The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. bison industry is trying to convince more ranchers to raise bison thanks to a rising demand for bison burgers and steaks. Retailers such as Whole Foods Market Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co. are seeing increased demand and its sending processors and markets on a mission to round up more producers.
One major hurdle to recruiting ranchers: convincing them to handle animals that can grow to the size of a Mini Cooper, and sometimes get ornery.
“That’s like sticking bobcats in gunnysacks,” said Lee Graese, a former bodybuilder who raises bison with his wife, Mary, a dietitian, near Rice Lake, Wis. “If you can run into it at 35 miles per hour with your pickup and it’s still standing, you’ve got a pen that’ll hold a bison.”
Bison-meat sales might only command a fraction of the $100 billion in sales of other protein sources such as beef, chicken or pork. Bison meat sales came in at a respectible $340 million last year, according to data from the National Bison Association and the demand keeps growing, averaging 22{75e25ebeb47fb4337942be2c10689dca1c292c2a66240b62c5ca4214f5b25ecc} growth over the past 5 years. But bison producers say their meat boasts an edge in the marketplace as consumers seek out more naturally raised protein.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
photo: CC0 Public Domain
