Tell me about owning bison?

Question

I know many individuals here in Washington state own bison. They keep them on large pieces of property. I am curious to know some more information about this. How does one own a bison? What are the basics of caring for a bison, such as property, food and needs? Do Bison do better housed with other bison?

Answer 1

bison are big strong animals  and are still pretty wild less desease than cattle faster growing  dont require grain to produce a finnished product meat is leaner you can find bison for sale all over try the net grass and water and real strong fence

Answer 2

hmm... they are big and furry...

and are gonna be expensive..

and maybe hard to take care of..

Answer 3

I have been to a farm that owned Bison, they raised them for meat :( anyways they had a large herd, they also had horses in the same pasture. I dont know if keeping horses in the same pasture is a good idea, I know  your not sapposed to keep cattle with horses because horses can catch leptospirosis from the cattle (unless vac'd??)

They feed the bison hayand some type of grain, maybe specific to the bison.

My sis is into bison she also want to have one on the farm one day. There was a lady on Petstar the had a pet bison and he was friendly and social...that would take alot of love.

well..i probably didnt answer ur question, but my 2cents is free:)

Answer 4

I answered this question also for you in the zoology section.  I grew up in Washington, only moving from there three years ago (now live in Idaho).  

Eastern WA, or Western WA?  Laws are the same of course, but care is different, because of the extremely different weather conditions.  

Here's the WSDA site (Washington State Department of Agriculture).  At the top of the site, there is a button labled search.  Click that, and then type Bison into the search box.  It will bring up all the laws/regulation for the WSDA on bison for you.  Bison also fall under the jurisdiction of Fish & Game, so there will be another set of rules/regs you need to research.

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/docs/...

Are you thinking about getting into the bison business?

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 5

They make horrible house pets!

Answer 6

I don't know a lot about raising them, but I do know that the fences need to be extra strong. Their not quite like cattle, they have a tendency to stampede at the drop of a hat. And when they do stampede, a regular barbwire fence wont hold them. A stray Dog, noise, thunder or lightning, etc. can set them off. Not to mention, their a little more temperamental than cattle. Even if their use to you, don't turn your back to them. Especially A Bull or Mother with a calf. The Bulls will try to protect their herds, and the mothers will protect their calves. Even if that means to run (stampede).