When I was a kid one of the farmers near our school went into the bison business. He had a lovely herd, started with young animals that were used to being handled. I saw the fence grow from just a couple strands of hot wire to nearly a whole fence of hot wire, lots of barbed wire (which bison use to scratch those itches on their backs) and cattle panels and telephone pole posts. Then the bull decided he wanted to graze in the school yard. When he wanted out, he got out. Nearly got on the bus my sister was on one day. The older the bull got, the wilder and meaner he got. He injured the owner a couple times, eventually got in a fatal blow. Not sure how many rounds it took to bring him down.

On the flip side, I do know people who have made some money off them. IIRC they used artificial insemination. Of course their farm was double fenced with zoo type fencing.

Now the local park has a herd. I dread the day they decide to go on walkabout.

There is a buffalo ranch down the road from me, I pass it every day. He's been in business for years and years and his fence is 5 strands of wire with a couple of them hot. He moves the animals around from a pickup though he keeps an old horse and mule in with them. He's actually moved them around down the county road ( I got to call the school and tell them my kids would be late because of a buffalo drive).
They graze his pastures and he feeds them from round bales in winter. I've seen babies roll under the fence but never seen anything go through it.
I would have thought he would have needed a lot bigger fence, but apparently his buffalo are pretty content behind it.

Several have raised and are raising these critters up here in Canada. Once the fences and handling facilities are built, there is not a whole lot to do really. Here, the prices are about 2X that of cattle, and considering the efficiency inherent in bison as grazers vs. cattle there is money to be made. Also, in the winter, less feeding is needed, as bison naturally slow down their metabolism, hence needing less feed than cattle. Of course calving assistance is never needed, labour costs are not even funny vs. cattle. I must say the danger factor seems overblown to me. These critters hardly need to be handled, they are so hardy, and so they need less medicating, less babying than cattle.

Cattle injure and maim and kill more farmers than bison ever will. Look at farm accident stats. Cattle are handled so much more frequently.

We have looked at raising these critters on some of our wilder land, but at this point, as young farmers who are trying to build a business, the cost of fencing is utterly unaffordable for the several miles we would need to put up. Maybe someday...

Lisa and Dale,

Thank you!!!!! I was begining to wonder why all the negative and none of the positive I have seen. I believe if done right there are no real issues. My neighbors bull did way more damage to fences and him than any of the Bison ranches I have seen and spoke with.

Again...... Nothing ventured nothing gained....

Might even use this exsperience to write a book about it to tell my tell for future generations!!! LOL

My dad was nearly killed by a buffalo. It rammed all of his teeth up inside of his skull. 1/4" more and his teeth would have been in his brain.

ETA my dad's a butcher. He was trying to load it into the chute. He has butchered tens of thousands of cattle in his life and very few buffalo, and he will never try to load another buffalo!

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Metal man I think you may be misinterpretting my comments. I wish you the best. You will be working with a wild animal.
My comments come from my first hand experience and seeing and participating in the plus and minus of the industry. What was learned.
If you take whats been said, add your own knowledge, education, discernment and avoid those pitfalls you likely will have sucesses in what is still a nitch industry. Bison are still only a little over 3% of the total meat industry. But are growing.
By the way that family I have been associated with is now in their fourth generation raising bison. And very financially sucessful at it. They have been able to purchase other ranches because of that sucess.
You speak to the old man about it and he's right up front and blunt to the fact that, they, any one of them. Even the tame one's, will get you if you don't always keep yourself on guard. Cattle will do the same.
A little diversion from the point. When younger and wilder, we would go down on the Arizona strip and rope wild cattle for a little extra cash and excitement. Its a case of the hunter becoming the hunted when you get within their hula hoop. They would come look up your address. I even had one that we had been chasing earlier in the day, come through my camp in the middle of the night.
Bison yield an average of about $4.58 a lb. on the consumer's table. Cattle about $2.63 a lb. After all the inputs and outgoings they end up with a similar, in your pocket profit. (2010)
I wish you all the luck and safety in your endevour.
By the way when you build your livestock chute, use 10 yds. of concrete instead of 7. I don't think a bull could move it then.

