For a period of time this cross really took off, but then it seemed to settle into a no mans land. You can't completely market it as being hippy loving healthy like you can buffalo to the almost organic crowd and the beef lovers just looked at you like, "why not just eat beef".

The people who really made it work went vertical on the system and bought into a restaurant and took it straight to the plate to collect the perceived premium. If I was going to do it, this is the system I'd build. Fill a restaurant on the left coast with a theme and pictures of what looks like an improved "all natural" environment and make them feel like they're doing the right thing for it, and their bodies, by eating your buffalo instead of beef. It would take a pretty serious investment and most likely a career long dedication to get it done, but the next generation could very well be rolling in cash by the time you got it done.

Point well taken ghak99 and agree. Honestly hadn't thought about that side of it.

I assume that the same tenant has cattle on the entire area if using water in a single section.

If you have no experience with livestock my advice is don't do this. Prices are very high, hay is expensive. To make a profit you have to save most every calf. If you had 40 acres and wanted to try 15 cow calf pairs I would say great, find a mentor to help get you going and let it rip . If you don't know what you are doing at this scale you will lose your ass

If you are getting into bison they are more dangerous than cattle. I say this as someone raised on a farm who has been in the hospital due to cow stomping and as someone who has taken my dad to the hospital with a broken leg after he called me laying in a snow bank. I watched my mother taken to the ground and her leg snapped and turned around and her head split open. Large animals are nothing to trifle with if you don't know how to handle them. Bison are more aggressive than cattle.

Cattle at all time highs make this a bad time to begin. If you start with young herds of heifers you will have difficult calving and lower success rates of breeding and mothering. Old cows prolapse and die. I can only assume Bison have similar herd issues.

Where will your hay come from? Do you raise it. or do you buy it. Do you have equipment? Tractors bail movers stabbeds? Bale rings and feeders? Working facilities? Will you use a vet to work your calves? Are you using hormones injections on your steers?


I just want you to think through the entire picture and consider commitments of time resources and funds.

I really appreciate this feedback and it is something I have asked for; I know enough to know that I don't know enough and wanted some feedback from this site because I know there is a wealth of knowledge here.

As for the hay, we have another 160 that I thought could be used to harvest hay. We'd have to pay for that, but it would be cheaper than buying it outright. I would just as soon hay the section and sell it, but the terrain and rocks kind of prohibit it.

This isn't something we would be planning on doing this upcoming season; we are just putting the feelers out right now and looking to see how viable it would be.

The wildness of the bison is something that really concerns me. I know how powerful animals can be; my father had (he's dead) a horseshoe shaped indention in this forehead from when he was kicked as a kid.

We are weighing our options right now. Nothing is set in stone.

Another option to consider.

Some people get started or lease their land on shares. Some people do livestock the same way. You trade the rental income for heifers of your choice. You provide the land and share expenses for s percentage of return or number of animals.

This gives you the advantage of someone who knows the business to handle it and saves them cash output and risk. If you get animals you can save the best heifers to breed and sell what you want to cover expenses or land taxes etc. might be an option to get started. You can help and learn the game.

I had buffalo chili in Colorado Springs once. Did not like.

Really? It's kind of hard to **** up buffalo chili. I love it.

Just WAY to rich for me.

It's certainly not a "daily fare" kind of thing.

My question is what are you wanting to do with the buffalo? Are you cow calling them and selling the feeders? Or are you wanting to finish them all the way out on your grass? The feeding requirements are different. If your other 160 is just grass, I doubt it will have enough protein to feed critters out. If you're going to do it you better budget to buy all your hay and put up your stuff and get a test on it.

I know everybody says it, but buffalo are not easier to work with than cattle. Most Cattle are pretty docile unless you corner them or jack with their babies. Buffalo are just wild. Wildness has been bred out of cattle since freaking Egypt. Buffalo have been for 150 or so years. Everything about working with them is hard. There maybe a premium but you earn it.

I've never raised bison but I hear they are a bit less hardy than cattle. IIRC, Bison get diseases more easily and succumb to the elements a bit easier. Is it a significant difference? I have no clue.

Also, I don't think Bison are as domesticated as cattle. They can get pretty mean when you approach them, while you can lean up on a steer.

Bison ranches aren't uncommon so how hard can it be?

Good luck with that.

And yeah, bison meat is wonderful. I really can't tell it much different from steer meat but they say it has less fat so you have to undercook it a bit. All I know is every bison I've had from ribs to steak to burgers has been delicious.

Bison, will walk through anything, big and will kill you. Brother-inlaw chased them several times a month, no thanks.

That is something we were definitely considering. I should of pointed that out at the beginning. I wouldn't be running the bison.