Raising Bison???

[farmerDale]

Anyone raising bison on here? Anyone work with them before at all? Have a quarter I may fence. Have a friend at church who raises them, but wouldn't mind hooking up with someone else to share ideas, etc...

Been reading about them for a long time. They have always been in the back of my mind for some of the wilder land we have. Looks like a good way to utilize the land, and as adaptable to our climate as an animal is going to be.

Be nice to have a chat. And if you have no experience, talk anyway!!!

[notwyse]

One might look at the fencing involved. I have known folks who could in t fence them out of their own herds of cattle. A bull is attracted to a cow in estrus just like any bull. I would want more than a quarter section for sure.

[MO_cows]

If you can dig up episodes of the Prairie Farm Report, shown on RFDTV, they showed a couple episodes where they covered bison working facilities. You talk about heavy duty! I think they were homemade, as most of their episodes featured stuff the farmers had manufactured themselves. There were lots of solid panels to keep the animals from seeing an "escape route" that didn't really exist.

I'm sure there is an association for bison breeders, look them up and see what information they hand out for free. Probably a directory at the very least.

I have seen and read a lot about how dangerous bison are, even got my butt chewed by a Yellowstone park ranger for taking photos of an old bull sunbathing in his wallow from too close. Don't worry Mr. Ranger, I don't have to outrun the bull because I can outrun most of these nearby tourists! But in our area there is a small place where they keep a small bison herd. Their fences are crap and their land is so abused they have to keep hay out just about year round. Their bison seem to be very mellow, never heard of an escape. Every time we drive by they look lazy and content.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

I don't know much about them, but several miles down the road, there is a family that raised them for several years. They sold buffalo and beefalo. They had woven wire fence along with electric fencing.
Another guy I know use to keep a couple younger ones every year, but he just kept them to help train horses or something like that. Something to do with rodeos, helping to cut cattle from a herd or something. He always kept his in corrals made of pipe gate panels.

[FarmboyBill]

Ive seen ranches here that did them. They don't now.

[Paumon]

Heh. An old friend who used to raise bison in the BC interior plateau many years ago told me that bison are living sherman tanks with very bad tempers and short fuses. Plan accordingly and good luck with that.

[jwal10]

There was a buffalo farm here, old cattle ranch and poor fences. Never saw them out though. They hauled them in from Colorado. I sold feed to them when I worked at the feed store. Fed a lot of alfalfa. They are now about 15 miles NW of here right along a main highway. Fences look better and they have a good area to get them into. They used railroad ties and guard rail for the corral. I used to haul them, hard on an aluminum 5th wheel cattle trailer, easier than longhorns though. After they are in the corral they settled down but like cattle that are not handled much they are wilder. In the pastures I didn't see they were harder on the fences but bunched up they crowd everything. Handling equipment needs to be tough....James

[farmerDale]

My friend keeps them in a 5 wire regular barb fence! Most that do it, use more of a game fence. My friend has had them since 1982, and has done well enough. The key is the minimal input vs. cattle. The big and most expensive part seems to be the handling facilities. They are beefy. A local welder has invented and marketed worldwide, his heavy duty squeezes etc..

Paumon, what about a quarter section is worrisome to you? It would be cross fenced for grazing efficiency..

Thanks for the comments!

[Wolf mom]

There's a Bison Ranch in the AZ White Mountains that had a herd they used for advertising. Ended up getting rid of them due to liability issues. Now they just have bronze ones.

Mighty good eating...

[FarmboyBill]

The ones I saw here in Okla used pipe and cable. Both easier to get here due to oil wells.

[simi-steading]

Check with Ted Turner. He is the worlds largest bison rancher and has the largest herd in the world... and he cooks a pretty mean bison steak at his restaurant too. I've eaten plenty of them....

Wish I had the money to raise them. Seems to be a good market for the meat. At least in larger metro areas.

