Bison ranching takes hold in the plains

Read Kirk Johnson's story in the New York Times here, under the headline "Plains Giants Have Foothold on Tables." Johnson's story features a father-and-son team, the Goulds, in western Kansas, who shifted part of their century-old beef ranch to raising bison last year. Here's an excerpt:

The Goulds, with 40 animals as a start, made their first delivery of buffalo meat, also known as bison, to friends here in Denver last week. They are opening a themed restaurant on the Kansas-Colorado border supplied by the ranch, and planning bison hunts for tourist-visitors.

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With prices and American consumption of buffalo at all-time highs — though still minuscule in volume compared with beef, chicken or pork — a new chapter is clearly beginning for one of the oldest animal-human relationships on the continent, dating back millennia before the first Europeans arrived.

Many of the ranchers raising buffalo are new to ranching--and committed to grass-fed product. Retail vendors, on the other hand, say grain-fed product is the way to go because it delivers greater consistency.