Bison vs. Cattle?

Question

I am looking into starting a herd of either a good beef breed (angus cross herefords) or american bison. Would it be better to breed or raise for beef? What are the pros and cons of both? The initial start up for bison is high and the marketing is tougher but I hear good things about raising bison. Is there money in either? I'm in the midwest. Lots of questions but any help would be great.

Answer 1

Trust me, yahoo answers is not the place to get answers on raising cattle.  You actually have to learn this stuff.

Answer 2

I'd much prefer to start a triple cross of British breeds: Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn.

Bison has a tiny little market than can change at any time.

People just eats bison as a curiosity, not for its quality.

Besides, if some time something happens to the bison market, you'd find yourself stucked with that herd with no possibility of comercialization.

Answer 3

COWS COWS COWS COWS!!!

Answer 4

Bison is a great idea, however if your in this for the money.... I would go with beef because it is more widely known and used. If however you are not pinched for cash, Bison would be priced higher than beef if you have the time to wait for buyers or if you decide to undercut the beef market and sell for less per pound than beef. In the long run... It's what more important to you. Good Luck

Answer 5

All of the above.  Bison can be extremely dangerous to handle.  They will go right through ordinary fences and/or  jump fences.  The bison are shoulder heavy and rear end light.  The money meat in cattle is in the rear.  Filet mignon, T-bone and other steaks.  The only expensive cuts in the front quarter are the rib steaks.  Probably the best cuts, by the way.  But overall the shoulder is stew meat and ground beef.  The opposite build is eg the Simmental, which has a much larger hind quarter than the front quarter in contrast to bison and also bigger than most other breeds.  It is also a gentle breed with very good mothering and fertility aspects.  They range up in the Alps and thrive there.  They grow fast and have tender and tasty meat because of that.  We have weaned calves at 6 months that weighed 1000 lbs.  We had an 18 month steer that was 1600 lbs.  The butchers complain that the carcass is too big for their conveyors and hanging hooks.  We had filet Mignon's that filled the entire plate, and were so tender that you could use the fork to cut it up.  The Swiss keep them in their basements in the winter.  They help heat the house.  They cross very well with all other breeds and the heifers are frequently kept as replacement heifers.  The Japanese like only black cattle.  They are a big market, so Angus is preferred by them.

Answer 6

john h has some wonderful points.  I have eaten bison, and I love the taste.  That being said, here are the problems with bison.

1 - they are BIG

2 - they are very temperamental, and can get nasty for no discernible reason.  Should they decide to do so, you had better have way to get out of the way, or you're going to be pounded into gravy.

3 - because of the above two issues, they are very difficult to handle, transport, and keep confined.  The only fence I've ever seen to work is a concrete one, not exactly the cheapest way to enclose a pasture.  They also need heavy duty trailers, feeders and other equipment, they will beat the regular stuff to death in short order, just out of boredom.  Most importantly, not every stockyard will deal with them, you will have to have your purchasers lined up in advance, preferably by contract.

There have been several bison farms started in my area.  ALL of them are shut down now, because these animals are just so difficult to manage.  There's a reason the Native Americans never domesticated them, and I certainly don't consider them domesticated now, just because we've managed to build strong enough fences to confine them.

Personally, I'm a fan of both Angus and Herefords.  The meat tastes great, and they're of easily manageable size, and good temperament.  Depending on herd size, you can go with either A.I. (artificial insemination) or keep a bull.  Angus bulls are surprisingly easy to manage, both in size and temperament.  Get the best bloodlines you can afford, and keep working to improve them.  A.I. gives you more flexibility there.  If you want to increase your profit margin, go with grass fed and/or organic, and make arrangements with a local specialty meat market.  Be sure to do this well in advance, so you don't wind up with all of your extra effort landing in the stockyard for lack of a better option.  If you go with purebred Angus, you'll have the additional advantage of all of the marketing fuss that's been made over that breed in the last several years.

