Buffalo

   / Buffalo #1  

TWINKLE_TOES

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I have concidered for years raising Buffalo, not for fun, but for food/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. I could use some advise from anyone with a thought. How hard are these critters to raise and what does it take to hold em. I raised Angus for a while and spent all my time rebuilding the fence line, switched to Herford's and never had a problem (same fences).
 
   / Buffalo #2  
Allen, I like eating buffalo, but don't know much about raising them. From what little I've seen, heard, and read, if you think those Angus were hard to keep fenced, you ain't seen nothing yet./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Many years ago, I walked up to a new 6' chain link fence with a buffalo cow, bull, and calf on the other side. With no running start at all, the bull just lowered his head and pushed me and that fence back about 3 feet (and I very quickly put a lot more ground between me and him). And several years ago, Janie Fricke (country singer) lived in Lancaster (a suburb on the south edge of Dallas) and had a couple of buffalo. I don't know whether she and/or the buffalo are still there or not, but I know a lot of folks got unhappy with her buffalo getting out and roaming around the countryside.

Bird
 
   / Buffalo #3  
Allen, I know a few places in Oregon that raised Buffalo, and one that raised 'Beefalo'. The Buffalo were contained in a corral that was utilizing railroad ties, with 3X12 crossties. Occasionally, they managed to knock them down.
As to what you could actually keep them in with, 'rotsa-ruck'! Steel fences, maybe.
 
   / Buffalo #4  
Allen, I know what you mean about Angus being fence crawlers. I once saw an Angus bull go thru a 12 strand barb wire fence. Some months later the same bull was out on a roadway and was hit by a Bexar County Sheriffs car that was going high speed on a call. the two deputies in the car were both killed.
On the other hand, I had a little Red Angus bull, who wouldn't leave even if the fence was down. Best bull I've ever had when it came to staying home. It's my understanding that it's the same breed, just a different color.
I've heard that Bison are no harder to take care of then cattle, but as has been pointed out they are no respectors of fence. There are several ranches in the Texas Hill Country that raise them along with exotics. The major type of fencing that I have seen is made with drill stem pipe and what looks like no climb wire. Very high, I might add. I know Axis deer have escaped in mass, but haven't heard anything about Buffalo. I wonder how you go about rounding up an escaped Buffalo?

ErnieB
"We were surrounded by some gross, proud, and victorious men. Anyone who knows the character of the North Americans can judge what our situation must have been."
Jose Juan Sanchez Navarro
 
   / Buffalo #5  
Scruffy, in 1951, when I was a kid in the 4-H and showing hogs at a county fair, one of the side show "freaks" was a bison/cow cross that they were claiming at the time to be the only one in existence. I think it cost a quarter to get in to see it, and I believe they called it a "cattalo". Of course, for several years now I've heard of the beefalo and wonder just how long they've been doing that and how much of it's done.

Bird
 
   / Buffalo #6  
Here you go Bird, http://www.ababeefalo.org/aba14.htm Scroll down untill you get to Beefalo

ErnieB
"We were surrounded by some gross, proud, and victorious men. Anyone who knows the character of the North Americans can judge what our situation must have been."
Jose Juan Sanchez Navarro
 
   / Buffalo #7  
Bird,
Ernie's posted url will give you a better insight than I can, with the exception of one point I did not see mentioned in the artical. The Beefalo produces a leaner meat than the (as they say) bovine. It is a very fine quality meat, and is NOT raised in sufficient quantity to meet the demand for it. If you have the acreage, and need to diversify, it is an excellant stock to raise. The problem in startup, is the high cost of the breeder livestock, but should be totally recoverable in time.

There is/was two businesses that dealt with Beefalo in Bend Oregon, Tom Tom's Restuarant, and Wagners SuperMarket. They had a contract with a local central Oregon ranch for the meat, but the ranch's quantity was not up to the ability to supply the supermarket full time....the restuarants business was predicated on a fulltime supply and had priority on delivery. Even so, the market had the meat in stock probably 70% of the time, and it didn't last long! Good eatin'!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 12/11/00 00:03 AM.</FONT></P>
 
   / Buffalo #8  
Aren't there two types of Buffalo?
One blood line in lower out west and one upper out west.

I heard long time ago that Buffalo carry a disease thats dangerous to cattle..would this be true?

Up here in the pucker brush were able to buy beefalo meet $$$ but I never tried it.
What does Buffalo meet taste like...something like Mule Deer?

We never had a Angus bull on the farm, /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gifbut I sure heard some story how temperamental /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif those booger heads can be.

I would think once a Buffalo has his or her mine made up there really no fence that could stop them..something like a Moose.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Buffalo #9  
ErnieB, that's very interesting reading. Of course, I'd like to know something about the downside, too, if there is one. If you assume all that information from a Beefalo association is accurate, it would make you wonder why everyone isn't raising them instead of pure bovines.

And as you might expect from a carnival side show, their claim that the cattalo I saw in 1951 was the only one in existence was apparently stretched a bit./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

I've only eaten buffalo a couple of times; don't know that I've ever had beefalo. Without considering nutritional aspects, but going solely on taste, I told my wife if it were cheaper than beef, I'd eat it all the time, but as long as it costs more than beef, I probably wouldn't pay the difference. That's the same way I feel about venison and moose.

Bird
 
   / Buffalo #10  
I live about 10 min. from one of the largest (if not the largest) bison ranches in the NE. Specifically about 35 miles SE of Buffalo, NY. Here is there adress. They don't have a web site.
B & B Buffalo Ranch
Horn Hill Road IN
Ellicottville, NY 14731
(716)699-8813
What an ausome sight to see hundreds of buffalo ranging over the hills.
 
 
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