[whiterock]

Neighbor had some a while back. High woven wire game fences. Heavy duty working pens. Hands hated them, said you couldn't work em like cattle but had to trick em into goin and doin what you wanted em to do.

[Paumon]

Originally Posted by farmerDale

My friend keeps them in a 5 wire regular barb fence! Most that do it, use more of a game fence. My friend has had them since 1982, and has done well enough. The key is the minimal input vs. cattle. The big and most expensive part seems to be the handling facilities. They are beefy. A local welder has invented and marketed worldwide, his heavy duty squeezes etc..

Paumon, what about a quarter section is worrisome to you? It would be cross fenced for grazing efficiency..

Thanks for the comments!

Nothing is worrisome. I think if you can do it that will be exciting and I encourage you to investigate it thoroughly. I do wish you great success in your endeavours if you decide to go ahead with that.

However, I do think if you're seriously considering it then rather than enquiring about it on an American homesteading forum like this you need to get the important information that you really need from Canadian bison ranchers. Go to the Canadian Bison Association and the Saskatchewan Bison Association, even look up what's available at the BC Bison Association and the Alberta Bison Association. There are several provincial bison associations with many bison ranchers, very easily found on internet and with links to their up-to-date monthly news reports, articles and they include contact information to the members.

The reason you need to go to Canadians is because Canada has some regulations and required health and environmental practises for bison ranchers in Canada that are different from those for bison ranchers in America. So I think you'd benefit more from enquiring with Canadian bison ranchers who can tell you more about what's relevant to Canadian practises and regulations and Canadian climate and health risks and vetrinary practices and all that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? That's not to say you shouldn't ask on American forums, just that some of the information you'll get on American forums is not going to be relevant to Canadian bison ranching concerns or some might even be counter-productive although inadvertantly and through no ill intent.

[Cygnet]

There used to be a guy I'd see around the rodeo and horsey circuits who hadh a buffalo steer that he trained to ride that would go to quarterhorse races here in the southwest. The buffalo would beat the quarterhorses in every race it was entered in. This was a fairly well trained and nice enough animal, but it was neutered and the owner knew what he was doing.

I've seen some go through a chain link fence when the owner tried to chase them into a stock trailer with a flag. I sat there watching the rodeo on my old mare, and then got out of the way when they got loose. (My horse wasn't spooky about buffalo, but I sure was.)

Not coincidentally, that same owner in my old neighborhood was later selling a three intact bull buffalo for $1000 each, two yearlings and an older bull. I looked into buying them -- I figured I'd come out way ahead financially between the hides, a mount made from the older bull, and the meat. The seller decided she didn't want to sell to me when I asked if she'd be okay with me shooting the buffalo on site -- I figured I'd shoot and field dress them right there, winch them onto an ATV trailer, throw a tarp over 'em, and haul 'em off to the butcher. Had a neighbor lined up who was going to go in with me, and who had an ATV trailer. (As an aside, there were originally four buffalo, one of them died in a car vs. buffalo collision after the escape, which was why the owner was selling them. Her homeowners insurance said they had to go.)

She apparently wanted them to go to a "pet home" ... with suitable fencing. She was horrified that my plans were to eat her darlings. Horrified, I tell you.

[Jennifer L.]

My neighbors had them for years. They needed extremely strong tensile wire fences and the corner posts were old telephone poles. If the bulls fought and were next to a fence, they were able to bull their way through the fence without thinking about it. They aren't like regular cattle and don't act like, very wild. The neighbor said once when they were out around them they got worked up and a bull jumped their pickup, right over the cab, and it wasn't from one side of the truck to the other, it was from one END of the pickup to the other.

Guess my advice is, if you want them, go for it, but you have to put a big investment in containment.

Oh, and I didn't think the meat was any more special then any other lean beef!

[big rockpile]

I went fishing in Kansas had Buffalo around where I was, lets say I kept eye on them as much as I did my Line.

big rockpile

[farmerDale]

Originally Posted by Paumon

Nothing is worrisome. I think if you can do it that will be exciting and I encourage you to investigate it thoroughly. I do wish you great success in your endeavours if you decide to go ahead with that.

