Stangel Bison Ranch

The Stangel Family includes Bob (pictured) and Nora, and daughters Marta and Theresa (pictured). The Stangels come from a long line of farmers and ranchers who migrated from north central Oregon to their current location, Enterprise, Oregon, in 1958. The three Stangel brothers, Joe, Bob, and Dick formed a partnership that was originally comprised of farming dryland grain, raising cattle, and operating a heavy equipment and machine shop. Bob has managed the farm and ranch portion of the partnership, which began its transition from cattle to bison soon after Bob graduated from college. In 1979 Bob and his brother Joe purchased six heifers and two bull calves from a rancher in Colorado, and by 1987 all of the cattle had been sold and the transition to a strictly bison livestock operation was complete. Throughout the years the ranch numbers have fluctuated from a high point of more than 800 head to its current number of close to 600.

All of Stangel's animals are born, raised, and harvested on their ranch in the beautiful Wallowa Valley. Through out their lives, the bison enjoy time between our pastures that are located on "the slope" and in "the hills" of Wallowa County. When the animals have reached the age for the highest quality product, the harvesting process begins. For locally sold products, a professional mobile-slaughter service comes to the ranch, where the animals are quickly and humanely killed and cleaned. Once that process is complete, the carcasses are transported approximately 17 miles to Valley Meat Services, a local custom-exempt plant.

The Stangels take pride in the fact that their animals complete their life cycle on the ranch, and are then processed locally by people that they have known and done business with for years. They find it is truly amazing that, in such a small area, they have the opportunity to work with people that are so talented in their field and help deliver the highest quality of product possible.