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CIW

Just got off the phone with a bison man. Fencing here for bison runs about 50 cents a foot for 6 foot three inch game wire. Posts would need to be large. I asked him how many times a year he handles his critters. He said only once, other than that, they need no care at all. He stated if you build it right, they are easier to handle than cattle. He said in 22 years of raising bison, he has only lost one single calf, and it was a twin, which is very rare in the bison world. He of course has never assisted in pulling calves, and states they utilize the forage so well in the 5 month grazing season, that they eat 2/3 of their yearly nutrition requirements in the grazing season, the rest of the year, winter, they basically eat 1/3 of their total intake. Compare that with cattle!

I asked him point blank if they are to be feared. He stated flatly, um no. If you build the handling facilities well, they will handle well. As he said better than cattle, as they have that herding instinct you take advantage of.

Boy, he re-energized my thoughts regarding this venture. I may have to rethink it yet again. I though fencing was way more expensive than that...

Also consider elk.

A local guy here keeps a herd and mostly they lay around and eat. Fencing is really tall, but it is just non-climb wire, like field fence.

He runs the bulls through a chute and saws off the antlers every year while they are in velvet. That's where he makes his profit. Then he sells sides from the yearlings for $6 a pound hanging weight.

Yup this bison guy also had elk on his farm, naturally self sufficient creatures as well.

The elk business was in a big boom not too long ago, then some regulations came down which made interstate movement of them illegal, IIRC. They went from a big breeders organization with a slick color magazine and holding all kinds of events, to a few producers hanging on with a drastically reduced market. So, do your research before you jump into elk. There used to be some raised in our general area, they had 8 or 10 foot fences.

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the CWD issue limits interstate shipment of live animals although all will allow boned out meat, hides & antleres to be brought in. the biggest money market for elk was originally the private hunting ranches. being able to buy big bulls raised by other people allowed them to have a higher customer volume. losing that market glutted the meat market and closed a lot of raisers down.

ETA: to clarify, it is the individual states prohibiting the import of live elk or elk meat on the bone, not any sort of federal regulation.

Thanks for the clarification. I do some work with the lady who did layout on their magazine, it was a thing of beauty. Took a lot of money out of a lot of pockets when the regulations came down.

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It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
Laura Ingalls Wilder

CIW I fully understand what you are saying. I have taken all of the input and added it to my catalog of knowledge. I am a bit of an information junkie so to speak. Bison are very easy to handle and get along with IF you know and understand them. Cattle can be the same but tend to be a bit more of a pain in the a** around here because of how they have been handled. Ours are starting to be a bit easier as we swap out the old herd with new calves that are being handled the way we want. Previous owners were of the drive hard with horse and quad mind set.

I am looking at this as an investment. I will not denie that. I am also looking for that niche that sets my farm/ranch apart from the 30 plus others in the area selling just beef. I have never been one to take the easy road or go with the flow. I am hoping for the best in this new chapter and will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Elk are another one we have looked at but are just too small of a market in this area. Everyone want to kill it them selves and play big game hunter. Not my thing. I have a base market ready to purchase the Bison as soon as we have some available. Just need to work on getting the herd up to start filling orders.

I have only spent much time around the calves we use to buy a few to work cutting horses with they will work about twice as long as a calf will before they become soured but we always sold them in 3 or 4 months they have strong herd instincts and it takes a fair cutting horse to cut one out of a herd of beef cows. On the other hand I worked on a cattle ranch in SD for a year and the Limousins they had there were wild as heck when we would round them up the cows and the bulls would try to knock your horse down if you were in there way I think alot of it with all animals is how they were raised and the skill of there owners some can get the meanest bull right in a pen and others cant get a tame one in a pen of cows in season but the best advice I can give you is listen to all learn all you can and then do what you want to do thats what the rest of us do. I tell my older children the same thing too do not argue with your mother or grandmother just listen to what they say then when you go home do what you want to do

I learn all I can from everyone and everything I can and put it all to my best use. I do have to say the family is hooked on the meat though.... Grilled a Bison top sirlion along with a beef top sirlion. Ended up feeding the beef to the dogs as every loved the Bison!! I do have to say it was mighty good.

We have quite a famous fella here in Arizona. He not only raises bison, he performs with them. He races the horses at the track, performs at rodeos, etc. He's been at it for years.

