Adele Boucher hopes to cash in on one of Canada’s oldest renewable resources – and it’s not a beaver pelt.
A key component of the Peace River, Alta., bison rancher’s plans is to teach other producers about the value of buffalo hair.
Each spring, bison shed their outer winter hair. Known as down, this ultrasoft fibre is similar to cashmere in quality and price.
Producers can receive $1 an ounce just for picking the cotton ball-like down off rosebushes and the ground. Each spring bison shed about 32 oz. of down, worth about $30. For a 100-animal herd, that’s an extra $3,000 for bison producers, said Boucher during the Wild Rose Bison Classic show and sale.
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“It’s something most people don’t know even exists,” she said.
“It’s unique. It’s a value- added product in the
bison industry.”
During the May and June shedding season, Boucher walks her pastures daily to pick the down. If she doesn’t, birds and mice beat her to it to line their nests.
Sometimes the down comes off the animals in matted clumps. Indians used it for washable baby diapers and teepee insulation.
Boucher said Red River Valley settlers saw the value of the down for warmth. They sent spun samples back to Europe, but it was discarded for its “dull dumpy color.”
Boucher said commercial fibre mills are willing to spin the down into yarn, but only in large 500-pound lots.
