Happy Bison Month: Great Range Bison

The latest news from Ron & T of The Buffalo Wool Co. at RATH Ranch. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Happy Bison Month!!

Keeping on keeping on with this stuff, but there is light at the end of this tunnel... 6 more days only, then back to the once a week stuff. I am not sure who is gonna be happier about that, you guys or me... it's a moderate amount of extra work here... but worth it.

This has been fun, learning more about our friends and how they got started in the bison business... these are the things we don't usually talk about when we hang out. Mostly we talk about the future and our going forward plans, so learning the history behind these great ranches has been pretty educational for me as well.

This is a big one for us, Bob Dineen and Ace Ward at Great Range Bison, also known as Rocky Mountain Natural Meats are hugely important to us here at the BWC, and they are truly great guys. Everyone who works there is wonderful too; Emma at the front desk, Freddie who keeps things moving, Chuck, and all the rest.. tells me that managment is solid and lets people do their jobs and supports them.

I got to hear Bob tell the story of his getting started running meat from South Dakota down to Colorado at the NBA Winter Conference this year, it was fascinating... small beginnings to the largest bison processor in the country. I don't know anyone who is better at processing and marketing bison meat and knowing how best to make this greatest comeback story in history happen. They do such an excellent job at what they do.

Dad did the write up today... he is up at Bob's place before he heads to Alaska. Gave me the day off almost.. will do a piece on Ace soon, super great guy, and currently the NBA Vice President.

Did get in a couple fun things yesterday, Our new Pup Scrub bison tallow soap from Holmestyle... Helps eliminate fleas and ticks. Maverick loves it. Also got a few buffalo hide keychains in from the guy building the giant rug, they are down at the bottom of the page.

Hope you have a truly great day!

Ron & T, and the crew here at the BWC

From a friend...

Bob and Laurie Dineen – Great Range Bison, Team Roping (and a whole lot more).

From the Great Range Website:

“The Great Range® Bison brand started in 1987, when our founder, Bob Dineen, had a vision to pursue his passion of sustaining the American bison population and share all of the great benefits of bison with others. What began as a simple “back of the truck” operation, turned into a lucrative business that focused on expanding bison into the market. The key difference between Great Range® Bison and other broad game meat companies was Bob’s focus on quality and consistency. This attention to detail gained the trust of customers then, and still is the guiding principle for the Great Range Premium Bison brand today. Since then, we have been the industry leader in providing quality, flavorful bison to our consumers.” Bob Dineen

That’s nice and pretty language ….. but there is SO much more to the Dineen story. I am taking a risk here, telling possibly more than they would like. Bob and Laurie both are superb on horseback, very talented in the art of team roping …. and I will be up there by them both before and after my Alaska trip. So, if I spill too much I may well get lassoed, dallied and dropped in the “trimmings” dumpster outside the meat plant in Henderson Colorado. Oh, what the hell, it’s worth the chance!! - Cecil Miskin...

Great Range Bison, Rocky Mountain Natural Meats and Brush Meat Processors – their companies – supply the world with more bison meat than virtually all the rest of the processors combined.

Why? Bob is a man of his word. He is fair beyond fair. Producers and customers alike respond to that treatment better than anything. Bob is also meticulous as to quality, health and safety both within his operations and with his products. There are no shortcuts …. And there is no easy way to do what he does. But if you want long term relationships, you do it Bob Dineen’s way – the very best way.

One of the best traits of bison “folk” is their modesty. It’s seldom about them, unless you let them include their whole family, the others that work closely with them in their operation (like ranch hands, employees and others within the bison community. And “the bison”. It is always about our critter. That modesty characterizes the Dineens. They get to work, get it done … whatever “it” might be … and on to the next project.

In fact, I had a wonderful phone call with Laurie just yesterday. She was so complementary about Ron’s write ups on long time friends but learned things she didn’t know about them. Laurie, in times past, spent summers traveling Alaska and working in fish canneries up there. That is some of the most physically demanding and less-than-pleasant work a person can do. Not to Laurie; it was just a way to keep funding that adventure. Together Laurie and Bob tackle every aspect of their collectively strenuous and preferably outdoor world.

