IBC2000-5 Marketing

Bison as Part of an Integrated Farming Program

Josie Van Lent-Staden
Staden Farms Ltd.
Box 3477
Vermilion,  AB   Canada  T9X 2B4

Transcribed text edited from the audio-tape of the presentation.

The following article was originally presented at the International Bison Conference in Edmonton, Alberta in August 2000.  The conference covered a wide array of bison topics including production, marketing, genetics, history and much more.  This article has been reprinted with the permission of the IBC2000 Chairman.

We are a family farm. Three generations work together at Staden Farms which is one of the oldest in Alberta. We have a Simmental beef herd that has been in the family since day one and grow a variety of crops that include canola, wheat, barley, lentils and peas, as well as forage crops for our livestock. We raise the cattle, bison and elk along with a few horses to help out. It is a very busy place. Our season starts in February with calving the beef cows, velveting the elk in March, calving the elk, then grain farming, haying, harvesting and finally breeding the elk. Some people say we are diversified, some days I say we are spread pretty thin. Diversification impacts how and why we mange our farm the way we do. Decisions are made on an economic basis.

Cost of the land is an important factor. A quarter of land in our area that would produce 45-65 bushels of wheat would cost about CAN$65,000-75,000. The land costs the same whether it is used for grazing or grain. If you choose to rent land it is about $30 per acre. The value of this land resource must be considered when determining the cost of grazing versus the cost of supplemental feeding, particularly in regards to our bison herd.

Our soil is Chernozemic Black and is extremely variable - ranging from light sandy soil where we graze the bison to rich soil currently under grain production. We farm 4500 acres and are renting a further 800 for grain farming. This supports 450 head of livestock, which includes the bison, cattle and elk. Our main grain crop is canola, an oil seed crop that competes in the soybean market but we also grow peas, barley, wheat, oats and feed for our bison and other livestock. We are converting some grain land to forage and will continue to do so as market demands. Forages are a part of our cropping rotation especially with hay for the beef cattle although we don’t rotate for the bison because of the fencing. Our pastures have several different grasses, Meadow Brome, Orchard Grass, Alfalfa up to 50% and Crested Wheat Grass.

Moisture is another significant factor. Our rainfall on average is 7-10 inches per year although in the last 15 years it has ranged from 2-5 inches in 1998 to this year’s accumulation which will be about 10-12 inches. Because our rainfall is so variable it impacts on our forage production and is a limiting element that must be considered. We have a 95-110 day growing season with long hard winters where snowfall can be significant. 

Livestock

Our Simmental beef herd starts calving in February when it is very cold here. The calving for this herd is  labor intensive and was one of the reasons we looked at bison. Our elk enterprise is managed very intensively with extensive record keeping. We sell selective breeding stock, velvet bulls and have a small velvet herd, but it is the breeding stock that we concentrate on. We do spend a lot time in advertising and promotion of the elk herd. We also run a few horses, mostly for entertainment although they help us move cows through the bush areas of our farm when we cannot get in with quads.

 We added bison in 1990 starting with feeder bulls. This allowed us to learn about the animal and an 8-16 month turn around gave us time to assess whether we wanted to continue in the bison business without the larger investment required for breeding stock. We found them easy to work with, enjoyed them, and saw the economics were favorable.

They are not labor intensive and are low maintenance. In late 1990, we bought our first breeding stock. Our top priority is fertility in the females and growth in the bulls.

Feed and Supplements

We try to run the bison on grass all year round, which includes winter grazing. So far this hasn’t restricted the bison very much. With limited rainfall and the cost of land, we have to supplement feed in the winter.  Ultimately, our goal is to produce top animals on year round grazing. We use rotational grazing in the summer for the bison but  because our pastures are from 60-120 acres, this is not done intensively. When the grass is down to 3-4 inches we move them. We are starting to pay more attention to this and I feel we can do a better job in this area.

We have learned that if bison go into the winter in good condition, they can lose weight.  So we use a maintenance ration and we have been very impressed with how well they do on lower quality feed, in comparison to our other livestock. We have fed pea straw, lentil screenings, lentil straw, and oat or barley greenfeed. They appear to thrive on all types of forage. Depending on the winter, we have occasionally fed grain supplements to our cows. In the winter our bison cows get 10 lbs. of average quality hay and 10 lbs. of straw per day. This is put through a processor to grind it up. We aim for 7-10% protein and 1 Mcal energy per pound feed. 

