HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

LIVESTOCK &

Big Bear Ranch— Producing Grassfed Protein and Wildlife Habitat

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

From early days as a landscape architect in Germany, Rainer Krumsiek has developed a growing market for the grassfed meat he produces on the 2,200-acre Big Bear Ranch near Horsefly in central British Columbia. Ranier and his wife, Gigi, and their children came to Canada from Germany in 1995, where she was a physician’s assistant and then worked in the landscaping business. In

Germany, they also had a huge garden and raised their own vegetables, raised chickens, and hunted wild game.

“After 25 years in that business, however, we felt burned out. We worked for people with high incomes, doing private gardens, and we never had a break. They would call us at 10 pm at night and on the weekends.

Our clients worked hard and didn’t have time to consult with us at regular times!” says Rainer.

Eventually Rainer and Gigi decided to do something else. “My wife and

I had spent several holidays in Canada with our three children and a dog and found it was cheaper than our holidays in Scandinavia as we’d done previously. So we decided to move to Canada, and thought that with the money we’d get from selling our house and our business we could retire.

I was 47 and thought this would be a good time to retire, and live off the land. Our dream didn’t work out quite that way, however,” says Rainer.

They immigrated to British Columbia (BC) from Germany in 1993 with their children Florian, Inga and Arne, and looked for land to buy. After searching for two years for the ideal place, they purchased the Big Bear

Ranch but struggled with the financing of an operation they had not intended to own themselves. Due to a partner backing out, they ended up having to take out a mortgage and beginning the work of creating a ranch.

Developing Grazing Infrastructure

Big Bear Ranch was homesteaded in 1950 and everything had been logged and most of it cleared. “There wasn’t much fence, except a perimeter barbedwire fence, and no way to do intensive grazing management. There were no 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 infrastructure,” says Rainer.

“We got 106 cows our first year here on the ranch, but the only thing I knew about cows was what I learned as a kid going to my uncle’s dairy farm during holiday. After we got our cattle for the ranch, I learned a lot more about cattle, and how to handle them with low-stress methods,” he says.

Grazing management on this ranch had to be adapted to the previous owner’s logging activities. After he logged the land, he pushed and piled all the logging leftovers (stumps, rock, etc.) into more than 50 windrows between 300 to 1000 meters long, not counting the smaller ones, to 10 to 30 meter wide.

Rather than try to remove these massive windrows so the pastures and fields could be completely cleared, the Krumsiek family left them there to serve as windbreaks and natural shelter for wildlife. With good grazing management, bio-diversity improved within the area and the windbreaks have also been beneficial for the cattle. Body heat loss in cold weather is reduced because the animals have shelter from winter wind. This also helped reduce their nutritional needs and winter feed inputs for the ranch. The windrow berms also hold moisture, with slower run-off for snow melt in those areas. Moisture retention improved forage production. Rainer and Gigi invested a lot of effort and money building 70 kilometers of permanent electric fence. Electric fence makes it possible for planned grazing movement among the windrow configurations as well as in the open pastures. “A few years later we invested another $100,000 to put in an underground water line with 3-inch pipe. This allowed us to have water in every pasture, with movable water troughs.” he explains. Funding from the National Water Supply program helped with the expenses of installing over three

Ranier has developed his grazing strategy to include multi-species grazing. The different species utilize forage differently and have helped to improve pasture health. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Ranier Krumsiek

kilometers of water line—to pump water to an elevated 5,000 gallon storage tank. Water from that tank is gravity fed back to standpipes which supply the water troughs Low-stress livestock handling makes for healthier (in winter and animals and reduced stress for the producer. Big summer) located Bear Ranch’s customer base is also interested in all over the humane treatment of the livestock. property. The frost-proof water distribution system makes optimal pasture management possible, while limiting livestock access to riparian areas.

With the help of the cost-share program (funded in part by Duck’s Unlimited) three Thermosink waterers were installed (utilizing belowground storage that circulates the water and helps keep it from freezing in winter).

Changing Practices

After the disaster with the mortgage, the Krumsiek family finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel and were doing fairly well. Then in 2003 Canada experienced the problem with Mad Cow Disease and the crash in cattle prices. “At that time we had 250 cow-calf pairs and were running the ranch like everyone does with a cow-calf operation. The only difference was that we kept our calves and grazed them the next year, to sell as yearlings. We were making more money. Growing them bigger, we got more money for them as yearlings, which more than paid for the extra feed,” says Rainer.

