We started trading bison last year and had a few heifers and bulls that were over 3 yrs of age and couldnt go to the states so we kept them, put them on a finishing ration in our feedlot and slaughtered them for our own freezers and prior to that I had never had bison before. They were honestly the best red meat I have ever had. Tender as hell, lean, just amazing meat.
The reason I am interested in Beefalo is due to some research information I came across awhile back. Bison females can live to be 20-25 yrs of age and still be very fertile. They eat 1/4 of what a beef cow eats and are hardier. They can take a Saskatchewan winter no problem. When we started trading bison we learned alot about them through our customers and we are still weighing the options of buying 50 - 100 bison cows as another source of income. And that got me thinking. If you could breed the longevity, hardiness, and feed consumption of a bison into a beef cow and get rid of the bison features and temperment and increase the meat capacity, you would have a perfect range cow. And that is what I am trying to develop. So I found information on Beefalo and it intrigued me further. One study done states that cross breeding cattle is the best cross because of Hybrid vigor, we all know this to be true, and it stated that the Ultimate hybrid vigor is crossing cattle with bison.
I dont know, I want a cow that makes ranching cheaper and can get through a winter with little feed and still hold her own, as well as adding on 10 years of production, I am ok with that.