Private herds boost bison population
By the mid-1800s, American bison were nearly extinct.
Profiteers hunted the massive herbivores for their skins, thinning a once abundant herd to just a few hundred.
Due to the efforts of a few preservationists, bison have returned. Some 30,000 are estimated to roam freely in conservation herds.
But even more exist on private land as close to home as Mercer Township.
“We're trying to build a herd,” said Ron Coyer, who began with three bison around 2004.
Today, 18 bison reside at Coyer's 110-acre farm on Route 173, where the attorney-by-day has a long-term goal of marketing the meat to consumers.
According to Jim Matheson, assistant director of the National Bison Association in Westminster, Colo., bison meat is nutrient-dense and low in fat and cholesterol. And bison are raised without hormones and often on pastures absent of pesticides.“We're seeing a lot of educated consumers turning to bison as a good protein source,” Matheson said.Informally called buffalo, bison belong to the Bovidae family that includes cows and other cloven-hoofed ruminants.Like cattle, bison graze in herds. But the species differ greatly.“They're very hearty. They won't go inside,” Coyer said of bison, explaining they require no shelter or dietary supplements beyond minerals.Although Coyer provides baled hay and a heated water system in winter, some say the animals can survive without that.“We have folks who don't supplement their feed at all during winter,” Matheson said, explaining bison will eat a variety of grass and seed in a wide geographic range.According to Matheson, it takes about two acres to sustain an animal year-round.“Through their biology (bison) can push snow away with their heads, and they can hydrate by eating snow — which a lot of animals can't do,” he added.“But most of our folks do supplement their feed as necessary. And fresh water is very important.”Matheson said bison cows require no help or intervention when having calves, which have the same 9</B>½-month gestation as cattle.
The minimal maintenance is fortunate for ranchers, since the bison's size and lack of domestication makes the animals tricky to handle.“Because they're not domesticated, they are a little bit unpredictable,” Matheson said, noting they weigh between 1,100 and 2,000 pounds.“They can run up to 40 miles an hour and jump 6 feet. They're very athletic,” he added.“One of the big start-up costs is the fencing. To be honest with you, it's just as much to keep people out as to keep bison in.”At Coyer's farm, sturdy wooden fence posts stand 6Z\x feet high, with strands of electrified wire strung at intervals between them.“If you keep them well fed and watered, they tend to stick around pretty good,” Coyer said, watching the herd laze in their preferred mound of dirt on a hot July day.Coyer said raising the self-sufficient bison can be a suitable choice for part-time farmers. Along with simple feed requirements, the animals are exempt from many of the ailments that sometimes afflict cattle.“They are really immune to just about everything except intestinal worms,” he said, explaining how the animals must be carefully herded through channels, then funneled into a chute to receive an annual injection of wormer.Castration also is not necessary in bison, Coyer noted, since conflict is avoided as younger bulls yield to the oldest, largest bull during breeding.Although Coyer purchased his first bison from ranchers in Western Pennsylvania, his breeding bull — from a Sioux Indian herd blood line — was trailered last summer from the Big Sky Buffalo Ranch near Granville, N.D.Matheson said subspecies of the American bison include the more common plains bison, native to most of the United States; and the larger wood bison, from the northern U.S. and Canada. A third and smaller species, called a wisent, resides in eastern Europe.
As of the 2007 United States Census of Agriculture, 198,234 bison resided on 4,499 U.S. farms. That ratio shifted from the previous census in 2002, when more bison — 231,950 — were spread among slightly fewer locations.But numbers can be deceiving.“There are fewer bison on the ground because consumer demand for bison meat has increased,” Matheson said.In the 1990s, producers sought profits from selling breeding stock. Herds eventually outgrew the public demand for meat.“The market crashed around 2000,” Matheson said, noting The National Bison Association since has expanded its marketing. “It really caught on,” he said.“The demand for the meat right now is through the roof,” confirmed Tupper Sverduk, vice president of the country's Eastern Bison Association, based in Scranton.According to Hugh Forbes, the same holds true on the local level.“There are really more people wanting buffalo meat than is available right now,” said Forbes, who has been raising bison since 1975 on his farm in Lawrence County.According to the census, Forbes and Coyer are among the 144 farms that raise 2,707 head of bison in the state.Part of the bison's appeal to ranchers in Pennsylvania and beyond is suitability to the environment.“They can (thrive anywhere) from down in Texas and Florida all the way up to Canada,” Sverduk said.“They'll eat anything cattle will eat, but they'll eat more brushy type plants, too — so they'll clean up a pasture.”Although they surpass cattle in terms of endurance in the pasture, bison still lag far behind cattle in the race to the dinner table.According to Matheson, 60,000 head of bison were processed nationally last year compared to an estimated 120,000 cattle processed in an average day.“We are a niche product,” he said.But bison fetches a higher price.Sverduk said retail prices for ground bison often go up to $9 a pound, sometimes higher.Although Forbes sells some of the meat wholesale to specialty food stores around Pittsburgh, the 78-year-old rancher also runs a retail outlet on site, where burger prices start at $6 a pound.Matheson said part of the NBA's job has been to educate the public about the virtues of bison along with providing tips on cooking: A low fat content allows the meat to heat more quickly, and many consumers assume the meat is dry after inadvertently overcooking.“You cook it at lower temperatures for a shorter time frame and not let it dry out,” Coyer advised. “If you keep it moist, it's actually very tender.”“The cuts are very comparable to beef,” Matheson said. “From roasts to burgers to steaks to ribs. All recipes you find for beef can be applied to bison (by modifying the cooking time).”Along with getting “more bang for your buck in terms of a healthy product,” Matheson also pointed out many ranchers raise bison partly based on admiration.“The history of bison is very much an American story and people just love the animal,” he said.So far, Coyer has focused on building his herd, harvesting meat mostly for personal use. But the pastime also serves as relaxation.On a recent July Saturday, Coyer and his 24-year-old son Tom worked on building an open shed, where round bales of hay can be loaded into a feeding rack from outside the pasture fence.Although the herd mostly lazed in the sun, Coyer said the animals sometimes run laps as a group around the pasture's perimeter.“They sort of bounce,” he said, describing the way their stiffened legs appear to be prancing more than running in the jaunts on cool mornings.“I like to watch them,” he said.
