Who We Are
Our History
In 1999, after 20 years of work and saving the Klemm family moved to Western Kansas and their very own ranch. They had spent many years managing some of the largest buffalo ranches in the country and were finally able to break out on their own.
Meanwhile, Ken's friend Peter was building his herd on two fine ranches in Wyoming, the Elk Mountain Ranch and the JM Ranch. After 12 years Peter decided to downsize and spend more time with his fast growing grandchildren. Since Peter wasn’t willing to totally give up being involved with the animals he loved, he set his sights on a less demanding way to keep his feet in the grass. Since Peter and the Klemm’s had known each other for years and were currently partners in www.TheBuffaloGuys.com it wasn’t too hard to see that their ranching paths would soon meld into one.
So, in 2005 and 2006, Peter purchased two ranches that adjoin the Klemm’s land. This allowed them to join forces. With this greater land base and unified herd they are able to increase the effectiveness of their land management and herd health methods.
More importantly, this new venture allowed Ken and Peter to become the premier suppliers of whole, half and quarters of grass-finished buffalo and grass based genetics.
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The Land
Beaver Creek Buffalo consists of several contiguous ranches with a combined acreage of approx. 3300 acres of prime high-plains buffalo grassland. The land is dominated with healthy stands of various native grasses. This diversity of plant species is what makes this land so resilient to the adversities of the High Plains natural cycle and so uniquely suited for buffalo.
The ranches sit in the beautiful and historic Beaver Creek Valley of extreme Northwest Kansas. The very first homestead in the county is on the ranch as is the site of the first post office in the county. The early settlers chose the best available land first and their choices speak of the lands’ unique natural benefits.
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The Wildlife
The Beaver Creek Valley supports very healthy populations of mule deer, whitetail deer, wild turkey, bobcat, coyote, kit (swift) fox, black tail prairie dog, bald eagle, golden eagle, hawks, owls and all sorts of other birds of prey. An occasional elk has been spotted as have rare sightings of mountain lion.
It is the stated purpose of Beaver Creek Buffalo to make management decisions that will positively affect the native wild species and foster their continued health. For example, several watering points have been developed to provide water for the native wild species. We also are planting and/or protecting prime habitat to further the support of local wildlife. Both Peter and Ken are active students in improving the land for all that benefit from it.
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The Buffalo
Currently we run about 150 cows and finish all their calves. The main breeding herd consists of the cows, their calves, the breeding bulls and all of last years calves, too. It numbers about 450 head and is quite a sight! The herd lives out on the native range yearlong. We gather the herd and work them through our corrals once or twice per year for management purposes.
Late in the fall we remove the 1 ½ year old calves from the main herd. These are then pastured on our best grass that is reserved for our premium pure grass-finished program.
We weigh and pregnancy check all the animals yearly and this data, combined with our hands off feeding approach and our aggressive culling regime, makes for some of the best starter and replacement stock serious buffalo ranchers can attain anywhere in the world.
If you are interested in raising buffalo, click here to learn more.
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Your Personal Invitation to the Ranch
We feel it is important for people to know where their food comes from. We hope this website gives you all the answers you need. However, if you would like, we offer you an invitation to visit the ranch and see it for yourself. Please remember that this is a working ranch and as such we request that you call well ahead of your visit so that we can make the time it takes to show you around and answer your questions.
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