Bison Industry Growing in North America

As demand grows for bison meat, more and more people are getting involved with raising bison. Some raise just bison while others raise a combination of bison with other livestock like cattle. As a result, organizations like the Western Bison Association are seeing their membership increase so are other state and regional associations.

During the recent Montana Bison Association summer meeting, I had the opportunity to speak the group which included attendees from Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

Van Ceeny is a rancher from Dayton, WA and owns VS Cattle Company and along with cattle also raises bison. He sees a lot of opportunities in the bison industry.

"The people are fantastic to work with" said Ceeny. "Being an up and running bison grower, there's profit in it right now and I like profit. It's a learning curve, but I'm looking forward to getting a larger herd and build with it and grow with it."

The North American bison population has steadily recovered since an estimated 700 animals balanced on the verge of extinction in the mid 1880's. Today, there are an estimated 385,000 bison in North American private, public and tribal herds, according to information compiled by the National Bison Association.