n The Bison Producers' Handbook A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING n The Bison Producers' Handbook A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments . 5 Foreword . 7 Bison Through History By Robert Pickering, Ph .D . 9 The Early Days: Ranchers’ Role in Bison Restoration . 21 Native Herds Pushed to the Fringes . 35 The Bison Business Today . 39 Characteristics and Behavior of the American Bison . 47 The Pasture Environment . 57 Modern Bison Handling Systems . 69 Selecting the Right Foundation Stock . 77 Small Scale Management . 85 Large Scale Bison Management . 91 Low Stress Bison Handling . 99 Bison Health . 117 Grass Finishing Bison . 135 Finishing Bison with Grain . 145 The Farmers’ Market Option for Selling Bison Meat . 155 Selling Directly to Restaurants and Retail . 167 Commercial Marketing of Bison . 173 Marketing your Bison Business on the Internet . 177 Social Media, The New Marketing Tool . 181 Utilizing Specialized Marketing Claims . 185 Buffalo Field Harvest . 191 Value Added Bison Products . 195 Agritourism in the Bison Industry - A Growing Opportunity . 199 Gate to Plate Bison Operation . 205 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Cow-Calf Bison Production . 209 An Urban Boy Dives into Bison . 217 A New York State of Mind . 227 The Difference Bbetween a Very Expensive Hobby and a Business . 233 Woodland Farm – Converting from Grain to Grass . 243 Finding Your Place in the Bison Business . 249 It Starts with a Business Plan . 257 Business Plan Guidelines . 262 USDA FSA Loan Programs . 271 Navigating the Regulatory Minefield . 281 Regulatory Resources . 285 Glossary . 289 Index . 293 4 BISON PRODUCERS’ HANDBOOK n Acknowledgments To the Bison. You taught us everything in this book. Be patient, we’re still learning. The National Bison Association first and foremost thanks the dedicated individuals who shared their expertise and experience to contribute the material of this handbook. You exemplify the character of our business; the willingness to help others come along to be a part of this unique slice of American agriculture, and a growing part of the American culinary experience. We also acknowledge the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency and SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research Education) for providing the financial support for this handbook as part of two grants awarded to the NBA by the agencies to strengthen the capacity of bison producers to provide better strategies to mitigate risks. There are numerous people not mentioned in the bylines, who fact-checked information. You may not be named, but thank you nonetheless. And, thanks to Sue Carter for proofreading these chapters, even as her computer was hacked, causing the need for double-proofing in some instances. We would also like to thank our intern, Alexandria White, for committing her time and talent to the development of this book. Thank you to all who have helped bring the bison business to its point of vitality today. You may not be in the bylines of the chapters, but you have contributed to the base of knowledge in these pages. Ultimately, all thanks go to the bison. Conventional agriculture today is based on producing commodities…generic items grown as quickly as possible, and processed as cheaply as feasible. We are not conventional. Anyone involved with buffalo can likely tell you the first time they looked into the eyes of one of these animals. Bison ranchers don’t produce a commodity; we raise an animal whose hoof print has shaped the ecosystem in which we live. That’s why this producers’ handbook begins with a chapter that describes the pictographs in the ancient caves of France. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 5 n Foreword Three decades ago, the ranchers founding the American Buffalo Association—one of the two organizations that merged to create the National Bison Association in 1995— published the Buffalo Breeders’ Handbook and Directory. A copy is on my office bookshelf. The other night, I sat down and read through that 56 page magazine-style handbook. Much of the production and handling information in that initial edition could have been entitled “What we’ve learned from cattle.” After all, most of the ranchers getting into bison at the time were converting from cattle operations. Their knowledge, and their frame of reference, was based on cattle. So, the logical advice seemed to be on how to handle bison like beef animals. There were even segments on dehorning and hoof trimming. In terms of marketing, the readers were treated to extensive information on selling breeding stock, buying and selling at auctions, and how to construct private treaty sales. Oh, and there was a paragraph on selling to diet and health food stores, four paragraphs on selling to restaurants, and a paragraph on selling to special events. The producers involved in compiling that initial Buffalo Breeders’ Handbook were