that business, however, we felt burned out. We Grazing management on this ranch had to be adapted to the previous worked for people with high incomes, doing private gardens, and we never owner’s logging activities. After he logged the land, he pushed and piled had a break. They would call us at 10 pm at night and on the weekends. all the logging leftovers (stumps, rock, etc.) into more than 50 windrows Our clients worked hard and didn’t have time to consult with us at regular between 300 to 1000 meters long, not counting the smaller ones, to 10 to times!” says Rainer. 30 meter wide. Eventually Rainer and Gigi decided to do something else. “My wife and Rather than try to remove these massive windrows so the pastures I had spent several holidays in Canada with our three children and a dog and fields could be completely cleared, the Krumsiek family left them there and found it was cheaper than our holidays in Scandinavia as we’d done to serve as windbreaks and natural shelter for wildlife. With good grazing previously. So we decided to move to Canada, and thought that with the management, bio-diversity improved within the area and the windbreaks money we’d get from selling our house and our business we could retire. have also been beneficial for the cattle. Body heat loss in cold weather I was 47 and thought this would be a good time to retire, and live off the is reduced because the animals have shelter from winter wind. This also land. Our dream didn’t work out quite that way, however,” says Rainer. helped reduce their nutritional needs and winter feed inputs for the ranch. They immigrated to British Columbia (BC) from Germany in 1993 with The windrow berms also hold moisture, with slower run-off for snow melt their children Florian, Inga and Arne, and looked for land to buy. After in those areas. Moisture retention improved forage production. searching for two years for the ideal Rainer and Gigi invested a lot of place, they purchased the Big Bear effort and money building 70 kilometers Ranch but struggled with the financing of permanent electric fence. Electric of an operation they had not intended fence makes it possible for planned to own themselves. Due to a partner grazing movement among the windrow backing out, they ended up having to take configurations as well as in the out a mortgage and beginning the work of open pastures. creating a ranch. “A few years later we invested another $100,000 to put in an Developing Grazing underground water line with 3-inch pipe. Infrastructure This allowed us to have water in every Big Bear Ranch was homesteaded pasture, with movable water troughs.” in 1950 and everything had been logged he explains. and most of it cleared. “There wasn’t Funding from the National Water much fence, except a perimeter barbedSupply program helped with the Ranier has developed his grazing strategy to include wire fence, and no way to do intensive expenses of installing over three multi-species grazing. The different species utilize forage grazing management. There were no CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 differently and have helped to improve pasture health.
Producing Grassfed Protein and Wildlife Habitat
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