Welcome

Thank you for stopping by and we hope you enjoy your time perusing our website and look forward to answering any questions you may have. But first, let us introduce ourselves. We are Buster & Kym Andrew and we run a commercial cow/calf operation & performance horse breeding program in the heart of Central Alberta, Canada. Our ranch is located near Eckville, Alberta where Buster's grandparents Walt & Evie began their faming operation, nearly 70 years ago. The orignal Andrew farmhouse is where we call home and the land on which it sits is the home base for all of our ranching activities. 

We both grew up farming/ranching with our familes. Buster grew up learning about the cattle industry working alongside his parents, Ron & Karen and his 2 sisters, Gina & Joline. Kym grew up just East of Eckville, at Bentley AB, where she worked alongside her parents, Harry & Mary Foley and her sister, Cindra, in their PMU barn and their established AHQA breeding program. Rafter 17 Ranching is really an amalgamation of both of our histories.

Our cow/calf herd is the main emphasis of our ranch. We run about 600 black angus cross cows, bred to mostly black angus bulls alongside a few hereford bulls. We sell our steer calves off the cows and also a select number of bred heifers each fall. A big part of our summer grazing program is a forestry allotment in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is big, rugged country & since we do everything off horseback, it requires us to keep quite a few ranch geldings in our string...and that's where the need for our own horse breeding program began.

Our AQHA breeding program is focused on producing strong, athletic foals with willing minds & a desire to perform whatever task is thrown at them. The broodmare band is made up of proven performers & producers. Most of the breeding mares owned by Rafter 17, are a result of Kym's parents breeding program, including 3 daughters of the recently deceased JUAN THE SAILOR. In prior years, we were breeding our mares to some of the most sought after Canadian cowhorse & running stallions.  But starting in 2022 we will be breeding most of our mares to our new stallion, MAMAS JAZZY REY, who is a direct son of DUAL REY & a multiple AQHA World Show Qualifier.  We are extremely excited to start this next chapter in our equine division & are proud of the direction it is headed.  

Thanks again for stopping by our site!! If your ever out in our neck of the woods and would like to see some of the cow herd or any of our horses, please give us a call and stop in, we would love to show you around!!   

Buster & Kym Andrew