The duo sells bison meat and live animals, plus opens the farm for agritourism. The farm is a mix of acres of woods, pasture and open grasses, plus 60 acres of cropland they rent out and 40 acres of hay. McFarland said the biggest mistake people make about bison is thinking that since they graze and are raised for meat, they are just like cattle. Cattle and bison can interbreed to produce beefalo, but these offspring are often sterile.
Bison need no barns, for example, and are very tolerant of weather conditions. An old-timer said that you can give them any old hay and they still gain weight. McFarland has one bison cow who has calved every year and is about 15 years old. 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. Bison are poor users of protein levels higher than this, and it is expensive. This is ideal because they will go into summer gaining weight. Be careful because any more loss of weight can be detrimental to calf survival and rebreeding. The trick to feeding bison is being aware of the fee value of your forage base and balancing your ration with adequate energy and minerals.
A program of this type assures performance and is less expensive than taking shortcuts and decreasing performance. A general rule of thumb is to condition score your cows during the fall deworming and weaning. Calf heifers should enter the winter at least at a 3.
This should assure that the heifer rebreeds, provided there is adequate pasture, fertile bulls and a good mineral program. The key to good cow performance is developing replacement heifers. There are many opinions on this subject but the answer is in the bottom line of your cash flow. The inventory must produce and if the figures are not in the black, then the banker will be visiting. Nutritionally, the first twelve months of a heifer's life can seriously affect her start as a breeder.
Mother cow looks after the first five or six months. The remaining period is your responsibility. At this age these replacement heifers cannot consume enough hay to maintain adequate growth. Keep in mind that this is not a finishing ration but a growing ration. Always provide adequate mineral supplementation. At one year of age the decision to continue feeding supplements depends on the quality of pasture and quality of roughage to be fed the following winter.
The mineral and slat program must continue. Some producers feel that mineral supplements are not necessary. Again, this depends on the geographical area.
But in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, areas of Alberta and many of the grazing areas in the U. If insufficient amounts are available, then fertility and performance in the feedlot decline. Bison are very sensitive to deficiencies or borderline deficiencies in these elements. The nutrition chain is very complex. Just increasing protein and energy does not assure gain. Mineral needs have to be met before the energy and protein kick in and you obtain your growth curve.
Minerals specifically for bison are usually custom-made for individual producers. Unfortunately, most companies will only custom-make 2 tons at a time. This means either you combine your needs with other bison producers or you use another source. If you use another source, use a mineral for high-producing dairy cows. This mineral is available from most companies. The finishing or feedlot phase of the bison industry is where a producer's nutrition program, genetic program, health program and management abilities are combined together to produce a quality consumer product.
This phase of the industry provides the test of your past and helps give you direction for your present genetic program. If you are selling breeding stock bulls or females , this is where you as a producer can formulate your future genetic program, as well as prove to the buyer the genetic abilities of the selected stock.
The actual feeding program in the bison lot depends on the availability of various feed services. The trick is to have a balanced ration to provide sufficient nutrients for the young bulls to reach slaughter at 20 to 24 months for optimum consumer acceptance. Whatever you do, do not skimp on feed. Supply a good source of fresh water to finalize your feedlot ration.
Water can be and often is the reason animals do not gain. Some bison you just want to leave with the seller. Considering the number bison once represented, and when they became almost extinct, bison have passed through a remarkable bottleneck. Considering how the population has increased, I think the herd average has maintained optimum for the size of the herd genetic variation.
This situation would have likely been reversed if the bison population had been forced to remain at a smaller number, generation after generation. Private herds provide ideal situations for breeding. They usually start with a few foundation animals in a closed group and at low numbers. In-breeding is continually emphasized. Their populations were rapidly reduced to less than 1, remaining animals 20 years later. Recent reintroduction of bison for meat production has brought back herd numbers and has helped diversify livestock operations across the Great Plains.
In general, the internal workings of bison are similar to cattle, insofar as they are both ruminants with a four-chambered stomach. Bison retain many wild traits lost in cattle that include large flight-zone distances, short tempers and overall minimal domestication traits. As a general rule, expect bison to behave more like wildlife than domesticated livestock.
As such, low-stress, low-pressure stockmanship and ensuring that handling facilities are built to reduce animal stress will reduce the chance of injury to the animal and the handler. Bison are extremely sensitive to stress, which can lead to reduced animal performance at best and animal death at worst. In the field recognizing these elevated stress and defensiveness levels is critical and may be identified by the following: panting, raising of tail, or in extreme circumstances laying down, passing out and cessation of breathing ultimately dying.
Defensiveness also stress-related is exhibited by snorting, bellowing, tails straight up, pawing the ground, bluff charges, attack charges and trampling. However, bison are more resistant than cattle to extreme weather events, such as blizzards and heat waves. Given adequate nutrition, bison cows will produce calves annually after two years-of-age and live to be 20—30 years-of-age.
This longevity comes with a tradeoff in that bison grow more slowly than typical beef cattle due to a lower and more variable metabolic rate.
Bison herd behavior is dictated by both size of herd and seasonal cycles. Small herds fewer than 30 individuals behave as a cohesive nuclear unit, led by the dominant hierarchy of elder matriarchal cows. The other members of the herd maintain a hierarchy of less-dominant females, such as betas who operate as herd sentries that monitor nearby threats and safety, as well as rank-and-file, sub-adult individuals, twolings, yearlings and calves.
Satellite bachelor groups of young males two-to-five years old will form and the older males greater than six years old will often be solitary for most of the year. During rut July—September , the males will regroup with the main herd for competition and breeding. Heightened herd aggressiveness is also exhibited during calving season, when cows are particularly defensive for their newborns. Anecdotally, total herd sizes greater than 30 individuals remain more calm than smaller herds.
Bison prefer to consume grasses, sedges, some seasonal forbs and may browse woody plants and other plants when preferred forage is unavailable. Like cattle and other bovines, bison only have lower incisor teeth and a hard-upper palette. However, unlike cattle, bison have different grazing habits. Whereas cattle will favor an area and heavily utilize it before moving on, bison will instead graze lightly while ranging over a larger area — thereby reducing grazing pressure at individual points relative to the whole pasture, but may also have favorite areas that are revisited more consistently.
Additionally, due to their larger body size, bison have increased forage digestion retention time compared to cattle, which allows them to digest poorer forages more efficiently. However, basic stocking rate-based management is still critical—overstocked bison will still overgraze a pasture, just as cattle will. Another distinctive characteristic of bison is their wallowing behavior.
By wallowing, bison expedite the shedding of fur while the dust helps protect their skin from irritation and pests. The shedding, or molting, of winter fur also helps to disperse seeds of both grasses and desirable forbs. These wallows are often found in the middle of a pasture and should be left on the landscape and not be filled in, as they often serve to add plant and animal diversity to rangelands.
Should these bison wallows get filled, the bison will simply open a new wallow elsewhere. Thus, these wallows should be considered temporary sacrificial areas when determining stocking rates. According to the U. As such, managing herd health is critical for reducing potential death in the herd. Bison, like all animals, are susceptible to various pathogens, gastro-intestinal parasites and nutritional deficiencies and toxicities. The National Bison Association has an in-depth guide on bison disease that may be purchased through their online resources.
Common, tell-tale signs of unhealthy bison include emaciation, lethargy, coughing and voluntary seclusion from the herd. It is important to monitor these behavioral and body condition scores for changes out of normal.
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