Popularity of bison meat reaches record levels

By The Associated Press

Posted 2:15AM on Saturday 6th March 2004 ( 20 years ago )

More than 125 years after settlers eradicated millions of wild buffalo that once roamed the continent, modern-day consumers are developing a taste for the meat that nourished American Indians for centuries.The nations commercial bison slaughter last year reached a record 34,444 animals, a 36 percent increase from 2002, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.Among the reasons for bison meats resurgence is the popularity of high-protein diets and a growing consumer demand for more healthy foods. Buffalo, a red meat alternative, has less fat and fewer calories than beef. Bison are also raised naturally without growth hormones or antibiotics.I happen to be a meat lover. We tried vegetarian diets, but I have to have meat, said David Patterson, a Georgia resident who has been buying buffalo meat for three years. He buys a quarter of a bison at a time from a Kansas buffalo farm.Patterson said he and his wife wanted to eat healthier foods. They tried bison meat _ and have been hooked ever since _ after finding out that bison meat was high in protein, low in fat and high in heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.Many consumers are getting their first taste of buffalo thanks to the growth of media pioneer Ted Turners restaurant chain, Teds Montana Grill.Turners partner in the venture is restaurateur George McKerrow, Jr., the founder of the LongHorn Steakhouse chain.McKerrow, the chains chief executive officer, noted the record slaughter of over 34,000 bison for all of last year compares to 130,000 cattle slaughtered each day in the United States.At the end of the day, there is still a short supply of bison, but Ted owns over 10 percent of the total bison, he said.In the 24 months since the two men launched the Atlanta-based chain, Teds Montana Grill has opened 19 restaurants in Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Colorado, Kentucky and North Carolina. Another 18 are expected to open this year, including two in Wichita and three in the Kansas City area, McKerrow said.People out west understand our concept _ it has some western roots to it _ and Kansas has proved to be a lucrative market for the right restaurants, McKerrow said.Wherever a Teds Montana Grill restaurant has opened, sales of bison meat have skyrocketed, he said _ which is exactly what Turner and McKerrow had hoped would happen.We recognize we are still trying to get most people to take their first bite of the product, said Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association. Teds Montana Grill not only creates a lot of visibility ... but staff are trained on how to prepare the product and how to present it so people taking their first bite are enjoying it.Another boost came last year from the Agriculture Departments $10 million purchase of buffalo meat for school lunch and government nutrition programs.Also helping bison sales were record high beef prices that narrowed the difference in retail prices between beef and buffalo, said Richard Duff, who raises about 450 bison near Scott City.Demand for bison meat is on track for another record-breaking year as more consumers now turn to bison as an alternative to beef in the wake of the discovery late last year of mad cow disease in a U.S. dairy cow, Carter said.Many consumers are buying from Kansas buffalo producers such as Linda and Verne Hubalek, owners of Smoky Hill Bison Co. in Lindsborg. The couple sell grass-fed buffalo meat direct from their farm to homes across the nation and also operate a visitors center at the ranch.They are expecting buffalo to be roaming in Kansas. They think that is a natural place to be finding bison meat, Linda Hubalek said. Kansas is where the buffalo roam _ the song helps us out.Actually, Montana is the nations top buffalo producing state with 38,000 head. Estimates put the commercial U.S. buffalo herd at 270,000 animals, Carter said.The nations buffalo herds are concentrated in the northern tier states and the High Plains, with the biggest herds in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas.An estimated 5,400 buffalo now graze the Kansas prairie in commercial herds, including 2,000 animals at Turners Z Bar ranch near Medicine Lodge, said Pauline Ramsey, executive secretary for the Kansas Buffalo Association.Public herds in Kansas include 155 buffalo in the Maxwell Game Refuge near McPherson and 75 in the Finney Game Refuge outside Garden City.Kathy Jeffries, an Illinois environmental activist, bought 70 pounds of bison meat from Smoky Hill Bison in Kansas after searching the Internet for buffalo raised naturally by family farmers. Jeffries said she wanted a cleaner, grass-fed meat alternative.You are what you eat, she said.___On the Net:HASH(0x2856160)HASH(0x2854f1c)HASH(0x2855000)HASH(0x28550e4)

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