Originally from New Jersey’s farm country, Bob graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in animal sciences before taking a livestock management job on an Angus ranch in Montana. Colorado called to him next, where he wrangled a dude string for Sombrero Ranches’ Rex Walker in Estes Park in 1983, until he answered an ad for a ranch manager position at a cow-calf operation in nearby Longmont. What Bob soon came to realize was that those cow-calf pairs weren’t of the cattle kind. They were bison.

Not exactly the life calling he’d anticipated, Bob took the job, partnered up with Laurie—then a horse boarder on the property and now his wife of a bit over 40 years—and increasingly discovered that the potential in the bison market was nearly as vast as the prairies they once roamed. In a few short years, Bob and Laurie, who’d been hired by the National Bison Association in Denver, left the cow-calf operation and Bob, in 1986, founded Rocky Mountain Natural Meats.

In 2005, Bob was inducted into the National Buffalo Foundation Hall of Fame for his ongoing work in the restoration of bison to the forefront of American Agriculture. He remains one of the youngest inductees ever. He’s worked that hard and done that well for bison.

A decade and a half later Bob was inducted into the Colorado FFA Foundation Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame for much the same reason. He never stopped with his passion, his ethics, his (occasional) smile and putting his money where his heart is and was.

Laurie and Bob’s son Owen and daughter Mechaela both work for Rocky Mountain Natural Meats… but both earned their way into the company. In fact, you won’t find a single individual within any of the collective Companies that make up the Dineen’s world that haven’t both earned their way in and share the passion, the dedication, the strict requirements for health and safety …. and the friendships that have been built in, around and through Rocky Mountain Natural Meats. Everybody is on a first name basis

In late July each year for the past 13 years Bob has sponsored two charity events.

One is the Rich Zahringer Memorial Scholarship. For many years, Rich donated his accounting talents to the National Bison Association. Rich passed way too young. Rich was the CFO of Rocky Mountain Natural Meats. Rich also served on the Parker Adventist Hospital Foundation, maintained memberships with the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and various other associations and clubs for years. In his memory and honor the NBA set up an annual Rich Zahringer scholarship for students working towards accounting and/or economic degrees with emphasis on agriculture. Bob and Laurie work to be sure the funds are always there in Rich’s memory.

The second charity event this year will be the Saturday, July 25, 2026: 18th Annual Ty Ward Golf Memorial Benefitting the Prostate Conditions Education Council. Ty was the son of on of Bob’s friends and partners, Bryan Ward. Each year the prostate council brings it’s team to the golf tourney to do free blood draws and prostate cancer screenings. What better way to honor the memory of one who didn’t have that opportunity.

Bob, Laurie, Owen and Mechaela Dineen. Working always for the betterment of this planet and it’s inhabitants….. one cut of bison at a time.

For more info on the tournament, click the image above.

Bison/Onion Smash Burgers

and Great Range has a huge recipe section here..

Ingredients

16 oz Great Range Premium Ground Bison (or more depending how many people you are feeding, this feeds 4..)
1 sweet onion- sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 Hawaiian sweet hamburger buns
sharp cheddar cheese- sliced
lettuce- for topping
pickles- for topping

For Sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons pickle relish
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional for heat

Instructions

Bring the ground bison meat to room temperature about about 20 to 30 prior to cooking. Cut the onion into slices about a quarter inch thick, but don’t separate them into individual rings.
In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and chill until ready to serve.
Preheat a skillet or flat-top griddle over high heat. Place the onions onto the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, roll the bison meat into four equal-sized balls. Place onto each slice of onion on the grill and use a spatula or burger press to smash the meat onto the onion so that the onion is completely covered with the meat and the meat is fully touching the skillet on all sides of the onion.
Sear for 2-3 minutes per side for medium rare; or 4-5 minutes per side for well done. Season both sides with salt and pepper, to taste.
Remove the burgers from the skillet and rest for 5-10 minutes for best results. Serve with sweet burger buns, lettuce, pickles and the sauce to top it off. Enjoy!