Answer 7

Lots of serious management challenges with American Bison but the finished product has great potential, it just needs more promotion. It has not even been introduced to Asia yet. If you want to sell beef, think about organic grass fed beef.  This is coming from an old feedlot cowboy.

Answer 8

Get a stronger fence. Bolted Gates, not latches. Have a few freinds on hand to help you catch strays. $Bison, Top dollar same work.  Black $Angus for cattle, if you must. The  future's so bright, you gotta wear shades, hahaa.

Answer 9

The primary financial advantages of raising bison as compared to raising cattle are: 1) Higher market prices, and 2) Lower expense due to several advantages:

less illness, veterinary expense and death loss, due to bison's superior hardiness, efficient feed utilization, and long reproductive life -- 3 to 4 times the life span of cattle.

Bison will also utilize marginal range that would starve cattle, but we recommend you give them the best you have available because, remember, you want to raise a superior product.

Bison on the hoof sell for 25% to 50% higher than beef animals with the strongest demand being breeding animals at this time. The prices being paid for calves (the breeders and feeders of the future) and breeding age females indicates a confidence in the future demand for bison meat. For the past decade the demand for bison has exceeded the supply. As the demand for lean meat continues to grow, likewise the demand for bison will grow for years to come.

Answer 10

I would personally go with the Angus cattle.(or any breed of cattle, I just like Angus personally! They don't call them the business breed for nothing!) There's a lot of possibilties in cattle- beef, breeding, sell club calves for shows. If you want to do either of the last two I would defintitely go for some registered breeds and not crossbreeds alone.

I don't everything that you have questions about, so instead of rambling on, I'm going to give you some websites to check out:

www.angus.org   American Angus Association

www.hereford.org  American Hereford Association

*A lot of states have their own angus & hereford sites so you might want to check yours out.

Another big business breed is Simmental.

www.simmental.org

www.beef.org

Answer 11

i know im young but i just did a repot on this i would say cattle simply because its easy to start and it will last your whole life i would highly suggest brangus (bruma+angus)because this animal is big and has a lot of good tender beef.

Answer 12

Well, the black baldy's are some of the best cows on Earth. Those are the mix between a black angus and herefords. Plus, if you have a good bull that is a black angus or Hereford, that makes some of the best calves u've ever seen. The Angus part gives easy birth and low birth rate and fast growth plus beef, and the Hereford part adds a lot of beef to it and a large stocky body frame. That allows the cows not to get worn down by the bull. They won't be as likely to break a bone or nothing. But as with Bison, they're real beefy and popular up north and out West. Beef Cattle bring the most money with anything. Hope this helped.

Answer 13

Though I would not personally put the energy into a food product that wastes environmental resources and has such a negative impact on health, the land and water, and animal abuse issues, people do, I realize want to eat meat and dairy. I do but I have young kids or I would go back to my good old ways. If I was to raise meat animals, I would start by looking at the market. There are niche markets out there especially when you consider the population of people like myself. We want a good quality product, raised without chemicals, raised in a nice friendly environment that is not this factory farm horror. And then I would like to know they were butchered humanely and cleanly. I would pay more and so would a lot of other people, not only those who feel as I do but also the market made for products produced under Jewish dietary law. The bison market did well a number of years ago but fell off after the novelty wore off, as did beefalo. Angus beef is consistently a better product flavor wise and has a huge restaurant demand, as well as not being a product that looses its acceptance with distance (bison might have a big following in the S. West but not in the N. East. You may want to consider just breeding if you have a good line but keep in mind that any of the goals I would insist on for myself might lose validity with a different end ( as in the 'end' does (not) justify the means). Bottom line, your conscience,  may be your wealth.

Answer 14

Cattle have the same if not more potential foe finical gain as bison do. I would use registered and papered cattle and work on selling genetics using the meat as a side product just think about how much a straw of s***n cost now think of how many staws you can get out of a single bull and if you own that bull there is a lot of money in your pocket. thats just one example, another is show cattle people pay top dollar for a good show calf. look into desired breeds for genetics such as Santa Gertrudis out of the king ranch in kings-ville Texas