Our thoughts on Field Harvesting Bison
First let’s be clear on a few things.
We are taking on an extremely controversial subject that can elicit very high feelings, emotions and reactions from supporters, and equally from those who oppose, are upset by, or don’t understand the realities of bringing meat to the table. We have good friends who work in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, and who own or run bison feed lots; these are all wonderful honest hard-working people who treat their animals with care, and we respect the work that they do, and do not intend to demean them or their profession in any negative way. I also want to make it clear that we are not judging anyone for their views on field slaughter verse killing in a slaughterhouse. We are simply describing the process as we have personally experienced it, we will leave it up to the reader to form their own opinions. This isn’t just talk either, we have actively and purposefully participated in every type and part of the various slaughter processes discussed below so that we can learn and understand these processes. We have come away from this experience with a strong sense of what works for us and what does not. Lastly, my views and experiences are biased by the fact that I have been both a lifetime passionate nature lover and a meat hunter. Many years ago I decided that I would prefer to remove all middle men in the process of getting meat on my table, and that it was more ethical and humane to hunt/field harvest and process my own meat. We believe that we owe explaining and sharing our process with our customers and supporters. We are first generation ranchers and recognize that we have a lot to learn, however, we are very proud of our operation, our processes, and the way we do things at Big Sky Bison. Please accept my apologies in advance if we have hurt anyone’s feelings or ruffled any feathers as we share our field harvest story.
What is Field Slaughter?
The term “slaughter’ defines the process of killing an animal to be used to produce meat or animal products like leather. The term “field slaughter” defines the process of slaughtering an animal in the field where it lives, versus loading, transporting and killing the animal in a traditional meat processing plant or slaughterhouse.
Field Slaughter vs Inspected Meat Processor Slaughter
A bison that is field slaughtered at Big Sky Bison will have lived its entire life as we believe a bison should, grazing on native prairie and river bottom grasses and forbs, drinking clean river or spring water, and having free access to large open spaces in multiple pastures of varied terrain. Our goal is that they only have one bad day in their life. One day they will be peacefully grazing with their herd mates in their native pastures when a bullet from a single precision shot from a custom built suppressed (silenced) rifle will penetrate its atlas bone which is the last vertebra that connects the spine to the skull. The bison will immediately drop and die before it hits the ground, with its last mouthful of prairie grass still in its mouth. A custom-built field harvest truck will immediately remove the dead bison from the pasture, the bison will immediately be field dressed (eviscerated)and transported to a local meat processor.
The meat and organs will be processed, packaged and delivered to our cold storage facility and finally to our customers. The bones will be cut into sections for soup bones and pet chews, the hides will become beautiful fur on bison rugs or be made in butter soft Latigo leather used for high end furniture coverings, the skulls will be cleaned and made into impressive European skull mounts. The hooves and feet are made into pet chews. The gut pile will be left on the prairie where the bison was field dressed and will be consumed by predators and return to the soil. Nothing will be wasted.
Put simply, a bison that is slaughtered in a meat processing plant will have a less peaceful death. Bison are unlike other domestic animals and cannot be herded and made to do things that they don’t want to do. Bison cannot handle chronic stress and subjecting bison to chronic stress situations for any reason, is not what we want to do. All bison that go to slaughter in a processing plant must begin their journey by being confined in a corral enclosure. Often bison are confined in feedlots and grain fed for months prior to shipping to gain weight and increase fat which improves palatability to some. Eventually the bison are pushed through the corral system through a series of alleyways, gates and push tubs and up a ramp onto the livestock trailer. Once loaded and secured inside the livestock trailer, they will begin their road trip to the slaughterhouse. This road trip may be many hundreds of miles away. Slaughterhouses typically work with domesticated animals such as pigs and beef cattle and often do not have much experience or particularly like to work with bison as they are very unpredictable and dangerous when under such stress conditions. Typically, the bison arrive at the slaughter plant the day before and are processed first thing the next morning. They spend the night in an enclosed unfamiliar and terrifying place. The following morning, they will be forced through a series of alleyways to the kill chamber, often encouraged to keep moving forward by cattle prods until they will finally end their journey by receiving a 12 gauge shotgun blast or electric bolt to the head.
The meat and organs will be processed, packaged and delivered to our cold storage facility and finally to our customers. The bones will be cut into sections for soup bones. We have found that the high speed production oriented process does not allow for the care needed to remove the hide without damage, the hides are usually destroyed. The method of killing by a shot to the head destroys the skull, making it undesirable for European skull mounts. The hooves and feet are thrown out. The gut pile is disposed of. Only the meat is kept.
Not an Amenable Species
Unlike beef cattle, Federal regulations treat bison as a “nonamenable” or exotic species, meaning the animals don’t need to be “inspected” at a State or USDA Meat Processor to be sold in state and across state lines. This is important to our business model as it makes it legal field slaughter bison.
A Bisons Perspective
We try to provide the most natural lifestyle possible for our bison, we only confine them one day a year when we conduct our annual bison works, the only other confinement is that they are confined by our perimeter fence. We allow the bison to move freely in their pastures and move them into new pastures every three weeks or so. Bison can easily handle acute stress, for example a grazing herd of bison may observe a predator approaching and they will react by running away or charging the threat, then will settle down to peaceful grazing in a matter of minutes. Chronic stress is a different story altogether, bison cannot handle chronic stress. If bison are confined or separated from the herd, they often panic and if chronic stress is not released, they can go into a complete shut down where they will become immobile. Confining bison in a corral, loading through alley ways, loading onto a livestock trailer, road transport in a crowded livestock trailer, being off loaded into a new strange place and directly into confinement, being separated from the herd, being confined with other animals and strange smells and sounds, then forced down an alley way to a chamber where they know they will be killed, is not the type of stress bison are accustomed to or can deal with. Compare this to a bison that has lived its entire life with its familial herd in its native prairie, and one day the bison drops dead for a single bullet that severs its spinal cord. One second the bison is standing with the herd peacefully eating grass, the next second it’s dead.
Our Perspective and Reflection
We are not only first-generation ranchers but also a new business, and like any start up business we have had our fair share of trials, failures and successes. We have found ourselves pulled in many directions, sometimes all at the same time. From bulk orders sold direct to our end user customers, wholesale and retail customers and restaurants who need custom USDA or Montana inspected labels, out of state wholesale orders that require Inspected Labels, hunters who would prefer to harvest their own bison, and live animal sales to other bison ranchers. We have done all of these things, and in the process, we have set up cold storage facilities, built an online store, made ranch sales, shipped meat, delivered meat… you name it!
We have had to ask ourselves some tough questions, that take a lot of focus and thought to answer. Questions like: Who are our customers? What do our customers really want? Why do our customers buy bison? Why do our customers buy from us? What type of meat sales works best for us? Do we prefer performing field slaughter ourselves, or should we send the bison to a slaughterhouse? What do we enjoy doing? What do we not enjoy doing? What are our strengths and what are our weaknesses? Which strategy will keep us in business long term?
Our Future is Field Harvesting our own Bison.
After a lot of reflection, we have identified that we are really good at two things. The first, is that we raise top quality healthy pasture raised bison and we give our bison a life that we believe a bison deserves. The second, is that our bison produce amazing meat which we prefer to provide direct to our customers. Considering the above essay and these two points, we have determined that field harvesting our own bison and selling meat only in bulk orders of quarter (80 lbs.), half (160 lbs.) and whole (320 lbs.) direct to the consumer, is what we will focus on in the future. We will also offer limited guided field harvests/hunts which will provide the opportunity for folks to be involved in the entire process of putting meat on their table.