Our business journey from cow calf operation to field harvest, to USDA meat processing to limited hunting opportunities and back to field harvest…why we need to be flexible to stay in business.
Big Sky Bison is primarily a cow calf bison production operation. This operation produces top-quality grass-fed calves from foundation herd quality cows and bulls. Annually we sell weaned calves, open cows and young bulls to other bison producers. One of the challenges with this enterprise is the fact that market prices and trends dictate the value of animals we sell. Since we only work the animals one day per year, we have a very short sales window of one to two weeks to sell our animals that are sorted our into pens during the annual bison works. If market prices are low during this period, our sale prices are negatively affected, and we may need to sell animals for less than it costs to produce them.
To help offset the unpredictable nature of the cow calf enterprise, we started a grass-fed bison meat business selling meat direct to consumers. Initially we offered only field harvested meat that had to be processed in a non-inspected (non-USDA Inspected) processor owing the fact that the bison are slaughtered in the field and not at the processors plant. This works great for selling quarters, halves and whole animals direct to consumers, however there are some major challenges with this model. Many of our retail customers asked if they could order smaller quantities of meat, owing to their monthly grocery budget, our countries present financial situation, insufficient freezer space etc. We have also had a number of commercial buyers for grocery stores, butcher shops and restaurants express an interest in buying our delicious grass-fed meat. To supply meat to these commercial customers we are required to have the meat processed in a USDA or Montana Inspected facility.
We have been working with a number of USDA and Montana Inspected meat processors for the past couple years and have had some success with this process. However, as a small scale producer of bison we have run up against a lot of challenges. First, we are a new business and do not have long term relationships with any of the processors, secondly most if not all processors are fully booked with mostly beef, some for up to 18 months in the future. Then we have a small scale operation, and are not very flexible on processing schedule dates as we only work our grass fed animals through our corrals one day per year. This is the only time we can sort animals and move them to and from the pens that they are loaded and trucked out of. The rest of the year the bison may be pastured miles away from the corrals and loading areas. We try to raise our bison herd as naturally as possible and the processors very rigid schedules have not been easy to work with. So back to field harvesting our bison to fill meat orders we went.
The first thing we should make clear is that in our opinion, the best possible way for a bison to end its life is to be grazing peacefully in its native pasture and drop dead from a clean brain shot while still chewing on its native prairie grass. While this may sound horrific to folks who have never had a close relationship with the process of bringing meat to the table, in our opinion this is the most humane and ethical way to go. This is the cleanest quickest most pain free way for the bison to end its life. The second thing we should make clear is our philosophy regards to bison production, we believe the demand for deliciously healthy bison meat and bison products is the key to preserving the species. And to add some reality to the mix, we need to have a reliable and consistent income from our bison producing enterprise to cover our ranch operating expenses and to stay in business. No successful bison business equals no bison aside from a few national park animals.
Why we are we offering hunts/field slaughter opportunities.
We have discussed the various challenges we have encountered with our existing bison enterprises. In the meantime, we have had an incredible amount of interest from our meat customers and ranch visitors who would prefer to harvest their own bison. In so doing they get all the delicious grass-fed meat, the organs, the hide, the skull, the bones for their dogs and the unforgettable experience of participating in the process. In 2022 we began to offer limited fully guided field harvest/hunt opportunities. We usually start our hunts in October and end in late January as this provides not only amazing meat but also the best winter hide.