BEEF CATTLE

At Wineglass Ranch we combine renewable energy, holistic, organic and natural management practices. Our cattle, bison and horses are not confined in small pens, but rather, graze on open range natural grasses in the pristine hills above the Peace River. We take pride knowing how the animals we produce are raised. We are committed to low-stress handling practices. Three thousand acres of rolling hill pastureland, make a happy stress-reduced life for our livestock.

In 1997, we purchased some Purebred Wagyu cows (Japanese cattle used for Kobe beef). For several years we used Black Angus bulls. In 2015 we purchased Speckle Park bulls. Now instead of black calves we are enjoying the black and white, and red and white calves the Speckle Park bring to our herd.

Another interest we have is 'Net Feed Efficiency' (NFI) cattle or net feed intake (NFI) defined as the difference between an animal's actual feed intake and its expected feed requirements for maintenance and growth. NFI can be used to select cattle for lower maintenance and feed consumption, without affecting body size and growth rate, or adversely affecting carcass characteristics. Net Feed Efficient cattle eat less, and therefore reduce your cost of gain per animal. The impact of the environment is reduced by reductions in methane emissions and manure production.

By producing our own hay, and green-feed bales, we have the benefit of knowing what the animals we eat and sell are fed. We also feed the canola and camelina meal from our oil press operation. Our livestock thoroughly enjoys it. Camelina meal is particularly appealing because of the healthy omega 3 oil found in it  along with the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA fights cancer and heart disease.

We are registered producers with 'Verified Beef Production', Canada's 'Beef On-Farm Food Safety Program' www.verifiedbeef.org.  We age verify, document and keep excellent records on our livestock. All cattle and bison are tagged with a Radio Frequency Identification ear tag and the RFID tag number and birth date information is sent to the 'Canadian Cattle Identification Agency'.

We raise our cattle and bison humanely  for the beef and bison meat market. We calve in May and June when the weather is warmer and the sun shines late into the evening. We background our calves and grass finish a few calves for ourselves and a select market. Grass -fed cattle and bison have significantly more CLA conjugated linoleic acid in the meat. CLA is a good fat. We prefer a grass-fed, leaner meat and select and feed to achieve it.

HORSES

We have Fjord, Spanish Mustang and Quarter horses, and a few miniature horses.

BISON

After 20 years of raising bison we no longer have our bison herd.