Episode-1370- Raising Bison with Tim Frasier
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Tim with Trixie the Trained Bison.
Tim Frasier of FrasierBison.com and AllAboutBison.com has an Applied Science degree in Livestock Technology and says jokingly that he also has a PhD. from the-school-of-hard-knocks. He is a bison rancher, consulting specialist, marketer and bison-operations design specialist.
He has been helping ranchers working with buffalo for 20 years and has customers that are both large-scale and small buyers. Tim feels that commerce-based conservation’ is key to bison conservation and growth of their population.
Tim has been published on the subject of bison in: NBA Bison World, WBA Bison Review, Texas Bison Journal, Texas Wildlife Wire, Western Horseman, Performance Horse Magazine, Quarter Horse Journal, Buffalo Drum News & Multiple News papers.
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If anyone is interested, I happen to know of a bison ranch in Oregon for sale, just south of Salem. I looked at it, but it’s a little beyond what I want to do (they also have a USDA poultry processing facility). It’s called Rainshadow el Rancho.
just one more example of a show that I’m a little ho hum about going in and come out the other side loving it! Thanks jack! Great Episode!
Hmmm, I think I know that guy, lol!
Wow, can’t wait to listen to this interview!
Wow.. I was also skeptical to hear about Jaguars in TX and stunned at the confirmation. I have a large wooded acreage tract surrounded by about 3,000 more acres of woods 20 miles east of Burlington, TX. 2-3 years ago I found some big cat tracks (bigger than my fist). I found some reports of Pumas up around Waco and thought it was one of those. Plenty of deer And feral porkers around there to keep them happy for years. What a great Eco-tourism project! “Come on out and photograph the big kitty” (would likely have to prohibit firearms to make it a true Eco-challenge). Again I learn something new from TSP”! Thanks Jack, great guest today.
Last jag was shot in Austin 1908 until the return in recent time. Breeding population also known near Tucson. Friend up here in Gainesville near the river next to Dad’s place had big black cat jump past him coming out of the barn. He swears by it and saw it another time as well. He called out the sheriff over it.
Isn’t Sai from Duck Dynasty always rambling about sighting panthers in Louisiana?
When I installed Satellite TV, a woman in Cleveland TX told me a story where a few years she was sitting on her back porch right at dark and saw a black cat got her rifle put her scope on it and realized it was a young panther or Jag, she said her dad had always told her stories that he saw a big black panther on the same piece of property he was a kid, she said she thought it was cool and rare so she couldn’t bring herself to kill it…I don’t know why she would lie she didn’t benefit from it and she was a very nice woman
Great interview! Very informative. Would love to see more interviews like this: livestock, fruit, or vegi farmers.
Excellent show, excellent!
Aren’t jaguars, pumas, mountain lions, leopards, panthers all the same cat?
No, jaguars are their own beastie. I believe mountain lians and Pumas are the same, but jaguars and leapards are different. Jaguars are native to South America (Panthera Onca) and leapards are native to Africa (Panthera Pardus). Panthers is a confusion as that name is used to refer to dark colored individuals of both species.
Puma, mountain lion and cougar all refer to the same animal. It has no spots and is smaller than the jaguar.
What a good interview….great topic and love the host.
Jack
By any chance, before or after the show, did you ask Tim if buffalo can pasture with cattle. Are there any territorial issues between bulls of the different species, and do cows in heat of either species attract their opposite counterparts?
Thank you.
I’m freaking hyped about this. Land prices here are obstacle, but I know a place where I can buy more than enough land for this kind of project.
http://youtu.be/Yd1494skFSo
Holy Crap!!!! This is my Fiancé and my LIFE DREAM!! I’ve always wanted a periculture type farm & he’s always wanted a bison ranch!! We just put an offer on some land lol Thank you for giving us a few new resources! And as always, Great show!!
I will be happy to assist in the set up of a productive bison operation. Getting folks started right has become a large part of what I do. Thanks for the interest and excitement, the buffs will benefit from friends like you…
Tim
I have been so lucky in my life to have seen a true albino buffalo or bison. I is located near Kickapoo State park in Illinois. The rancher there has about 5 or 6 bison in his heard and he has stated that over the years quite a few american indians have stopped by asking to see the white buffalo. Well, I guess I didn’t realize the significance of such a rarity at the time as I have been lucky to see lots of albino species over the years, from deer, to coyote, pronghorn antelope, and even an albino alligator. Thanks for the great show Jack and Tim, just thought I would share.
HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m in Colorado and we have had friends that raised Bison.. I have been trying to find some resources to get into this!! Growing up there was a Bison ranch 1/4 away from me, they went bust when the Lakewood city government seized their land for “open space” project, and I’ve been looking to get into the industry ever since. I grew up raising over 100 head of Hereford cattle, and I would really like to try a native species after having to vaccinate all the time. Thanks for the show!!
