Buffalo??????

They are very hard to handle .if somthing scares them no normal fence can stop them .

Don't forget to add am elephant gun to your list of equipment

I have been considering buffalo....not what some consider a buffalo which is really bison, the big shaggy thing that the Native Americans hunted on the plains, Rather Water Buffalo which can be raised for meat and milk. I thinking about raising these as dairy animals making buffalo mozzarella and using the bulls as beef. I subscribe to a forum and am just in the beginning research stages.

Water_Buffalo : Bubalus bubalis for milk, meat, & draft

I plan to mainly have beef cattle but hubby wants to make cheese to sell to upscale hotels/restaurants.

I think with daily handling these creatures are supposedly very gentle. Haven't actually looked at any personally.

I whole heartedly agree. I've got a friend who raises several of them in his open pastures with cattle fencing. They stay to themselves in a tight herd and don't mingle with the cattle in the same fence.

They don't herd or drive well and they've never come to the call of a feedsack like the cattle. He's had them for about 5 generations of breeding on his place and they're still as leary of him as the first ones he brought onto his property over 20 years ago.


They almost have to be "trapped" in the lot when it comes time to work them and man is it exciting then. I've actually seen a 1000lb bull calf destroy a guardrail fence trying to get back to the herd he was cut away from. If and only if I ever decided to get them, I'd work them with tranquilizer guns. (and hope they didn't wake up while I was doing what needed done!)

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Francismilker

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16

I had 3 bison bulls the guy i got them from used them to work cutting horses . They have very expensive horses and he said 3 head of bison would work a horse harder than 50 head of stocker cattle I had them in a 20 acre pasture with a few head of holstein steers no problems there . i bucket trained them to come to sweet feed . come butcher time local slaughter house agreed to butcher for me . I started feeding them grain in a solid 6x20 pipe stock trailer managed to get one caught and he tore the back gates off the trailer ended up shooting all 3 in the pasture and loading them with with a skid steer to go to butcher shop . I will not own another bison unless i hit the lottery and have a couple thousand acre spread then i would still have to think about it

Most sucesses happen with bison in a small (less than a section of ground) place, when the animals are brought to the place they are going to live when they are very small. Otherwise adult bison seem to develop an urge to roam. Keeping them in the routine of going into the working corrals to get water.
Getting them when they are small doesn't negate having to build a Fort Knox to keep and work them in.
Other things that add to those sucesses are keeping them inside an enclosed building while young. Bonding them to a tame old cow during thier early life. Preparing for when they get older. The time of year that you have contact with them. And probably most of all, coming to the realization that you will have to shoot at least one in your lifetime.
Bulls get the urge to be alone when the rut is over. I'm sure that fences feel like a misquito bite as they go through. They just leave.
Bison don't like to move in a straight line. Thats why they don't herd well into an open corral. So when building working facilities keep them turning "S's". With slow transitions to smaller runways. Build everything to where they can't see through it or think about going over it. Ten foot comes to mind. Make ways to mechanically seperate them individually.
Make the facilities with the ability to work them from above and behind cover. No having to shut gates from down in the pens. Never be alone around them.
Materials to be used should be concrete and steel. No wood.
Doing things like working with them early in the morning while its cooler. Collecting them one day and working them the next will also add to your sucess.
Bison play rough with each other and there is no reason to think that they will treat you and your facilities any different.
One last thought. I once saw a bison bull go into a hydraulic squeeze chute, with such force that he moved the 7 cu. yds. of concrete that it was poured into. Leaving the rear of the chute raised up close to a foot.
If you are just looking for the quality of the meat. Your efforts may be better served by finding a source and purchasing it there. I'm sure that it will cost less.
Beeeee careful.

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That which is tolerated by the first generation is magnified in the next.

CIW

CIW,

You mention alot of the things that we are already doing with our cattle and have planned on doing with the Bison. I am also well aware, as are the rest of my family, that we will be having to "put down" these animals when the time comes. Thats just partof life on the farm. We do it every year with the calves when they are old enough. Cute as heck when their born but life as a cycle.

The bull calf we purchased is only 4 mo old. Lots of handling and calmness are in his future. Also we DO NOT handle or heard ANY of our animals like so many feel and do. No horse chasing or quads or even trucks!!!! Thats just stupid in my opinion. Stress is not your friend when dealing with animals.

This is also more than just a personal meat sorce. We will of course make sure our own freezer is full but are looking at a revenue income from Bison as well as our other cattle and livestock. Recent health issues are forcing us into a 4 year or less retirement plan. Therefore the farm / ranch has to support itself and us in a relativelyshort period of time.

I might be wrong, but when CIW says "...coming to the realization that you will have to shoot at least one in your lifetime...", he isn't talking about "putting down" one when it gets too old or butchering one for meat.

He's warning that you might have to kill one before it kills either you or someone else.

And, if I had health issues that were forcing me to retire early, I'd think twice about getting into the buffalo business no matter how much money I thought I could make.

Dealing everyday with unpredictable animals like buffalo has got to be worse for your health than whatever you are doing for a job right now.

Buffalo
thinks the field belongs to them
so no walking anywere you want
no fishing in the ponds
no helping the mother in labor when it does happen I am sure it is very seldom
no buffalo on one side of fence and you on other working on stuff...
..they stay mad from birth would be the deal breaker for me

That would do it for me too!

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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"What if I fall?" "Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?"

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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That which is tolerated by the first generation is magnified in the next.

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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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