About the Ranch

Tawatinaw Valley Bison is a small ranch located 5 miles southeast of the town of Athabasca, Alberta, along the Tawatinaw River. Since 1996 we have been raising Plains Bison on roughly 500 acres of mixed open and forested land - land that Bison have been naturally adapted to for thousands of years.

Our land management approach is to promote and sustain a natural balance of open and treed grazing land, which nurtures bison and a variety of wildlife.

Following the Recommended Code of Practice for Care and handling of Bison (Can. Agri. Food Research Council, 2001), we handle the animals as little as possible. We try to keep them as quiet and stress-free as we can.

The bison are naturally raised on pasture, supplemented with hay during winter months. Our hay is home-grown. We do not use antibiotics, feed additives or growth hormones, and we do not finish our animals with a hot grain ration.

The butcher animals are slaughtered at a young age, approximately eighteen months, which ensures premium tenderness.