I think you’re perspective is very important. People can be the solution to extirpation by allowing for a role of service, as a wild/ native thing, to civilization. Our burden is to allow wild things and use them without changing them. Maybe one day, with folks and perspectives such as yours in the world, the green-space would have to include a native grazer to be considered truly green. I’ve been on the road since the podcast, thank y’all for being such a thoughtful community. The buffs will benefit..
Great Show once again. One question (I am not trying to be silly) Can you raise Bison for milk? I did not hear anything about it.
Well, it looks like you can (goggle) I wonder how hard it would be? (would they stand still like a goat or cow?)
I guess I should have read more, here is some good information. http://www.bisoncentral.com/faqs#faq-nid-58
Thanks for the link, I knew a man across the river when i was a kid that had Bison and i had never in my life heard of milking them, now we know why
like
Tim said a national bison milk composition study was performed through NDSU and he can put you in touch with the cowboys who broke their arms gathering data, lol. The milk is closest to mare’s milk.
I was just catching up on the DVR I had of Mountain Men and Tom the old man in Montana who tans hides for a living was brought a Bison hide and he said this would save his season, he would make $3000 off this hide….I do believe that’s a heck of a lot more than you could make off a cow hide
Don’t get me wrong I think you can make decent money with a bison hide but 3K, well that just seems like move non reality scripted bullshit to me. Why you ask?
3 seconds to find on Google, http://www.fursource.com/buffalo-rugs-tanned-hides-robes-p-345.html?utm_source=Google_Shopping_US&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GDF&gclid=CJCE4MuJhr8CFQyCaQodDpQA_w
Could be just part of the TV show, a man brought it to him and gave it to him, he found one of his Bison after it had been dead a couple of days, in the show Tom was trying to save it to keep the hair on it, he said if he couldn’t keep the hair from falling off it wouldn’t be worth near as much, I thought that was high too
Probably only if you were doing value added with a finished craft at retail p o s. We used to get the green hides free at the plant but those days are over. My wife has a buckskin jacket that was a gift but retails $1200 from an artisan who makes hide bed covers, etc selling $10k plus. Kind of like I can grow a plant for $1 but at the right market could get $50+
Hides back in the great slaughter would bring 2.50 and today a tanned hide, hair on 800 on up depending on the quality
Good point, that could be it too, him being an artisan and famous in Montana he could get a premium price for it
Started up a page on the wiki. Come on out and add your favorite info from this episode there. http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=Bison
I posted a little something, but this is all new to me and not sure I did it right.
I see that you created your profile and then edited your user page. That’s a really good start. Editing an article is just like editing your user page. Just click the edit button on the top right of the page your on and it’ll let you edit it.
You can also check out the training videos we’ve made to learn more details about how to do things. http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=Training_Videos
I will also add that the wool, (buffalo shed) we gather, is used in hats, scarfs and art projects. This lady is amazing!
http://frasierbison.com/woolproducts.html
I wonder what the pitfalls of beefalo would be besides lower rates of successful insemination. Cheaper fencing, smaller animals, just curious.
Since white settlers have seen bison, they always wanted to cross them. Some did it to see if they could calm bison, others did it to improve their beef cattle. Either way, it’s proved unsuccessful. I was just reading an article, where they were interviewing. Austin Corbin, he said why would you want to even try when buffalo are worth so much more than cattle. Personally I am against it, because I think we have a great thing in our native bison and there is nothing we can do to improve on that. It’s said at one time Austin had the largest pure bison herd in the US, he started his NH herd in the late 1800’s.
This may be redundant, but my first reply attempt failed. My first best answer is that there is no good reason to pursue any new lines of Beefalo 5/8 – 3/8 crosses or Cattle-Lo F1 or 50/50 crosses. This cross takes the benefits of both away. Cross breeding bison with any other species, for any reason is strictly prohibited in association code of ethics and represents the commitment of integrity to the species and our consumers. Frasier Bison LLC will not knowingly foster any cross breeding operations. We do this by ‘just saying no’ when folks want to buy bison for that purpose. Along with being very arduous to accomplish for not much result, it is also potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of the bison involved. I think it was Issac Newton who said,”nature is pleased with simplicity, and nature is no dummy”. We keep it simple and only breed bison to other bison. There’s another saying that fits, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Bison is a wonderful product and a cool animal with out being fixed. #1 pitfall – no good reason to do it.
First had bison some 15 years ago when traveling up in South Dakota. Nothing matches the quality and taste.
Excellent interview. Really enjoyed this one.