Lemieux Creek Ranch
Les and Chris Yates cross bred Galloway and Black Angus cattle at Lemieux Creek Ranch for 20 years and now background and grass finish calves from that herd as well as two neighbouring ranchers. The ranch is located in the beautiful Bulkley Valley in north-west British Columbia, near the Town of Telkwa, approximately half way between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Our goal is to raise healthy food from healthy animals.
We manage our land to be sure the grass is plentiful and nutritious so that from May to November our calves will thrive on the rolling tame pastures and allow us to make high quality hay and silage to feed the herd for the winter. The calves graze stress-free on lush grass and drink clean water pumped from Lemieux Creek.
Black Angus influenced with Galloway genetics have an extraordinary ability to finish on grass and alfalfa pastures, allowing us to produce a high-quality grass-finished product in 17 to 22 months.
Our calves graze open pastures in communal groups, as cattle naturally do. They are moved from one pasture to another in the least stressful way possible, and are never fed in crowded, small pens.
In the winter the calves are fed outside with adequate wind breaks, water and bedding. They are given high quality forage for good health and growth.
We believe the quality of the meat we sell is the result of both the feed and the approach we take to raising our cattle. They are born near the ranch and moved short distances to our farm after weaning, usually at 6 months of age. There’s no trucking between pastures or range land, no upset to their routines. The animals are handled safely and humanely. They never face the stress of being trucked hundreds of kilometres and mixed with strange animals from other herds. They get to hang out with friends in a natural habitat. From a cow’s point of view, we think they have an ideal life. Along with superior genetics, we believe low stress helps produce a delicious, healthy lean meat.
We are fortunate to have a government-licensed abattoir 20 minutes from home which reduces the travel stress when it comes time for harvest. All carcasses are inspected to give further assurance of meat quality.
Putting up quality forage to keep our calves growing nicely during the winter.
A note about therapeutic antibiotics – if one of our animal is sick or in pain we will use antibiotics as a last resort to treat the problem. It is the humane thing to do. This animal will not be slaughtered until double the number of withdrawal days stated on the drug label.