“When we lived in Kelowna, British Columbia the first two years in Canada, I learned about Holistic Management through Allan Savory’s book Holistic Resource Management. Reading an article in the Western Producer about a farm at Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, made us curious and we went to visit that farm. These people were so amazing. They had attended a Holistic Management course and practiced it. That farmer gave me a present of Allan Savory’s book on Holistic Management!” says Ranier.

After reading the book and attending a Ranching for Profit School he told his wife that they needed to sell all their haying equipment, and do custom grazing, and buy the hay for their cows. His wife thought he was crazy since they had just purchased a full line of brand new haying equipment. While they would lose money on the equipment, they could buy the hay for the same cost of putting it up without the added cost for an employee and worrying about the weather and having the hay rained on during harvest.

They sold their haying equipment, and from 1999 until 2004 they did a lot of custom grazing. “We took in between 500 and 800 animals, grazing them for cattle buyers or other ranchers. That income was more than enough to buy the hay we needed for our 250 cow-calf pairs,” says Ranier.

With grazing instead of haying, steady improvements were made in the pastures. Other ranchers began to notice what was happening. In 2010 the ranch was nominated by a neighbor for the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA) environmental stewardship award. For a number of years the BCCA has awarded the Environmental Stewardship Award to a ranch that has shown commitment to operating in an environmentally friendly manner—either in general or by making specific changes to enhance the environmental compatibility of their particular operation. After being nominated, the Big Bear Ranch was chosen as the recipient of the 2010 BCCA Environmental Stewardship award. “Our neighbor who nominated us is not your average rancher and has been to lots of grazing conferences, but he still feeds his cows hay 6 months of the year while we are down to 3.5 to 4 months of feeding hay,” says Ranier. One reason the Big Bear Ranch received the award is because the Krumsiek’s management is pro-wildlife. The uncleared half of the ranch is untamed, natural wildlife habitat. Only about 46% of the total acreage has been cleared for growing hay and pasture, and about 5% consists of ponds and riparian areas. The ranch is a patchwork mix of forested and cleared land, which provides habitat for many plant and wildlife species. Ranier believes in environmental sustainability and regenerative agriculture, and is committed to the protection of wildlife habitat, water quality, soil conservation, trees and fish through responsible land management practices. Wetland and riparian areas are spread over the entire ranch. Wetland areas have been fenced off to maximize water quality protection and maintain waterfowl habitat, but they are grazed to appropriate levels at certain times throughout the year. Many things have to be done a bit differently on this ranch because of its unique environment. “In other regions ranchers stockpile pasture grass to graze later in the season and save hay. Stockpiling doesn’t work here, however. We can graze for a while, because the cows can easily graze through a foot or more of fresh snow—until it becomes dense and crusted. We get warm winds and the snow melts on top then freezes again. It snows again and then you have all these ice layers. Even if it’s only a foot or so deep, the cows get bloody noses and don’t want to graze. We usually have to stop grazing sometime in December,” he says. “We also have so much snow that even if you leave a nice stand of grass in the fall for winter or early spring grazing, it becomes so compressed that in the spring when the snow melts away, the grass is totally gone.” Pressed against the ground all winter, the grass is eaten up by soil life

Ranier has worked to retain the best genetics in his herd to and earthworms. improve the herd’s ability to gain well on the forage grown in Big Because of the

Bear Ranch. His replacement bulls are mostly Galloway. snow protection and insulation, the worms are able to work at the soil surface. When the snow melts away, there is no grass left—just a layer of earthworm droppings/castings covering the soil. This is tremendous fertilizer; the grass regrows beautifully, but there is no old grass to graze.

After struggling with grazing their own cattle (Hereford-Angus cow-calf pairs) on crown range (government pasture), in 2003 they got approved for a feeder loan to buy 500 head of yearlings to graze on their place in the summer instead of doing the custom grazing for cattle buyers.

“Even though our loan was approved, we got cold feet and only bought 250 head. The yearlings cost about $1,000 per head, and after they’d been only two or three weeks on our place the BSE problem emerged, and you couldn’t even give them away because the trucking cost more than you would get at an auction! The timing was very bad,” he says.