However, I do think if you're seriously considering it then rather than enquiring about it on an American homesteading forum like this you need to get the important information that you really need from Canadian bison ranchers. Go to the Canadian Bison Association and the Saskatchewan Bison Association, even look up what's available at the BC Bison Association and the Alberta Bison Association. There are several provincial bison associations with many bison ranchers, very easily found on internet and with links to their up-to-date monthly news reports, articles and they include contact information to the members.

The reason you need to go to Canadians is because Canada has some regulations and required health and environmental practises for bison ranchers in Canada that are different from those for bison ranchers in America. So I think you'd benefit more from enquiring with Canadian bison ranchers who can tell you more about what's relevant to Canadian practises and regulations and Canadian climate and health risks and vetrinary practices and all that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? That's not to say you shouldn't ask on American forums, just that some of the information you'll get on American forums is not going to be relevant to Canadian bison ranching concerns or some might even be counter-productive although inadvertantly and through no ill intent.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but there aren't any Canadian content sites like this great one. I would be waiting three days for a reply, or maybe a year!!! lol. This way, I can talk bison right from my cozy couch...I want to look at my friends operation, we have never been there, just know each other from church, and he is a fair bit older with no kids etc. so we just haven't hooked up in that way yet. I only found out recently they farmed bison.

My friend who has them cautioned me because we run sheep, and the bison pick up something from the sheep and die, apparently. He lost several his first year from that.

The land in question is 16 miles from home, which he said would be far enough away. It has about 110 acres of woods, 20 of water, and about 30 of grasslands. The woodlands have a lot of little meadows in them, and would make such a nice bison pasture. Too many bears and wolves and coyotes for sheep or cattle, esp. so far from home. Bison would fare much better with less hands on protection, etc.

A trucker friend hauled bison a few times. said you had to RUN IN BEHIND THE LAST ANIMALS LOADED, AND SHUT THE INNER GATES!!!! He said it was not fun at all, because once they realize they are trapped, they all turn around and start running at the gate. One slip and you are done for. He also said a couple times he had to drop a rope over a bulls head from above, so it could be towed off the trailer , otherwise it wouldn't budge.

I have no delusions, they are not like any other stock that could be raised.

From what I have found out, my land could probably handle a dozen to 20 cows. The nice thing about them, is they do not need very good hay. My friend uses poor grass hay. No grain. Stockpiled grass. Their metabolism during winter actually goes down by 20 to 40%. In other words, while cattle eat more during the cold weather, the bison eat way less than they do in summer, which is kind of cool.

I would set out a bunch of bales in late fall and graze them through the paddocks in a bale grazing scenario to limit babysitting.

My biggest concern, is the handling. I am kind of a chicken that way. They would have to be phenomenal, and safe...

Right now, a bred cow is only about 2000 bucks, so much cheaper than cows. Where you make money is on low labor and low feed costs, along with usually higher per lb meat prices than cattle.

I also thought a person may be able to sell the odd hunt to one of the many American or European bird hunters who come up here every fall.

Skulls, hides, etc., all have good value too.

Just a bunch of thoughts. The land would be easy to get certified organic as well, and so there is probably some value added to be had there.

Keep chatting, I find them a fascinating creature!

[farmerDale]

Originally Posted by notwyse

One might look at the fencing involved. I have known folks who could in t fence them out of their own herds of cattle. A bull is attracted to a cow in estrus just like any bull. I would want more than a quarter section for sure.

Sorry, I thought Paumon made the quarter section comment... What do you mean about wanting them on more than a quarter?

[Allen W]

Local tribe has some here, big bull rolled their work pickup one day just for fun.

[sammyd]

Back in the 90's saw a bunch of places set up for bison. Only one left.
Ate a bison burger once and will not ever touch the stuff again.