Ranch news Spring 2023

5/16/2023

Hi!  This is a long one – so much ranch news  - There is So much going on I barely  have time to even write it down.

Happy May Day!! April was a wild ride! Calving started 4/4 and is in full swing. All the mamas and babies are doing well. We are up to 19 calves as I write this. So blessed!

2023 bison calves

At the end of April we had our first official school Field trip! Thank you to Mrs. Coyler and Ms. Hart at Trout Creek School for organizing a visit from the kindergarten and first grade classes. 20 kids came on the bus that day. What a blast! If you are interested in bringing your class or home-school group, contact me and we will set something up.

School Field Trip

Ranch Tour Season is open! You can see the calendar and book your tour online at Tours — Harlow Ranch Bison Co. in Northwest Montana We are open most Fridays and Saturdays for tours. If another day works better for you, just ask and we will try to accommodate. Let’s jump in the truck and head out to feed the bison. Super fun!

The freezers are full and the website inventory is up to date! Get some great bison meat now! Meat purchases are still by appointment. We don’t have set store hours, but it’s easy to set up your pick up time or delivery. Delivery continues to all areas surrounding Missoula, Kalispell, Sandpoint, CdA, and Bonners Ferry.

Freshly stocked freezer of bison meat

Grass is growing growing growing and we are getting ready to rotate rotate rotate.  This season our plan allows for 45 days of rest between graze sessions, and we are excited to see what that does to the health of the grass.

The crew is setting up to build another mile of fence this month to add paddocks to our rotational grazing plan. They are building wildlife friendly fencing so that the elk and the whitetail deer can migrate across the property relatively unobstructed. This fence is 42” high with 12 inches between the wires and a bottom wire height of 18”. Technically the bison can jump this, but as long as they have food and water and friends, they respect the fence.

To help build soil health and grow healthier grass for healthier animals and healthier meat, we planted 15 acres of mixed legumes (clover, sainfoin, birds foot trefoil, chicory, and small burnet. We also treated the soil on those acres with a combo of mycorrhiza fungi, humic acid, molasses and fish fertilizer.

Melinda gets all the glamorous jobs! Seeding legumes with the 1972 Ford 5000 tractor and the Green Mountain Conservation District No-Till Drill

We got a “Fund a Farmer” grant! The Food Animal Concerns Trust, a national non-profit that works to ensure all food-production animals are raised in a humane and healthy manner, awarded a Fund a Farmer grant to the Harlow Ranch Bison Company to expand humane farming and increase pasture based livestock production. We will use our funds to add a water cell to the southernmost grazing paddock on the ranch.

Seeking humane certification –  We love our animals and we want the very best life for them. So why not get certified? We are constantly working on the handling system to make things safer and less stressful.  This fall we will add power to the corral so that we can have trough heaters in the winter and lights for early morning load outs and veterinary emergencies. Once this is complete, we can start the application process for the certified humane status.

Thanks to the folks at Montana Eagle Experience, we have bird boxes! Wood ducks and Kestrels have new nesting boxes on the ranch. Thanks Paul and Anne Schnell!

Are you going camping this summer? We are! (sort of ;-) We have a new Harvest Host camp site and we are excited to welcome the first campers on labor day weekend. Serene, secluded site with easy access to the ranch store and a bison tour. What a dream!