KING CANYON BUFFALO
Sales Inquires
303-944-9387
A Brief History
By: Chris Nerud
Our story begins 6 miles south of Chadron, Nebraska where Chris’s family
homesteaded this land in 1888. We have been in continuous occupation of this
land since 1889. Our latest attempt at economic independence is breeding,
raising, and distributing the best buffalo meat in the mid-continent.
This is
Jose Whales, our first buffalo. He was all-natural and ate only grass. We
butchered him the winter of his third year. Grass fat buffalo is okay, but we
soon learned that corn fed buffalo grow faster, yield higher, and are
much
more tender.
As the herd grew and we
got wiser, cows and calves were fed corn. Our next bulls were finished on free
choice corn and prairie hay. The difference in the meat was incredible. It was
the best meat we had ever eaten and we knew we were on the right track.
As Mark Twain once said, "A man who has a cat by the tail knows more about
cats, than a man who has only read about them". We learned many things, mostly
by trial and error.
By January 01, we had 19 bulls finished and ready to market. We began to cold
call chefs using ZAGAT.com and the yellow pages. To our delight and amazement
there was quite a bit of interest. The chefs that we spoke with informed us
that our product needed to be federally inspected and cut in a standard way.
Our knowledge of standard cutting practices was non-existent.
Dave Dirks (center), owner of Custom Pack, was kind enough to invite us to his
plant to watch him fabricate three buffalo. As you can see in the photo above,
buffalo have very little external fat cover. This allows a buffalo to dry age
in 12 days, whereas a beef carcass would require 25-30 days to achieve the same
tenderness. Dave showed us where the different cuts come from and what they
should look like.
Our first customer was Michael Schell of Hearthstone Casual Dining in
Breckenridge, CO. He showed us the difference between a good strip loin and a
great strip loin. We learned that, from a chefs' perspective, quality and yield
are just as important as price.
Every week, we receive a shipment of buffalo meat from Custom Pack, send a
shipment to Wasatch Meats in Salt Lake, and distribute throughout the mountains
and the front range of Colorado. Our old pickup sees a lot of miles each week.
David Welch, Executive Chef at The Keystone Ranch in Keystone, CO, has earned
the distinction of ZAGAT's first choice for fine dining in the state of
Colorado. In a recent conversation with David, we were delighted to learn that
he regularly receives enthusiastic compliments on the King Canyon Buffalo that
he serves. He uses product ranging from Hot Dogs and Hamburgers to Tenderloins,
and in his words; "When a customer bites into a hamburger down on the golf
course, or savors a tenderloin meal in our dining room, they think to
themselves, 'this tastes great and this is a great place'. Customer
expectations are high and I must use product that meets those expectations.
I have stopped buying other, cheaper buffalo because King Canyon Buffalo is the
best tasting, and highest quality buffalo ever."