The bison cows in calving season are left pretty much on their own. They are checked once a week. We select for calving ease and let Mother Nature take the weaker ones. Prior to calving we do supplement the cows’ feed if they are short on selenium, phosphorus or vitamin A. In our area, we have a selenium deficiency. The vitamins and minerals are added to rolled oats (1-2 lbs. per head). We use the rolled oats to reduce the settling out of the vitamins and minerals. One particular year, our cows were on a lower quality feed during the winter and we did not feed minerals prior to calving. We consequently had some problems with cows being slow to clean with some retaining placentas.  Within ten days of introduced supplemental minerals, the problem was solved. We now watch this quite closely.

At breeding time we will flush the cows depending on the quality of pasture. If the pasture is good and they have come out of the winter in good condition we may not. If we do flush, about 4 weeks prior to breeding, they are given rolled oats with vitamins and minerals, but no protein supplements.

Our young bulls, in the winter, get a growing ration of 12-14% protein, 1.1 Mcal per lb. feed.  They are on self feed where we can regulate and measure what they eat. They consume about 6-8 lbs. of oats per day as well as unlimited good quality hay. I believe that the young bulls should be allowed to reach their growth potential. We aim for good growth, but I am not a proponent of high energy feeds for growing animals.  I believe it may affect the semen quality in breeding bulls and reduce their longevity. In females it may affect their long term milk production.

Health

The bison cows with calves are gathered once a year in the fall.  After tagging, the calves are then returned to the herd so we can match the cows to the calves. We dehorn all of the animals destined to remain in our herd, but do not dehorn animals for sale - unless a buyer specifically requests it. We double tag for ease of identification.  About ten days to two weeks later they are gathered again for deworming and they are vaccinated with Cattle Master 3 (IBR, PI3 and BVD).  We do this because our equipment moves back and forth between groups of elk and beef as well as the bison, so we try to protect all the livestock by complete vaccinations.

Horn flies are a problem at our farm in the summer. We use oilers to try and combat this.

Bulls

Our young bulls are kept until they are 15-16 months old at which time we select for breeding potential. The bulls that do not make the cut as breeding bulls are sold as feeders to other operations. We also buy other weanling bulls and put them with ours. This offers buyers a selection of genetics and allows us to compare our genetics to other lines. We weigh them for ADG information and we keep records on the maternal side. We also keep records on the cows so we know what they have been producing.

Our breeding bulls are put with 10-15 cows. We buy top quality bulls to be sires in our herd. We do not single sire mate due to the cost, but with DNA testing genetics can be traced, although this can be costly as well. We do look forward to the day we are able to implement DNA testing as we feel it is important to be able to trace genetics on all calves born and especially bull carcasses.

Fencing

Our bison fencing consists of 6 strands High Tensile Smooth Wire on 5’2”posts (above ground height) spaced 15’ apart. The middle wire is hot. We train the young bison in a small pasture with electric fence and have had no escapes. This fencing is economical but very well suited to the bison. Page wire is much more costly.

Equipment

Equipment on the farm is for the grain operation first but the same tractors and bale processors can be used for feeding all our livestock. We do try whenever possible to use  equipment for multi purposes and feel this makes good economic sense.

The Scale is one of the most important tools we have. It is portable and so can be used for the bison, elk and the beef animals. It enables us to measure the cow’s milking ability and is also helps us evaluate our genetics.

Our handling system, like our scale, is multi purpose as well. Because of the high cost, we decided not to build it like Fort Knox. Although some permanent fencing is in place for the bison facilities we use portable pens in much of our system and have found them to be very effective. We have learned a lot about handling the bison and have made changes as needed such as corners that cause jams. The system is a typical S curve with a crowding pen. It seems that the more experienced we become at handling the less facilities we need.

Marketing

We do not pursue the marketing of the bison as intensely as we do the elk. We do some advertising in The Tracker and other publications and sell all bison off the farm. Many of our buyers find the records of weight and ROG helpful and want that information.

Final Remarks

We are very proud to be part of this industry and have enjoyed our association with the other producers. In spite of all the other directions our farming operations take us we have found this to be challenging and very interesting. We are happy to be doing this.