Ranching the Aleutians.

• Author: Sullivan, Patty
• Position: Bering Pacific Ranches Ltd.

Two Canadian cattle ranchers have found a way to make beef a business on the Aleutian Chain.

Wild Alaska salmon - you've heard the fisherman's battle cry against hatchery raised fish. But are you familiar with wild Alaska beef? Two cowboys from Alberta, Canada hope so.

Far-flung in the Bering Sea on Umnak Island, herds of cattle munch their days away without the curse of predators and disease lurking in the Aleutian grass.

Some of the pinto-patterned descendants, introduced to the island by Russians, slurp kelp on the beach just as their bovine kin did in the 1700s. However, most of the 5,000 head wandering these Aleutian Fox Islands today were planted by present day ranchers who failed to turn a profit in the 1960s.

When Bering Pacific Ranches Ltd. stepped aboard in 1993, the wild cattle had roamed unmanaged for more than 30 years. That wild purity is what partners Pat Harvie and Bruce Hubbard hope will sell their beef.

Cheap Beef

Umnak is pretty far afloat in the Pacific to raise livestock and still make a profit. In fact it's farther west than Hawaii. But Harvie and Hubbard say that despite the great shipping distance, raising herds on the Aleutian Chain is still cheaper than on the Alberta prairie.

In Alberta, the cost to raise cattle runs up to $5,000 per unit, versus $200 per unit on the Aleutian chain, says vice president Harvie.

Costs are low on the Aleutians because there is no need to feed the cattle grain or hay, nor to purchase expensive machinery to distribute feed.

The wind-blown island is a cattle smorgasbord with all the belly high grass a cow can eat. Harvie and Hubbard don't have to buy land either. They lease more than 80,000 acres on Umnak near Nikolski and at Fort Glenn. The three herds they purchased have no fences to bind their palate. Some run loose near Chernofski on nearby Unalaska Island, where the company doesn't lease land.

Marketing is the do-or-die hurdle, says state meat grader Doug Warner with the Division of Agriculture. "There's cheap grass, cheap land, but everything stops being cheap the moment the animal is slaughtered," Warner says. Big companies in the Lower 48 beat the Aleutian operation with their lower labor and transportation costs.

"It doesn't have a good history."

Making it Work

However, Bering Pacific Ranches is doing something previous ranchers didn't, putting an organic spin on the product to command a higher price.

"It has the potential to be a real shining star for Alaska in terms of...