A sign announcing Stangel Bison Ranch sits alongside Highway 3 just north of Enterprise near pastures where the bison graze. The ranch was the recipient of a $250,000 USDA grant, it was announced Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

ENTERPRISE — Enterprise’s Stangel Bison Ranch is one of 11 Oregon agricultural operations to benefit from a combined $2.1 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand their influence and market new products, according to a press release.

The grant announcement came out in honor of National Ag Day 2023, which was March 21. Stangel’s will receive $250,000 to expand the marketing and sales of their grass-fed bison meat and finished bison products.

“It really lined up with what we wanted to do,” said Marta Stangel, who wrote the grant.

The funds have been made available through USDA Rural Development’s Value-Added Producer Grant Program. The grants help agricultural producers generate products, create marketing opportunities and increase incomes through value-added activities. Part of that is reaching out to farmers markets in Oregon and Washington state, as well as working with Hines Meat Co. in La Grande and a professional marketer out of Newberg.

“We’re really thankful to get it,” Marta Stangel said. “We’re now able to work with a professional marketer.”

Her sister, Theresa Stangel, said the grant also will help pay for processing the bison meat and with the cost of setting up Stangel’s Bison Club. According to the Stangel website, members pay $1,500 for six monthly shipments from January through May, as well as other benefits. Local members pay just $1,300 for the six shipments. Stangel’s ships to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Western Montana, Western Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Northern California.

“We received the value-added producer grant, a nationwide grant,” Theresa Stangel said. “It’s pretty exciting.”

Both are daughters of Bob Stangel, who has been raising and marketing bison from Wallowa County since 1979, Theresa Stangel said. She said the ranch has from 500-600 head of bison, depending on calving and butcher seasons. Bob’s father, Bud Stangel, brought his family here in 1958, she said, and started with dryland wheat and cattle.

Theresa Stangel said the company ships only from the fall through May because of the difficulty in obtaining dry ice during the warm months.

“That’s so we don’t have to fight the heat,” she said.

The Stangel family also has expanded beyond the ranch. Stangel Industries is a heavy-equipment and machine shop in Enterprise. The family also is involved with the Enterprise Municipal Airport and operates the repair shop at Main Street Motors, Theresa Stangel said.

Marta Stangel finds the USDA grant quite beneficial to their bison ranch and to other recipients.

“That grant was helping people up their production who couldn’t afford it,” she said.

The grants were announced by Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.

”Oregon’s family farmers and ranchers have put Oregon on the map as an agriculture powerhouse, all while supporting jobs across the state,” Wyden said in a press release. “These grant dollars help kick-start efforts for family farms to innovate and continue to compete in a global marketplace.”

“I hear from Oregonians across the state about the need to ensure our world-class agriculture sector has the support it needs to grow and thrive,” Merkley said. “The opportunities these grants will create for innovation and keeping Oregon farmers and ranchers competitive in the global market will have lasting impacts for Oregon communities.”

Other grant recipients include: Scenic Fruit Co. of Gresham, Firebird Farms, of Ashland, Wild Oasis Bison Ranch of Eagle Point, Rainshadow Organics of Sisters, La Creole Orchards of Portland, Creamy Cow of Junction City, Lady-Lane Farm of Mulino, TMK Creamery of Canby and My Brothers’ Farm of Creswell.

What: Order your own bison meat

Where: 401 NE Fourth St., Enterprise

Phone: 541-426-4919

Email: stangelbison@gmail.com

Online: www.stangelbisonranch.com/stangel-bison-club