Well I wanted to give an update. We have started raising Bison/Buffalo now. We purchased a 4 month old bull calf at the end of August. He weighed 225 lbs when we got him. He is now pushing 400 lbs. You could not get within 50 ft of him when we got him. Now thanks to lots of pacients and calm work we can go out and call him and he comes running to us. He loves to be pet and scratched. Likes to follow us around the ranch and play with the other beef calves. We are aquiring 10 more calves (6-10 month old) by the first of the new year. We have named our place Bull Run Buffalo Ranch. Check it out on facebook or at Bull Run Buffalo Ranch !! Thanks for all the advice as it was and is a big decsion to make. I am hoping to be retired from outside work in less than a year now as health issues are getting the better of me. Very theraputic to go out and sit with Buddy the buffalo and just relax.

I wish you the best in your new venture, though I myself would not want anything that gets that big! Hope it all works out for you! We'll all enjoy seeing more photos as you get more animals.

I saw your website, that's a beautiful bison calf.

I'm curious about how you will kill the bison since you are offering skulls for sale. A bullet to the brain would ruin it.

Yes a bullet to the brain does tend to ruin the skull. But a bullet to any other part can and does ruin some meat. We are working with a few different bison ranches to see what options are avaible we it comes time to process them. We want to be quick and humane when it comes time but also want to be as efficent not not waste anything. Any thoughts or ideas are certainly welcome.

We just brought in 5 yearlings on Saturday. 4 girls and a boy. Very exciting times here in the great NW.

Well you went and done it for sure, good luck to you and be safe. Have you started on Fort Knox yet ? "sorting corral" You will need one. I would think the best way to kill would be in the field with a high powered rifle with scope, and put it threw the heart. This is one time when you don`t want to get the animal excited. You won`t loose much meat with a rifle, and the scull will be worth much more. I will ask some friends of ours what they do , as they have butchered several Bison. > Thanks Marc

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LOL. Thanks Marc!!!!! We have our corral built. Just a lightly modified cattle unit that was built on the barn around 1900. Just added some boards and replaced a few rotten ones. Should hold them right?? ;-) We have gone down south of here to a fellow bison ranch and helped them with their round up and corral work. Shots, blood tests, tagging, ect. They are a powerful animal for sure. We will be adding a scale and heavier shute hopefully soon. The key is keep calm and quiet. Like Elmer Fudd..... Shhh. I am hunting buffalo... ;-)

If your looking for a healthy meat try longhorn. The health benefits of longhorn is that same as chicken. We've raised them for years and when your around them as often as we are they are tame not wild like most people think.


I see you've already bought them. We we lives in Bozeman, Ted Turner owned the Flying D and had buffalo. You had to really watch when you were driving at night because they were always out on the highway.

Bobg

According to our vet who interned with Ted Turners vet, Turner ended up pouring concrete fences anywhere the buffalo were in closer quarters.

Hope you have good insurance!

I thought all beef was healthy if its never had any grain....just grassfed.

Just watched this on CBSNews.com; very relaxing.......

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136703n

Bison is healthier for the same reason venison is healthier. I'll steer away from the whole grass fed beef religion, but Bison is often leaner than store bought beef, making it healthier. But that's why and the benifits end there.

The only way I've seen Buffalo meat sold is ground up. Since very lean older Beef bulls are often used in lean ground beef, Buffalow burger would be comparable.

Ten or 15 years ago, when the novelty of Buffalo meat fell out of favor, the Michigan Prison System got a lot of Buffalo Burger from South Dakota, for less than baloney. Trying to reduce the over supply, I guess.

I'd be glad to put you in touch with the 5 or 6 farms around here that were raising bison. But they went broke years ago. There is one, owned by a grocery store owner from Traverse City. Big, expensive hobby for him.

http://nmi.craigslist.org/grd/3466739064.html

For Sale

Haypoint.... Its a shame all you have had contact with is ground bison. We are in contact with several ranches that raise bison and process them around 2-5 yrs old. The same cuts of meat are there that are found on any beef animal. The meat is very very lean. leaner than grass feed beef. I would recomend contacting the Eastern Bison Association in your area for suppliers near you and sample some of the staeks and other products. I think you will be very suprised and pleased with it.

I did have a chance to talk to our friends that have been around bison, they told me they know of FOUR ranches that raised bison that NO LONGER raise them. They said that around this part of the country there just isn`t the market anymore. And the one guy I know that raises them doesn`t need the money, he is a dentist and needs the tax right off. So do some more home work before you buy anymore, might be an expensive life lesson. Best of luck to you my friend. > Thanks Marc

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com