The Growing Demand For Bison

The Growing Demand For Bison

Susan Allen
Susan Allen

 

One hundred years ago only a thousand of these spectacular creatures remained. Today there is more than 450,000 as more and more individuals fill the growing niche market for low fat meat  by raising bison. Welcome to Open Range I’m Susan Allen I’ll be back with more insight into both  a meat and an industry that is growing in popularity. Bison meat now sells for around seven dollars a pound,  up from five last year. Despite the economic downturn retailers report  they can’t keep it stocked because ranchers can’t keep up with demand. Yet bison consumption has a long way to go before it competes with beef. The National Bison Association reports that 92,000 head were processed last year and while that seems like a big number if you put it in context with beef, that’s less than the cattle that are slaughtered in just one day in the US. Like cattle producers, the 4500 ranches that raise nearly 200,000 Bison, struggle to keep up with the growing demand for the low-fat low cholesterol meat. According to one spokesperson from the Association, ranchers are busy increasing herd numbers, still despite this  positive growth rate it is projected to  take another five years for bison producers to be able to maintain a consistent supply of low-fat low-cholesterol meat in stores. The top four bison states are  no surpirse,  North and South Dakota, Colorado and Montana. Niether is the man who owns nations largest herd, non-other than mega mogul Ted Turner with 55,000 head.
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