Bison: Good Meat Dumbed Down For American Tastes?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 14:53 Quite by accident, I happened across an ad for a bison rancher in, of all places, Long Island, New York the other day, and watched a video for his expanding bison operation. The ranch is North Quarter Farm, which is connected with Tweeds Restaurant in Riverhead, New York.
North Quarter Farm: Farming Bison to Build Back a True American Breed from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
I love bison meat, and think it’s a good alternative to the factory farmed beef coming out of the CAFO’s (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) - where animals are crowded together in muck, eating a completely unnatural diet of corn. There are a lot of reasons to prefer grass-fed, grass-finished meat, but when you can’t find it or the price is prohibitive, then bison could be an alternative.
Is this how your buffalo burger was raised? Probably not.Unless the bison is raised like conventional beef cattle. Huh? Yup. Not all bison are raised out on the prairie, lunching up on tall, natural grasses - which is the feed they evolved eating.
After a bit of research, I now understand that the majority of bison (buffalo) meat that is sold in markets and restaurants around the United States is corn-fed like conventional beef cattle, and may spend at least the last three months of life penned up in a feedlot with a corn-based mix for their meal.
My guess is that a lot of meat consumers would be very surprised to hear this.
I sent an email to the bison meat producers at North Quarter Farm, asking what they fed and finished their bison on.
Me: “I saw the film about your bison, and was wondering how they are fed and finished. Corn?”
Them: “Yes mostly corn”
Now, there’s a way to preserve an icon of the American West. Change it’s diet and import it to Long Island, New York.
Telling some bison meat loving friends this news, it caught them completely by surprise. They were eating and buying bison because they thought it was more ‘natural’ - as in raised on grass.
One of the big selling points of bison meat is the lower fat and cholesterol content. But whoa! When you start feeding bison corn in ever larger quantities/duration of lifespan, then you’re essentially creating, artificially, the same sort of meat that American consumers wanted to get away from.
Bison producers that are feeding corn, say that the market demands that distinctive ‘corn fed’ taste. In fact, in a head-to-head taste test of grass-fed vs grain-fed bison conducted at Colorado State, tasters perceived no differences between the two in terms of juiciness and tenderness. They did detect a flavor difference, and preferred the grain-fed. I can believe it. Most Americans are so thoroughly acculturated to the taste of factory-farmed, meat-flavored corn fat, such that the taste and texture of real meat - grass-fed beef or bison would come across as different and a little exotic or ‘wild’ tasting.
The white intramuscular fat - known as ‘marbling’ - is visible to the eye in corn-fed beef cattle. Yellow intramuscular fat is found in grass-fed animals. Corn-fed, white intramuscular fat is not as obvious in bison, but is still there, and contributes to a more familiar beef-like flavor. Many meat consumers still believe that intramuscular fat is where all the tender flavor comes from in a piece of meat. That’s simply not the case. Properly fed, handled, transported, slaughtered and butchered meat results in the best meat. That’s a long, involved process with many steps for success or failure.
My point here, however, is that American bison consumers may not be getting what they think they’re getting, while paying a pretty price for it all the same. Some 90% of bison may spend the last 90 to 100 days in a feedlot eating corn just like cheaper factory beef.
Another of the selling points of bison meat is that it is considerably higher in beta-carotene and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), both being practically non-existent in grain fed animals. Again, once you’ve developed X generations of bison that are grain-fed - what happens to those desirable qualities? Are they lost? The problem is, that nobody seems to be sure.
The University of North Dakota did some nutritional comparisons between grass-fed and grain-fed bison, and found that, indeed, the grass-fed animals had a far better ratio of the Omega 3 and 6 (4 to 1 ratio). The grain-fed bison had levels more comparable to conventionally raised beef cattle (21 to 1).
The bison meat that I believe most consumers want - and think they are buying - is bison that is raised with feeding practices that include pasturing, and just using the minimum amount of grain needed to coax the animals to move from one pasture to another.
Carol Klein of Oakcreek Buffalo Ranch comments (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service webpage):
Probably the most controversial management practice in the bison industry today is whether or not to feed grain to bison. Following World War II, cattle producers began feeding excess grain to beef herds.As ranchers began raising bison, many of them followed the same practices being used to raise beef. But the animals are totally different. And even beef did not evolve eating grain—they are grazing animals. Now, producers have to decide for themselves whether or not it makes good sense for them to grain feed their animals. Our cowherd has not received any grain supplements for three years. They graze on a grass and clover (and weeds!) pasture, and their condition is so good that they simply do not need any supplemental feeding, only mineral and hay as required. To feed them grain would be the same as over-watering a houseplant; it would be detrimental to their well being and to our pocketbook.
Feeding bulls before slaughter will speed the process of growing to slaughter size. This will be offset by the additional cost of the grain. It will affect the fat deposits in the animal, both in the amount and type of fat. Even with grain feeding, bison will have a more healthy, nutritious meat that is lower in fat. The nutrition of a grass fed animal is definitely superior. Is the tenderness or taste better in grain fed animals? Everyone has his or her own opinion on the subject. Unfortunately, it is one of the things we will have to decide for ourselves.