They then attended a conference hosted by Stockman Grass Farmer with Gearld Fry (a stockman in Arkansas who has studied cattle nutrition and genetics) about linear measurement. There was also an article in Stockman Grass Farmer about linear measurement and how you can tell from the hair coat about the butterfat in the milk, etc. “According to what we learned there, we selected from our 250 cows just 20 that had the

proper frame and body type to be able to finish on grass. We sold the rest of the herd, and these 20 cows were the start of our new adventure in cattle raising,” says Ranier.

Since then, he keeps all the good heifers, to increase the herd again, but sells the rest of the calves (cut and wrapped and frozen) by the pound to private people. The ranch has been doing direct marketing since 2004. The cattle had been grassfed since 1999, Certified Organic since 2004 and Animal Welfare Approved since 2014.

Cattle on Big Bear Ranch have also been improving the soil. The first four years, from 1995 to 1999, the ranch used commercial fertilizer according to the results of soil tests. “Then the Ranching for Profit School opened my eyes to all the problems connected with salt-based fertilizer, and the fact that we could improve our soil just with proper grazing by cattle. We got certified organic because that’s how we were raising our cattle after 1999,” he explains.

He started using Galloway bulls on the Hereford-Angus cows about 15 years ago. “Since then we’ve only purchased 2 new Galloway bulls because we’ve been raising our own replacement bulls. Right now, both bulls I am using are from my own herd. They are 7/8th Galloway, so their calves are now 15/16 Galloway and the Hereford and Angus influence in our herd is diminished. Some of the cows still look like a Hereford but they have the Galloway frame—short and deep bodied. If you look at them from the front they are round, like a circle.” They are very efficient and have a big rumen.

“Today we are able to finish cattle on grass in 24 to 30 months, partly due to the high plane of nutrition in our naturally grown forages, but also their genetics—something that is not possible with big-framed, inefficient cows. We raise cattle that are adapted to our climate and our forage,” he says. Ranier strongly feels there was a reason for all the different livestock breeds in Europe where each one had adapted to their local environment over a long period of time.

Big Bear Ranch was awarded the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA) Environmental Stewardship award in 2010 for their efforts in improving wildlife habitat on the ranch. The ranch is a patchwork mix of forested and cleared land, which provides habitat for a many plant and wildlife species as well as good windbreaks for the livestock. Direct Marketing for Profit

The Krumsieks also got into direct marketing grassfed protein early as a way to improve the profit per acre. “We have steadily increased our meat business since 2004, selling direct to customers,” says Ranier.

“It’s similar to what we were doing in Germany with our landscaping business; again we cater to people who put special emphasis on either their surroundings or their food—different than the average consumer.

They are more aware of what they are eating and putting into their bodies—concerned about all the negative things in the food they get at the regular store, including meat. Obviously our marketing efforts are working because we now have about 600 people on our e-mail list.

Some of our customers have been with us since 2004 when we started by delivering house-to-house. Since 2009 we have meeting points where they pick up their order.” “In the beginning we had a flat-deck trailer loaded with seven freezers, and it was a big mess if it was raining when we arrived in

Vancouver to deliver the meat. We also needed 12 big freezers here at home because we only went three or four times a year,” he says. Now he is delivering meat every four weeks and has expanded the marketing territory into the Okanagan. This makes each trip (which was a six-hour drive) an additional three to four hours, but he has enough customers there to make it worth doing. He also sells lamb and pork. The ranch raises heritage pigs (Tamworth and Large English Black crosses) that stay on pastures year round except when farrowing. The sows stay in the barn in winter the first three to four weeks after farrowing. “I have a Tamworth boar and a

Large English Black boar and two sows from each breed. I cross them so all the pigs I sell are this F1 cross, which is supposed to grow better and faster,” he says. They live their entire lives free-ranging at pasture and are fed certified organic hog grower in addition to eating natural things they find rooting. The lambs that are raised and sold as meat are a hair sheep cross and are also pasture-raised.

“I have asked some of our customers how they find out about us and what is their reason they want to buy from us. Most of them hear of us through recommendations and our webpage, and the main reason they want to buy from us is because of how we treat the animals.” This seems to be even more important than being certified organic.

“The Animal Welfare Approval (AWA) certification is more important to me than being certified organic because the AWA really looks closely at what you are doing with your pastures and pasture management and also inspects the butcher facilities,” he says.

Lifelong Learning

The Krumsiek family enjoys lifelong learning. They have attended many schools, seminars and conferences over the years, mainly organized by the Stockman Grass Farmer, Acres USA, Dick Diven, Don