Winter brings a series of changes to the Houston County landscape each year; wind blown snowdrifts, busy snowmobile trails, and the sudden appearance of a herd of bison along Highway 44 west of Caledonia. The shaggy beasts that stoically make their winter residence near the junction of Highway 44 and Gap drive belong to Steve and Linda Fruechte of Buffalo Hills Bison, local bison ranchers since 1993.
“In the fall before we’ve got the corn harvested people are asking, ‘when you going to put the buffalo out,”’ chuckled Steve. “I still see people stop and pull in the driveway and take pictures.”
Despite the increasing number of bison raised in North America, for many travelers they are still a unique find, a reminder of their once crippled status only a century ago when overall population numbers bottomed out at nearly 600 animals.
“Ever since I was a little kid, there was always something about the buffalo that intrigued me,” said Fruechte.
Steve and Linda purchased their first 12 bison in 1993 to capture the plentiful resources on their unused pasture land. Since then their herd has grown to over 200 animals gathered from several producers in Iowa, Minn. and Wisc. and as far away as Custer State Park in S.D. and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in N.D.
A growing movement
On a sunny afternoon last week I tagged along as Steve pulled six round bales out to the pasture, enough forage to keep this herd satisfied for three days. Like hungry cattle, many followed the tractor in anticipation.
The increasing popularity of bison meat the past two decades has paralleled the local and natural food movements. “There’s a lot of people looking for alternative healthier and locally grown food, so it’s getting to be more accepted,” commented Fruechte. “It’s gone from people who would just try it for something different to customers who for different reasons bison is the only red meat they eat now.”
Steve cited their experiences at the state fair over the years as one indicator of bison meat’s growing popularity. “The first few years we worked at the booth at the state fair and there would maybe be a few people that had tried a buffalo burger in the Black Hills. A few years later there were more. Then people were asking where to buy the meat. Now people are asking what stores have it. People know it’s available.”
“Meat sales have been growing industry wide,” Fruechte said. Statistics verify that statement. Consumer demand for bison meat grew 17% in 2007, the fourth straight year of double digit growth.
Previously, the industry was in a slump from 1999-2003 when the market was overstocked and live animals too expensive for producers to purchase new stock. Added to that were complications with shipping after 9/11 and the opening of US markets to Canadian producers.
“The last few years we lost some producers, especially in the west with the big droughts,” Fruechte explained. Producer cutbacks combined with increasing demand has turned the market around. “Quite often we’re out of different items until the next time we butcher,” Fruechte noted.
Despite the troubled economy sales remain good and even a little better than average. “People always have to eat and they are wanting to get the most out of their food dollar,” Fruechte said. “It’s more nutrient dense meat. You fry up a burger and when you’re done, the burger is almost the same size as you start out. People like that about it.”
“Bison price doesn’t fluctuate like the beef price,” Fruechte continued. “When beef goes up and down, bison goes with the supply and demand.” It used to be bison meat cost double the price of beef. Fruechte explained that now as beef prices have increased, the gap has narrowed. Ground bison typically costs about $5/lb. while beef ranges from $3-4/lb. Bison steaks usually start at $7/lb.
About one third of Fruechte’s sales come from their website. Weekly they find themselves shipping products as far away as Texas, Florida, and Washington D.C. They also rely on direct marketing to local retail outlets, restaurants, and consumers themselves. During warmer months Fruechte regularly sells at the Cameron Park and Festival Foods farmer’s markets in La Crosse and the La Crescent farmer’s market. He says it’s difficult to stereotype customers since people have different reasons for choosing bison meat.
Besides meat, Fruechte will occasionally sell a hide or skull. “In the winter time when we get some nice hides we’ll get them tanned,” Fruechte said. “I’ve had a few Native Americans that wanted to make drums so we use the summer hides for that. I’ve had people want skulls for wall hangings.” Additionally, the winter coats bison shed can be used to make cashmere.
By the numbers
The North American bison herd numbers at approximately 450,000 animals, 198,234 of which comprise the US population according to The National Bison Association. 20,000 of these animals reside on public lands while the rest are raised on 4,499 farms and ranches found in every state of the union. While still a far cry from the estimated 30 million or more that once roamed the continent, these numbers represent an astonishing comeback over the past century.
According to The National Bison Association, in 2007, nearly 50,000 bison were processed under USDA inspection, a number nearly double the processed total in 2002. By comparison, an average of 125,000 beef cattle are processed daily in the U.S. Despite the growing popularity of bison, it still comprises only a fraction of the meat consumed in the U.S.
Five years ago Fruechte sold some animals to Cuba on two separate occasions, making local headlines after the US lifted some trade embargo regulations. Since then he hasn’t heard much either way on how the bison are doing but added the small country has been rocked by successive hurricanes the past few years, diverting attention elsewhere.
Promising future
“I don’t really think it will get like the beef industry, especially where they have packer ownership,” speculated Fruechte. “We (the bison industry) are too small for that. It takes a certain kind of person to want to work with buffalo. Everything is on their terms. Everything has to be done at a slower pace.” This prompted him to pull out the old adage among bison ranchers; “you can herd a buffalo anywhere it wants to go.”
While rotational grazing for beef herds is becoming an increasingly popular practice, bison naturally graze in a rotational cycle without any prodding from the farmer. Fruechte explained, “in the morning they’ll be in one pasture and in the afternoon another. A beef cow will tend to stand in one place and eat everything that’s there and then move a little bit. Buffalo, given the room, will take a few bites and then step, another bite and then a step.”
During the tractor ride through the pasture, I learned bison prefer grass to alfalfa. Fruechte offers corn and oats for animals approaching a visit to the butcher’s shop. “The main reason we give some grain is people were more accustomed to the taste of a grain finished animal,” Fruechte explained. “Now its kind of going opposite. We’ve had people requesting strictly grass fed.”
Nearby a bison wallowed in the dirt. Fruechte pointed out that bison cannot roll over like a dog because of the hump on their back. Instead, they have to dust off one side, get up, and lay back down to scratch the other side. The hump is muscle mass that gives the bison strength in its neck, allowing for it to burrow under deep snows for food. Today, however, those muscles proved unnecessary as the herd casually munched away on the freshly strewn hay in the pasture along Highway 44.
With an increased focus on healthy food choices, more consumer awareness about the benefits of bison meat and a desire for locally and sustainably produced foods, it seems the future of the bison market looks promising, if not for the animals themselves, at least for the bison rancher.