Grain feeding is closely associated with feed lots, and therefore with antibiotics and growth hormones—and with [lowered] quality of life for the animals. At all costs, my opinion is that feedlot situations are best avoided. But I refuse to tell others how to run their farms, in hopes that they will let me operate mine as I see best. We can best influence other producers with our examples and success, and keep conflicts from injuring our industry. (8)
According to bison farmers who raise their animals on pasture, the ideal grass-fed bison diet is approximately 93% grass, 5% forbs (alfalfa, clover, wildflowers etc.), and 2% browse (leaves from woody plants). Mineral supplements can be part of their diet, especially over the winter months. In addition, best practices protocol does not allow for the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, or chemical parasite control.
Health benefits from grass-fed bison are best achieved when bison graze on green leafy grasses, or where available, dormant pasture during the winter. The same health benefits are not realized when their diet consists of hay or silage. That’s why it is always best to purchase bison meat coming from an animal that has been harvested coming off pasture, meaning from June to November for most of North America.
You can read more about what wild (or range) herbivores eat and why from The Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service.
It’s said that the best tasting bison will be finished on low protein—sugar rich lush green pasture, and not be exposed to stressful pre-slaughter practices. After slaughter, appropriate carcass handling/dry aging, and professional meat cutting will result in a quality product.
Obviously, this extra care and management will be reflected in price per pound in the supermarket.
Additionally, the type and amount of stress on the animals prior to slaughter, and the affect on the quality of the meat, is largely unrecognized by the public. This is one of the reasons I choose not to buy feed-lot beef. I’ve been in the Dodge City, Kansas feedlots with my late uncle - a Kansas rancher of more than 70 years. These animals are exposed to a lot of stress during the transportation process to the packing facility - heat, social stress, dehydration/thirst etc. Overall health of the animal prior to transport is also a factor.
Bison are wild animals, and cannot be handled, transported or penned as though they are just large cattle. Cattle can be crowd penned half-full, but bison must be crowd penned at no more than one-third.
Like beef cattle, bison should be allowed to rest in an uncrowded pen, with water and hay, for at least one hour to a full day before slaughter. Otherwise, the meat can end up dark in color, dry and tasteless. For this reason, forward thinking bison producers are actually going back to bringing a qualified mobile abattoir to the ranch, which results in perfect - light colored - meat every time.
Proper post-slaughter cooling and hanging is very important to the quality of the meat as well. Because bison meat is leaner than beef, it cannot be thrown quickly into the freezer. A longer, slower cooling time is required for the muscle to stiffen, and preserve the moisture in the meat. Dry aging of 10-14 days is customary, to ensure a flavorful cut of bison.
You can learn more about animal stress as it affects meat quality from the Animal Sciences at Purdue University. Professor of Animal Sciences, Colorado State, Dr. Temple Grandin’s webpage, has almost everything you need to know about animal transport, holding and handling.
These production issues aside, even the final butchering can affect the taste and cooking properties of meat - bison or beef. When you buy the average grocery store/big box store meat, you’re buying meat that’s been cut down in the fastest manner possible - on a factory line in a plant that is probably manned by cheap illegal immigrants, with the least training or oversight possible. You will pay more for meat this is expertly butchered and prepared. But that skill and time will pay off handsomely in the kitchen.
The news has been filled with articles about e. coli in our food supply, and consumers are rightly wary about the potential of e. coli contamination - especially in undercooked meat. The simple fact is that humans cannot fend off the highly acid resistant e. coli that is being produced in cows fed on grain. Grain lowers the Ph in a cows stomach, unlike the grass they evolved to eat. Although cows can adapt to a corn-based diet, the resulting acid resistant e. coli - which doesn’t bother cattle - are sickening and killing more humans. To add bison to this model is sheer foolishness.
Furthermore, by relying more and more on corn to feed other animals - bison in this case - we extend the already bloated reach of King Corn. Experts on our food chain, estimate that rivers of cheap corn or corn derivatives have found their way into our food supply as the primary ingredient. When a single food source becomes that ubiquitous, that’s dangerous. It could be fairly said that corn IS the American food supply - and most of that is Mansanto’s GMO corn. To add bison to this is sheer folly.
At the end of the day, consumers must decide what they like and why - and then how much they are willing to pay for it. Certainly, the issues which grass-fed producers promote are often ideal, and do produce a superior product - often at a premium price. For consumers to make good decisions, they should have honest, fact-filled information at their disposal. Unfortunately, labeling laws don’t necessarily give consumers a complete picture. It will still be up to the buyer to ask questions.
-maven
Further resources:
Corn Subsidies Make Unhealthy Food Choices the Rational Ones
bison, bison meat, buffalo, corn, corn subsidies, meat in Baloney Alert, Did you know?, food, health, life keeping, one green world, wellness
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