Reban Farms Homestead has been around since 1908 and we are proud of our Saskatchewan roots. We enjoy the cattle lifestyle and the wholesome food it allows us to produce. We are grateful to have a farm out by Petrofka Bridge along the North Saskatchewan River south of Blaine Lake.
ASK AUBREY – 7
Welcome to “Ask Aubrey,” a Q&A series with Aubrey Reban, cattle rancher and head of the Reban Farm family in Petrofka, Saskatchewan. Each post features one of the most common questions Aubrey is asked about ranching, farming practices, and cattle care. His goal is to give you a transparent, straightforward look into how Reban Farms raises its animals and cares for the land.
The Art of Breeding a Better Herd
Sometimes people ask: What actually goes into the beef before it ever reaches the plate?
Most people never think about it. They open a package of steaks, fire up the grill, and sit down to eat. But what ends up on your plate is the result of decades of deliberate decisions made long before that animal ever entered the finishing stage. At Reban Farms, we have been carefully selecting and breeding our cattle for over 4 decades, and that work is the quiet foundation of everything we do.
Breeding for beef quality is not a shortcut kind of process. It is slow, methodical, and unforgiving. You are making decisions today that will not show up in your freezer for two years. Every animal we retain for breeding is chosen with specific goals in mind: maternal characteristics, temperament, calving ease, consistent marbling, good growth rates, and structural soundness to not only survive a Saskatchewan winter, but efficiently thrive.
When people ask why they cannot just add new animals to the mix to improve their herd, the answer is that genetics do not work that way. Introducing outside animals without a clear understanding of their background can actually set a breeding program back. At Reban Farms, we know our animals. We know their mothers, their grandmothers, and how their lineage performs on our land, with our feeding methods, and in our climate.
The result of this careful selection shows up in the eating experience. When customers tell us our beef is consistently tender and flavourful year after year, that is not luck. That is the outcome of a breeding program built on patience and purpose. We finish our animals at 20 to 22 months of age, which is the sweet spot for the ideal balance of leanness and marbling we have spent years working toward.
A well-bred herd is not flashy. It does not show up in a marketing campaign. But it is the single most important thing we do on this farm, because no amount of finishing, aging, or butchering can overcome poor genetics. The beef starts here, long before the animal ever sets foot in a pasture, it will graze.
That is what you are really buying when you order from Reban Farms. You are buying years of thoughtful, careful stewardship of a herd that has been shaped to produce something genuinely worth eating.
Have a question about our farm, our cattle, or how we raise our beef? Send it our way, and Aubrey may answer it in a future post.
At Reban Farms, we are your Trusted Saskatoon Beef Farmer, and we believe in being open and transparent about how we care for our animals, our land, and the families we feed.
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