Thoughts on Bison and Cattle Hybrid?

Just read something that there might be a serious push to hybridize the two species to get the best from both.

Long been done and not just in the beefalo breed. Matter of fact one study, in Arizona iirc, found "wild" bison with cow DNA.

I can see it in farm bison raised for meat. Wont ever fly for wild herds, though I think there is some evidence that at least one wild herd has some cattle DNA.

I believe beefalo were back bred from crossbreeds and pure to be 5/8 beef and 3/8 bison.

Most bison herds are not pure

Yup. Nothing new. Beefalo been around awhile now.

Was a big push in our area 25-30 years ago. Don't hear much about it now.

Bryce

And unless they have been very well managed for a few decades they have a big brucellosis problem.

Like others are saying the concept has been around for a long time but never seems to have taken much of a market share at all.

I've talked to a person who used to work for Ted Turner's big bison operation in the sandhills of Nebraska. Said they did a lot of genetic testing trying to find a genuine bison in the herd at that branch. Every buffalo at that branch division had some cow DNA.

Last study I saw didnt show any cattle genetics in the Tetons and Yellowstone populations

Most and maybe all wolves have domestic dog DNA too. The color black in wolves came from dogs. Many people like to pretend things are distinct species, that are really just subspecies or breeds.

There is a huge variation in size and other physical characteristics like coat, color, head shape, horn development, length and girth in the "bison" around here.

Keith

I recall that Safeway carried hybrid buffalo in their markets in the late 70s. Think it was expensive also.

I read way back probly 40 yrs ago that the beefalo were very resistant to cold weather sickness but obviously they didn't take off to be popular.

Do we owe them reparations?

There were a little over 60 million bison in America, compared to a little over 30 million head of cattle now, yet we are somehow supposed to believe that bovine methane expulsions are only a problem now.

Keith

Angus supremacy is definitely a problem.

There were cattle artificial insemination businesses that carried Beefalo semen for a few decades and that was advertised quite a bit early on. I have not seen any ads or promos for years now.

Bryce

I'm not falling for this nonsense.

If u get in early on in the new fad there's probably money to be made selling to the late comers. Just get in fast and out faster.

Aint that a beefalo?

I believe so, Cathryn.

The hybrid meat I've tried, I don't care for it. I like the Black and Gus sweet marbled meat.

beefalo was being sold in the 70's. it was pricey and i dont really like it. regular buffalo or grain fed beef for me

Why not? Never tried it myself.

try it. maybe to you it tastes good

On many other threads here regarding meat or beef,many posters indicated they preferred grain fed beef over grass fed beef. Bison are typically have much higher forage diets then most beef which could impact taste or flavor. Bison may utilize forages better and thus may not have as much texture difference then we maly anticipate. Also there could be differences in the cuts of meat and taste etc., There are also differences in the amount or size of the various cuts between the two.

Bryce

I'm with you on this one Danny.

Anything over 3/8s bison would be considered a bison hybrid.
About 15 yrs ago I seen bison / maine hybrid cows that were rumoured to be close to 20 still producing calves ...in the eastern interlake of Manitoba

I don't have any experience raising hybrids, but here on bluestem range with no supplemental feed, bison cows are at their peak (highest breed-back percentage and largest calves) between about 7-10 years old. By the time they're 15 they calve less often, and the calves get smaller and smaller. The calves with 20-year-old mothers are runts, and often enough at that age both mother and calf fail to survive winter.



This is true. Many herds can claim to be free of cattle genes in mitochondrial DNA, but every herd that has had nuclear DNA analyzed has found cattle gene introgression. Escaped cattle often ran with bison herds before the bison were wiped out, and the bison that were saved from destruction were held in corrals and shipped on railcars mixed with cattle. On a practical level though, the small amount of cattle genes in most herds has little effect. Bison are still bison.



Not trying to start any arguments, but current best guesses are that there were between 30 and 60 million bison in North America (60 million being a little far-fetched), and there are currently close to 100 million cattle in North America.

Makes me scratch my head. We import and export beef. Is that just a marketing strategy?

Good question. I can only assume that there are people making money on it.

For about 10 years ( 40 years ago) we tried crossing bison and cattle, admittedly on a small scale. We wound up with only a couple of calves born alive and lost a high percentage of mothers, be them bison cows or cattle cows. The birth problem is this: bison have large front shoulders. Bison calves are small when born, about 20 pounds or so, so they will fit out of the mother bison's pelvis. Cross a bison with cattle and you get "hybrid vigor" which gives you a much bigger calf (70 to 100+ pounds). With the huge shoulders they just do not fit out of the pelvis, be it a bison cow or a cattle cow. We tried crossing bison with these cattle breeds: Jerseys, holsteins, angus, herford and longhorns. We got several live calves from the Jersey cross (Jerseys are small milk cows, for those not familiar with cattle breeds) Jersey mother and bison bull, calves weighed about 50 pounds, the lightest cross we had. 2 calves we got out alive by cutting them out of the mother (longhorn and angus).
I read somewhere several years ago that cattle DNA in bison may have come from Arouchs (spelled wrong) a pre-historic cattle specie.

I have no doubt the calves get smaller and smaller..That is true even in the beef industry.Quite simply mama runs out of gas.Were the calves stellar no not really.But they were 3/4 bison as well and If I remember correctly there were 4 maybe 5 cows that had calved consistently .

I also at one point was made aware of an opportunity to purchase some hybrids from southern Saskachewan ..Unfortunately funds did not permit at the time ..and the opportunity was lost.