Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Does grazing your bison herd in pastures high up on the continental divide lead to a loftier meat flavour? Perhaps not, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it along with the breeding stock’s pedigree, according to Jackie Legault, a Ponteix bison rancher.
The Legault family looked at the top animals in North America. Their foundation sires were purchased from four ranches in the Dakotas: Drift Prairie Bison and the Rich Cameron Ranch in North Dakota, and Slim Butte's and the Custer Ranch in South Dakota.
"These bulls fit the ranch's breeding program perfectly," says Legault. "They are thick, deep, fertile with correct confirmation. Their sons will have superior growth and high yielding carcasses, and their daughters will have the depth and capacity that will make them produce more easily for the coming years."
The Great Divide Bison Ranch, located along the Red Coat Trail in south-western Saskatchewan, has been owned and operated by the Legault family for almost a century.
Quality has been a tradition there ever since Wilfred Legault, the great-grandfather of Jackie's husband Kim, broke land in 1912. In 1910, Legault, along with his eldest son and daughter, left the Ottawa River valley to venture west to Saskatchewan. They opened a butcher shop in Notre Dame. Two years later, Wilfred's wife Hermine and the rest of the family joined them.
In 1912, the family homesteaded land where the majestic bison roamed freely less than 50 years earlier. Their first house was made of sod and it housed a family of 16 children in the summer months. In the winter, they moved 50 kilometres north to Ponteix, where the children attended school. Wilfred's sons also homesteaded next to their father. They broke some land to grow grain and feed, and they raised cattle and horses.
They broke wild horses, and every year they shipped a couple of railway cars filled with horses to
This land has been in the Legault family for four generations. Growing grain, specialty crops and raising horses and cattle were the main activities. The farm has always been operated by father and son partnerships.
Bison production was added to complement the family farm income in 1998, explains Jackie.
"In 2006, we plan to almost eliminate our seeded acres," she says. In the past, we have grown approximately 5,000 acres of grain and specialty crops, but we see that bison production on this land is far more viable in today's unstable agricultural environment."
The Great Divide Bison Ranch even takes blood samples from all its animals to DNA test them for clients who request a particular bloodline.
"They are such remarkable animals—hardy to the point where they will thrive under just about any conditions," she says. "We run a herd of about 300 right now, including a breeding stock of 120. Since the U.S. border opened for animals 30 months and under, we have sold the last two years' bull crops to another producer who finishes them."
"As soon as the border opened, we received a call from a U.S. colleague who needed bison for the rapidly growing American market. Our shipment was the first of unfinished animals to cross the 49th Parallel since the onset of the BSE crisis. In the past, we have also sold unfinished animals to the North American Bison Co-operative. We have also marketed finished animals to Canadian Prairie Bison in Saskatchewan."
The bison now roam on the same prairie grass in the same hills where their ancestors grazed for eons. The Legault family takes great pride in bringing these majestic animals back to their natural habitat. With it comes a definite feeling of fulfillment.
For more information, contact:
Jackie Legault
Great Divide Bison Ranch
(306) 625-3675
www.greatdividebisonranch.com
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