The president of the Canadian Bison Association says the industry is rebounding after a downturn and the financial maelstrom created by BSE.
“We’ve lost some producers. It’s been tough up here,” Mark Silzer told the CBA annual meeting last month. “But we’ve also got some new producers.”
Entrepreneurial bison owners invested through the tough times, resulting in improved genetics, herd health and management, he said. Producers learned to form strategic alliances and recognized limitations such as slaughter capacity.
“We developed our own markets for a bit of a premium,” said Silzer.
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The federal government came up with $550,000 to help the industry develop domestic and export markets, and Silzer said all of this adds up to a foundation upon which the industry can build.
Ron White from Antler River Ranch in Lyleton, Man., is preparing for 180 cows to calve this spring. He said he’s optimistic despite the fact he is not making a profit from his bison.
“Our prices aren’t high enough yet, but we’re not any worse than any other sector,” he said.
White said bison producers need more marketing options. He never intended to finish bison but ended up doing so when 270 calves came off grass one year and nobody wanted them.
His objective is to finish his animals within 24 months to come under the 30-month export limit but he’d rather someone else did it.
“It’s such a risk to finish (animals),” he said. “We need some big feedlots to finish more animals effectively.”
Feedlot operator Ryan Clark of Fairlight, Sask., started feeding bison last winter.
He was one of the first Saskatchewan producers to get in on the elk industry but was also one of the last to let go when that business hit bottom.
Last year when a neighbour had a lot of frozen wheat, Clark bought 100 yearlings, betting that the bison industry would turn around.
“We have no idea what we’re doing,” he candidly told the meeting.
He hopes his elk contacts in South Korea will translate into bison markets as well.
“That’s the market I’m looking at once we reach five years BSE-free,” he said.
Dieter Pape, chief executive officer of the North American Bison Co-operative, said bison has to find its place in a competitive protein market.
He said the total bison kill for 2005 is projected at 50,000 head. That compares to 500,000 head of natural beef, a relatively new choice for consumers and one that matches how bison are raised.
It also compares to the 26 million head of commodity beef and nine billion poultry slaughtered each year.
“Bison is and will always be a niche centre-of-the-plate protein,” Pape said. “We’re never going to be a commodity.”
But natural food sales are increasing and he said the trend is expected to continue as baby boomers have more discretionary income and are concerned about their health.
The NABC slaughter plant at New Rockford, North Dakota, completed its first two profitable months in a row this fall after emerging from bankruptcy protection July 1.
He said the price disparity between Canadian and American bison must even out. Canadian bison prices dropped after the border closed due to BSE, allowing some marketers to buy cheaper product for export.
That left the NABC in a noncompetitive position and also resulted in less money for Canadian producers.
“I don’t think the industry can be healthy unless everyone makes a profit,” he said.
Pape added the co-op can use “every single one of those animals we can get” from Canada to meet increasing demand.