working with the best knowledge available at the time. The commercial bison business was in its infancy. These ranchers were true pioneers; willing to step outside their comfort zone—risking the snickers and criticism of their neighbors—to move into largely unchartered waters. Through the years, these magnificent animals have taught us a lot. The production-oriented focus in the 1980’s and 90’s gave way to a meat marketing emphasis after the market crash of 2000. By 2010, retail stores, chefs, and homemakers in growing numbers had embraced the great taste, nutritional attributes, and sustainable ranching story of bison. FORWARD 7 Since then, our business has enjoyed an unprecedented period of strength and stability. We are striving to build upon that foundation by providing newcomers and seasoned ranchers alike with valuable, practical information that will allow us to continue to meet our customers’ evolving expectations. This handbook reflects the growth—in scale, and in knowledge—of our business over the past three decades. More than 25 producers and marketers have contributed material for this edition. Their combined experience in the bison business represents hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge. The information they share in these pages is rooted in years of practical experience in raising healthy bison, and in developing a connection with customers in retail stores, restaurants, farmers’ markets and other venues. If you are a newcomer, congratulations. Reading this handbook can serve as the best immersion into our young and exciting business. If you’ve been around for a few years, we hope you’ll pick up some new thoughts and tips from your fellow producers and marketers. And, we hope this book will remain on your bookshelf as a ready reference… at least until the next edition comes out with newer information. There was one more thing that struck me as I leafed through the yellowing pages of that 1985 handbook. Several of the names—and the faces—in that publication are still active, contributing participants in the National Bison Association and the buffalo business. Buffalo people persevere. I think that each of those veterans, along with those who helped author this book, will agree that written information is valuable, but our true knowledge comes from the animal. Every day spent with bison will provide great insight and understanding. Let the journey continue. DAVE CARTER Executive Director National Bison Association 8 BISON PRODUCERS’ HANDBOOK n Bison Through History BY ROBERT PICKERING, PH.D FIGURE 1.1 John Dare Howland’s painting attempts to capture the grand scale of the bison herds west of the Mississippi. The bison looking at the skull in the foreground symbolizes the end of the free ranging era. The Ice Age story of bison begins in a world very different from the one in which we live today. The Pleistocene epoch, as it is called by scientists, lasted from about 1.8 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, a high percentage of the Earth’s water was impounded in massive ice sheets, resulting in a significant drop in sea level around the world. Shallow coastal areas became dry land. The narrow watery channel, known as the Bering Straits, which exists today between North America and Siberia, would have been a wide, low, and wet plain where many generations of animals and early humans could have lived their entire lives or migrated into North America. During the Ice Age, not all of the northern portions of the globe were covered continuously by glaciers. There were alternating periods of cold and relative warmth. A rich environment of plants and animals adapted and flourished in this harsh climate. Along with Steppe bison (the Ice Age ancestor of today’s bison), woolly mammoth, mastodons, woolly rhinoceros, musk ox, horses, and camels were large grazing animals that populated the Pleistocene or Ice Age landscape. Bison, like most of the other herbivores, ranged over major parts of northern Europe, Asia, and North America. Many of these species, except perhaps for the horse and the musk ox, were larger than similar animals today. Large body size has some adaptive advantages in cold climates. BISON THROUGH HISTORY 9 A bigger, more compact body mass reduces heat loss. Longer, thicker body hair also provided some protection from the cold and would have been a noticeable physical difference compared to today’s animals. FIGURE 1.2 What is often referred to as the Bering Land Bridge was actually a large area of dry land connecting Asia to North America for roughly two million years. The people who lived in Europe, especially in southern France and northern Spain, depicted dynamic and beautiful paintings of many of these animals on the walls of caves such as Lascaux, Altamira, and Chauvet. In fact, the Ice Age bison is the most commonly depicted animal on the cave walls. The frequency probably denotes the importance of the bison to early humans.