Bison live as long as 28 years. Bison take longer to get to market. Operators should anticipate two to 2. Because of their larger size and the relative rarity of bison, they command a much higher carcass price compared with beef. She said bison tours have contributed to her sales.
Consumers have shifted from thinking of bison as a novelty meat to a type of meat they enjoy. The farm sells directly to customers who pick up meat from the farm, both in individual cuts and wholesale portions. She said that although proved to be a down year for the bison industry, the health benefits of bison are driving demand, along with the consumer trend of buying locally raised food, as most bison producers are smaller operations.
She said bison is high in protein with fewer calories than beef — calories per four ounces, compared with , and with far less fat. While the vigor of the animals and prices for the meat sound enticing, she warned would-be growers that they may need to adjust their prejudices of the animals — as well as the height of their fences.
Every operation is going to be different. And, there was a dream. Mike wanted to farm. At 19 he married — this went sour in about a year. Following separation, he went west but returned a year later. After a divorce, there were more drugs and more alcohol; life was falling apart.
He was trying to find peace, running from his past but feeling that it was overtaking and destroying him. Mike headed west again at age 23, traveling with another biker, but felt an inner voice from God telling him to turn around. He fought it for miles, then began to reason with this voice in his head. Eventually he turned back. A tire on his bike blew near Thunder Bay, and he almost slid under a truck.
Shortly thereafter, he walked into a gospel service in a church basement, wearing his biker leathers, a full beard and long flowing hair. Six guys prayed with him there. Mike was broken and wept, but he was a changed man. In the years following Mike held many jobs, but only for short times. He married again and the couple started a family. One day at work, at age 27, he felt God speak to his heart, calling him to raise buffalo. When he shared this with his wife, she laughed, but the more Mike looked into it, the more excited he got.
Although his wife was sick of hearing about them within a few days, Mike continued to investigate possibilities. He found a guy who was raising buffalo, and a farm near Brantford where he could begin his venture with five bison, and a neighbouring farmer who helped him learn to farm, as he had no previous farming experience. Inside the working chute. Mike stands by the sorting gate. Animals can be sent right or left or ahead into the squeeze chute.
But this is an advantage to Mike, as the brush provides cover for the bison herd in winter. Their extensive shaggy coat gives them perfect protection from winter temperatures and the brush breaks the wind. Although now kept on farms, buffalo, or bison, should not be considered to be domesticated. They are still a wild animal, Mike explains.
The first step towards starting a successful bison farm is to draw up a business plan. What is your business plan? A business contains all the intricate details of how a business venture will function. It contains definite details of the business; like business goals, business structure, and business formation process.
In the case of a bison farm business , the business plan should contain basics like, the estimated capital you need to start the business, putting into consideration all the steps you will take in the training the bison from the calves stage to maturity, and how much each stage will cost for each bison multiplied by the number of bison that wish you grow in your farm. If this is your first time running a bison farm, then you may need to go for some extra training to learn how to take care of bison.
A bison is not a domesticated animal and can be temperamental if not properly take care of. It is for that reason that you need to know every detail involved in taking care of them. The best way to learn about this is to spend some months on a bison farm to familiarize yourself with the whole process of running a bison farm. Starting a bison farm can be capital intensive; you need to have already calculated the capital requirement needed to start and float the business until you start getting returns.
If the business structure will make provision for partners in the business, you can pull money together with your partner or partners to run the business. Another place to source capital is via an angel investor. They only provide the capital involved in running the business without getting directly involved in the day-to-day running of the business.
You can look out for the association of angel investors in your State and reach out to them with your business plan. One or two angel investors may be wishing to invest in your business idea. If you decide to take a loan from the bank, you should consider the period that it will take a calf to grow into a mature bison ready for sale or to give birth to female species, to help your payment plan.
This business owning bison herds is a long-term business, so many require that you buy out your own land space to serve as your farm.
You can also work out a long-term lease agreement if the capital you have cannot cover for out rightly buying off a land. The piece of land that will serve as your farm should be a level ground and have plenty of pasture for your bison to graze on.
The amount of land that you have for your farm is going to dictate how many bison you can have. About 5 acres of land can support one or two fully grown bison. For a full herd, you may need to look at a purchase of land that is acres or more. One of the most common causes of failure in the bison herds industry is a lack of proper facilities.
Tall strong exterior fencing is an absolute requirement before bringing a bison bulls to weigh up to pounds, yet can jump feet from a standstill and may push or rub against fences and posts. The Texas Bison Association recommends seven-foot posts with high tensile wire. Fences in areas where the bison will be worked should be tall, sturdy, and easy to climb, for the safety of human handlers. Just as important as good fencing is good stocking and management practices.
A bison that gets it into its head to leave is a large and powerful enough animal that it might just find a way. With good pasture, water, and room to roam, bison are much more likely to stay put , and content bison are less likely than cattle to worry and challenge a fence.
You will need a combination of electric fencing, barbed wire, and a woven fence that stands at least 6 feet tall in order to adequately protect your livestock. Make sure you install a gate on every side of your perimeter just in case an animal gets loose so that you can quickly return it to where it needs to be. You need to order equipment that you will need to take care of your bison like a rake, shovel, barrow, water trowel.
These are very basic important tools that must be purchased at first. Bison can be stocked at about the same rate as cattle, even at slightly higher rates, because they are more efficient grazers. Bison spread out more evenly over pasture than cattle and can survive on the marginal range that would starve cattle, through in the interest of producing the finest product, this is not recommended.
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