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First meat delivery in 2010 to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver |
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Wednesday, 11 November 2009 |
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We will come on Sunday 21th of March for our first delivery in 2010.
We have some new products , e.g. jerkey, please check it out on the product page and try the new order form!
We will have the following meeting points :
Chilliwack Lickman Exit Anitas Organic Grain Mill
Surrey Exit 50 on 104 Ave, besides the corner with 164 Street
Coquitlam on the parking lot of IKEA, in the SE corner
Burnaby on the parking lot of Costco at Still Creek Ave in the SW corner close to the KEG restaurant
North Vancouver at the Waldorf School 2725 St.Christophers Road
Vancouver at the Unitarian Church 949 West 49th Ave
Please order before March 15th to give us enough time to process your order.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 March 2010 )
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Wednesday, 28 October 2009 |
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We added more than 50 photos from 2009 to our gallery! Click here to take a look.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 October 2009 )
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Saturday, 17 October 2009 |
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| We are very sorry for the long time without any news from our Big Bear Ranch even though there happened a lot on our place! We had an exceptional long and snowy winter (16 feet accumulated) and are still not done with all the resulting fence repairs. 65 km of fence is a lot to maintain when the snowload is so heavy that it pulls out 2” staples on nearly every post! |
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Gigi replacing broken insulators on the electric fence. The snow was so high and heavy that it sheared off the insulators or pulled out 2" staples |
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| When we learned in the last minute that the 350 head of dairy replacement heifers we used to graze in the last summers are not coming (because the owner bought a new place in Alberta) we were first pretty desperate. We finally managed to find 150 head (also cert.org. dairy cows), but that meant our income is way lower. But then it turned out to be a good thing, because we experienced such a hot and dry summer, that we probably would have had to send quite a lot home earlier in order to avoid overgrazing. This is why our pastures look exceptionally good now after a few rain showers in August. |
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The custom replacement heifers are enjoying their "holidays" on Big Bear Ranch from May to October, when they go home to Surrey for calving |
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Rainer was also very busy with the landscaping design for the new slaughter facilitiy in Redstone, which finally opened its doors in September 2009. It is called Chilcotin Harvest and is the most advanced facility you can imagine. The whole site is designed with animal welfare in mind and the processing area even has windows to provide a friendly atmosphere for the employees! You cannot imagine the difficulties to get these “novelties” approved from the authorities! Florian is working there full time with our Gehl track loader since 2008 to landscape the huge site, which will also offer a feedstore and a restaurant to serve locals and tourists on their way to Bella Coola.
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The 1 acre pond (design and construction by Rainer Krumsiek Landscape Design)at Rafter 25 Ranch in Redstone 6 years after construction looks like it has been there for ever |
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September was a very, very busy month. With the generous help of family, wwoofers, friends and neighbours we celebrated the wedding of our son Florian and Stefanie Walter from Austria. This is really interesting to us, because Rainer's grandfather’s ancestors were also from Austria. What a small world! Steffi has been a small and large animal veterinarian for 5 years and wants to specialize in equine medicine. She is currently going through the process of getting her Canadian papers approved, a lengthy process which could take up to 2 and a half years. The ceremony was planned as a field ceremony and oh yes it was!
Every before the wedding the sun was shining and it was nice, warm and delightful. But the day of the days was a stormy, windy and rainy day with big clouds and a freezing breeze that let bride and groom and the auditory shiver. Everybody was soaked! But rain on the wedding day means good luck- so we wish Stefanie and Florian a healthy and content life together and may all their plans for the future be fulfilled!
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Just Married! |
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| More Wedding Pictures on Florian's Website (Click Here!) |
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| Sheep |
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Since the beginning of 2009 we are proud owners of a flock of hair sheep. Now, as everybody knows, time is running away and so the newborn lambs are already four months old and some of them are ready to go. It is amazing how fast they grew up and it is such a pleasure to see them jumping around fit and funny.
We are looking forward to the taste of their meat... |
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A small flock of sheep grazing in front of the kitchen window
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| Basti |
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| After watching first a cougar and a few days later a lynx prowling around our lambing sheep we finally had a reason to buy a new guardian dog. So we bought a puppy from working parents. The father is an Akhbash, the mother is a Maremma. He is very cute and friendly and also very smart. His name is Buster and his job should have been to protect the sheep but he decided instead to protect the people (especially women) who live at Big Bear Ranch. You could call it a breach of profession but we just love him the way he is. |
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Basti
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| Horses |
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Our Icelandics had a wonderful summer on the pastures, now it´s time for training again!!!
Here comes Steffi in the picture, being an Icelandic Horse fan since childhood! She still owns Icelandics in Austria and is blessed with a vast experience and working knowledge of training and riding. Together with Gigi, who took several courses at the Icelandic Horse Farm with Robyn Hood about “Tellington Touch” and “Starting young horses” they will look after all the youngsters. They need to be used to halter, handling and everything what is new and sometimes thrilling for a young horse. The Icelandic Horse is a popular breed in Europe and its popularity is rising in North America as well. To spread the word about the advantages of this horse a little bit more we will participate at The Mane Event in Chilliwack, 23-25 October 2009. Everybody is very welcome to visit us there for a little chat or ride one of these comfortable and fun horses.
We will also bring one freezer with us like the last years and you can pick up some pre-ordered meat! |
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Our Icelandics having a little race on the pasture |
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| Pasture raised pigs |
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Our pig herd is growing steadily, like the demand for our tasty pasture raised pork!
We still use Boris the Breeder, a pure bred Tamworth boar from Art Fromann in Ponoka AB
for servicing our breeding sows. He is always friendly and talkative when we visit him.
He is huge - probably around 650 lbs- and looks eagerly forward to the breeding season, which will start in December. |
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Gigi tries the pig food - just kidding
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| Grass fed cows |
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This year we bought a purebred red Galloway bull to increase the Galloway influence in our herd even more. Our first Galloway bull from 2005 is the sire of most of our replacement cows, but we had to butcher him pretty early because he got too “friendly”.
The Galloways are a moderate breed from northern Scotland- a similar climate like Horsefly, maybe more moist than here. They have a double haircoat and tend not put on a too thick fat layer to protect them from cold weather. The animals we harvested so far were exceptionally tasty, tender and juicy. Looking at our calf crops from 2008 and 2009 we are sure to be on the right track. Our supply of beef is still not enough to satisfy the fast growing demand, because we keep every year half of the female calves for increasing the herd. |
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Moving the yearlings
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| [Update:] |
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Click here to see more pictures from 2009
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 October 2009 )
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Our first foal arrived & some more piglets |
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Thursday, 16 April 2009 |
Tyra surprised us
with our first foal this year. Her little daughter arrived on April,
16th in the afternoon. Mother and baby are both well.
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On the same day, two of our sows had a new litter and are well, too.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 October 2009 )
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