TEEPEE CREEK, Alta. – When Dean Hollingworth replaced part of his cow herd with bison, he didn’t want to reinvent the wheel.
The northern Alberta producer used some of the proven methods of success on his 115-cow bison herd that he used with the 400-cow herd he once co-owned with his brother, Don.
He bought only performance-tested bison bulls as a way to increase the weaned weight of the calves, used swath grazing to lower feed costs and used a high-powered electric fence to limit the bison’s feed.
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Except for the electric fence, much of the knowledge is transferable, he said.
Hollingworth fenced off an estimated two weeks worth of feed for the bison in 70 acres of swathed oats. The bison stayed in the fenced area until they wanted more food, and then walked through the extra-powerful electric fence.
“It worked until they started running low. I was trying to make them clean (the field) up,” said Hollingworth, who thought the bison still had plenty of feed in their fenced area.
“It was a good idea if it would have worked,” said Hollingworth. He farms with his wife, Wanda, a part-time insurance broker.
Swath grazing is another idea borrowed from the cattle industry. Grazing through snow for food comes naturally to bison and Hollingworth believes using swath grazing for bison may save money.
He estimates 25 percent of feed cost is for baling hay, hauling it home and then hauling it back to the field for the animals. By combining some of the oats and baling a few rounds, Hollingworth estimated he has enough feed left in 70 acres of swaths to last the bison until the end of February.
While he hoped to ration their feed with the electric fence, this winter will be an experiment to see if the bison limit their feed naturally and continue to graze through the snow until the end of February. Then they’ll be switched to a reduced diet to help prevent calving problems.
Even if there is 30 percent waste in the swaths, he thinks he’ll save money and time by not having to haul bales to the bison.
Time was the biggest reason the brothers reduced their cow herd, bought bison and quit grain farming.
“There was no time for Wanda and the kids. They were going to grow up without me,” he said.
“When you’re calving 400 cows for 2 1Ú2 months you hardly see anyone.”
At the same time Hollingworth brought in the bison four years ago, the brothers split the farm operation, although they still share haying equipment.
With only 70 beef cows and 115 bison, Hollingworth has time to team rope twice a week, act as president of the local rodeo association, go camping with his family in the summer and attend provincial marketing council meetings.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s that much spare time. It’s not hard to find something to do when you’re on a farm.”
Another idea borrowed from the cattle industry was to buy only performance-tested bulls to increase the weaning weight of his calves.
“We’ve boosted the weaning weight by 50 pounds using better bulls,” said Hollingworth, who ignores the top 10 percent of performance-tested bulls and picks from the next 20 percent.
He hopes to eliminate calving problems by eliminating the largest bulls.
“The last thing we want is to have calving problems with bison. I don’t think Wanda would want to help with that.”
In his cow herd, Hollingworth buys only performance-tested bulls that gain at least 3.75 lb. a day and have less than a 100-lb. birth weight.
“We don’t hardly pull calves,” said Hollingworth. He begins calving his beef cows in mid-February and checks them every three hours.
His bison cows begin calving April 10, and are checked once a day by truck with a set of binoculars and never at night.
Hollingworth said even though bison are less work, it’s hard to eliminate cattle from his farm. For years they were the mainstay of the operation and in summer they’re little work because they’re moved to a community-grazing lease.
When the cows are on the grazing lease, it’s an excuse for all the family to ride their horses and check the cattle.
