The day Trent Schwitzer walked into his local bank and said he wanted to change a 4,000 acre grain farm into a buffalo ranch has paid off in recognition.
He and his wife Nicole have been chosen as the prairie region’s outstanding young farmers.
The couple, who own Tatonka Ranch near Melville, Sask., received the award at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina.
Trent Schwitzer, 31, thanked the bank for taking a chance on diversified livestock 10 years ago. The ranch is now home to a herd of 200, including 120 cows.
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“We weren’t really making a lot of money off of our grain operation,” he told reporters. “We wanted to do something else and the bison industry has been a very good choice for us.”
Two years ago, they added 13 elk to their operation, and last year they formed Schwitzer Industries to manufacture bison squeeze chutes.
“The cattle squeeze doesn’t work very well for bison so we designed our own squeeze chute and handling facility and we’re starting to build those and market those now as well,” he said.
Future is bright
Earlier this week, Schwitzer attended a meeting in Saskatoon to discuss a processing facility with other growers and government officials.
He said the future of the bison industry is bright because North America owns probably 98 percent of the world stock.
The Schwitzers were recognized at Canadian Western Agribition in 1996 as the Canadian National Bison Show and Sale’s premier breeders. Tatonka Ranch showed the grand champion bull and reserve champion heifer.
Nicole, 25, said it is an honor to represent the new industries first as a nominee and then as the winner.
“When we arrived here we felt we were quite a bit out of our league,” she said.
The other two prairie nominees for the outstanding young farmer award were Russell and Donna Kemper of Kemper Seeds at Fulda, Sask., and Kevin and Shauna Otsig, who operate a pedigreed seed farm at Watson, Sask.
