NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. – If producers are trying to breed bison to look like the stereotypical high-humped, low-rumped buffalo silhouette, they are going the wrong way on the ladder of evolution, says a longtime breeder.
A high hump probably means inbreeding. A low rump is going to produce less meat, slower gain and physical problems for the animal, said North Dakota producer Ken Throlson.
“We’re not seeing the animal as he was,” Throlson, a veterinarian, told producers at the Saskatchewan Bison Association’s summer field day held here recently.
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“If you dig up bones from old buffalo jumps you’ll see this animal that we raise now isn’t near the animal he was when there were millions of them.”
Throlson likes bison bulls with straight backs. Some sloping is a natural part of the bison, but the sharp-angled hump causes the animal many problems, he said. Most people visualize buffalo having high humps and low rumps because that’s what the few remaining bison in the 1970s looked like.
The problem is, Throlson said, they weren’t healthy animals.
Throlson said bison with higher humps and lower rumps are more likely to have hocks similar to beef animals. A strong bison tends to have a lot of space between his hocks.
“I want to be able to put a football between his hocks.”
Throlson said he likes to see the sex organs in the back one-third to one-quarter of the animal. That organ placement, along with a straight back, help produce a good bull.
“I want that part of the animal to work for me. I don’t want a big display. I want working assets.”
Throlson said the angle of the pelvis is important, because it affects breeding and leg placement.
If the pelvis line is too straight and horizontal, a cow will have difficulty calving and won’t develop thick-muscled legs. If the angle is too steeply vertical, the hind legs will be brought forward, making it hard for the animal to move.
“That animal cannot run. He’d burn his hocks up running.”
Throlson said he likes to be able to see a bison’s hips from in front or behind.
There is a lot of breeding work to be done before bison return to the strong, healthy form they had before they were mostly wiped out in the last century, Throlson said.
“I think we’re about half way.”
