thinking of getting 2 buffalo,anyone raised

[little mom]

got 50 acers, some real good wooven wire fence ect...
just checked on some small buffalo around a buck a pound
is that a good price weened ones $400,
are they hard to raise
we know they are real good to eat killed a few with a bow :waa:

[agmantoo]

My neighbor had 8 and they were difficult to contain. They could and would exit the pasture thru the fence anywhere if a stranger came around. The animals are too difficult to handle and they are dangerous IMO. You could not give me a live one if I had to keep it!

[fordy]

Buffalo(s) are not pets in my opinion. The Bulls, when full grown weigh in excess of 2,000 pounds. They can run thru most fences like a bulldozer and not look back. You would never enter a pen to pet the pretty animals. They are unpredictable and will Kill if they feel threatened. There maybe people who think that they are Cute but I'm not in that group. Most ranchers that I know will tell you that even dehorned bulls from very domesticated breeds are NOT a Plaything. They have one purpose in life and they can't Bark so if they can't fulfill their geneatic imperative they will be turned into hamburger......fordy

[bugstabber]

I wouldn't recommend to anyone to have buffalo unless they have many many acres of land. They can and will jump a six foot fence, not meant to be a feed lot animal. Get a cow.

[Jena]

I was just talking with a guy the other day who has raised buffalos for years. He said that the market has disappeared. It sounds like your buck a pound is someone looking to make a good deal for themselves.

This man told me that good breeding cows are now selling for only a couple hundred bucks. He's selling out, as there is no money in it anymore.

For a buck a pound, you can get a good steer.

Jena

[wr]

I've worked with buffalo and they are becoming more quiet over the years but there are a lot of problems associated with them. Fencing is major, they are fed different, they need special considerations and many vets have little to no experience with them at all so it's a live or die deal. They do not medicate the same way cattle do, certain meds that work quickly and efficiently in cattle take so long to take hold that the animal is long dead. Handling facilities for buffalo are very expensive and normal facilities for cattle will not work, many before you have tried and failed. I would ask how much cattle handling background you have. If you have little to none, buffalo are definately not a wise idea. You need to have experience with some pretty agressive cattle before you can honestly and safely take on buffalo. The first time I worked buffalo, I was quite curious as to why we would be out checking them on high powered race horses till we cleared the gate. I found out that an peevish bull can cover ground quicker than a high stakes winner. I've worked with cattle most of my life and I work them with confidence and I can't honestly say there's been too many times I've been afraid and in all the time I worked with buffalo, I found them to be very scary. They're hard to read and their behavior is not all the predictable. I would recomend that you start with cattle, learn all you can and if you think you'd like to try buffalo later on, start small and slow but I've watched a lot of the exotics come and go. I would also stay away from those animals that are 'bottle fed' or 'hand raised'. In buffalo, it doesn't necessarily make them quieter, it just means they have less respect for humans.

[bulldinkie]

I too heard they will bust through fences,I aso was always told never turn your back.Theyll run you down.why not texas longhorn cattle we raise those yes the horns are scary Theyre more afraid of you.Just be aware the horns are there.but easy to care for theyre docile compared to dairy.If you breed say a white bull to red cow you could get a black calf.You have no idea what it will look like.Beautiful animals.we have 40 acres we keep just enough kind of a hobby I guess dont want to be in it big time. We really enjoy them.

[little mom]

we raised cows for around 30 years mostly hobbie now [meat]
we like to eat buffalo meat, after reading this will just go hunt
one

[bgak47]

Originally Posted by little mom

got 50 acers, some real good wooven wire fence ect...
just checked on some small buffalo around a buck a pound
is that a good price weened ones $400,
are they hard to raise
we know they are real good to eat killed a few with a bow :waa:

Where can you hunt Bison? As far as raising them on 50 acres...I can't imagine that 50 acres would be enough land for even 1 weaned calf. Bison are wild animals & they truely like to roam. Many attempts have been made to raise them commercially,in a fenced enviorment,& almost all have failed because bison have absolutely no respect for fences. Any fence that will actually keep them in is VERY expensive.Any commercialy successful operation that I've heard of involves thousands of acres of open range land. Add this to the fact that they can't be herded,but can only be stampeded,& you can readily see why the meat is so expensive.These behavioral characteristics of bison were most certainly known by the early settlers of the plains,& were among the many reasons that they were hunted to near-extinction to make room for domestic cattle. P.S. I really am interested in where you can hunt bison.

[sionosis]

most of what has been said is true to a point they are not the same as working cattle, they don't medicate the same way, they are not cute pets, they need more room, they will fight if threatened, but there are several misconceptions they can be herded some but it is a different then domestic cattle....they are much more disease resistant then domestic cattle.......the reason for eradication of the species was predicted on control of the plains native population who were dependant on them.......they can be raised with proper pasturage without additional graining.....the meat is much leaner then beef ,pork,lamb,turkey................they are hormone free meat for your family....they are nonantibiotic laden meat for your family........info on them and raising of them is available through the buffalo trust in okla................
Bob Littlehawk

[Jane in southwest WI]

At the store in Viroqua, WI where I shop they sell Buffalo burger patties for $4.00 a pound, and they sell out quickly. I realize that is a little pricey but I am fussy about what I eat, and the buffalo burgers are the best I've ever had. We also buy grass fed beef from our neighbor, but I like the buffalo burgers the best. I don't understand why as was posted earlier that there's no money in it since it seems to sell well here.

[goatlady]

My neighbors raise buffalo - I have 17 on my fence line and in my yard all the time! Don't do it. There is no market anymore and they are neat to look at but eat huge amounts, and not only do they go through fences they jump them like champion jumpers 6-8 foot from a standing jump is nothing to them. The insurance liability is horrendous if you can get it.

[wr]

Jane, it sells very well but if you do the math, nobody is making much money. That buffalo was sold at auction somewhere for a certain amount of money as a weanling and he would have spent time with that buyer for finishing before he was sold again, possibly to a facility that kills, buchers and puts it on the shelves. If a guy is buying to sell for meat, it's best to cut out the two or three middle men. Right now, feeder steers are selling for approx $1/lb (in Alberta) and yet the price of a steak or roast at the retail outlet is over $9 kg. As a cattle producer, I can quite honestly tell you that it's not be getting rich because input costs are fairly high because of drought conditions over the last couple years. Because of the BSE incident we had, it's severely affected off shoot industries. A lot of producers (deer, elk and buffalo as a couple examples) bought their stock when prices were awful high. Two years ago, it would take $5000 to buy a decen cow buffalo and $10,000+ bought a bull. Now the offspring of those same animals are selling for $200. They are seriously taking a loss. A decent handling facility for buffalo would cost about $10,000 (crowding tub, sorting alley and chute) if purchased retail. It's not as much the fact that somebody was capitalizing on a trendy product but the fact that they have to all be reenforced steel. There isn't the meat that you think there is on an animal either. Next time you see one, notice that they're light in the hip, heavy in hump and the hair makes them appear larger than they really are. They are affected by less disease but they young are not immortal and they are affected by pneumonia, scours and other common things and they don't accept medication well, something we also see in longhorns.

[little mom]

if you want hunt then type in buffalo hunt
i killed one in the middle of a herd once with a bow ,man
when the rest of them smell the blood they got real
upset with me
but the guy i was going to get the little ones off, he has
over 100 of them,he has his own resturant called
http://www.woodennickelbuffalo.com/ looks like hes doing real good