GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Feeding bison heifers and bulls together in the same feedlot will still get good carcass results, showed a northern Alberta study.
“There doesn’t seem to be a problem mixing bulls and heifers,” said Bruce Rutley, applied research co-ordinator for the Peace Country Bison Association.
The initial study is good news for bison producers who have started to feed heifers for slaughter instead of selling them for breeding since the drop in bison prices in the past two years.
“This study shows bison heifers can be fed using the same management as bison bulls,” Rutley told the Peace Country Bison Association fall conference.
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During the study, 10 bison heifers and 10 bison bulls were placed on grass pasture at Agriculture Canada’s Dominion Research Station in Fort Vermilion in Alberta’s far north. In September, the animals were put on a free choice ration of oats, barley and hay for about 125 days.
The animals were slaughtered in February and the carcasses analyzed at Agriculture Canada’s Lacombe research centre.
All the animals graded A1 or A2 and there was no difference between the sexes in marbling, fat colour, taste, flavour or juiciness.
The bison bulls had 15 percent larger ribeyes than heifers and an overall higher salable yield.
Heifers had significantly greater amounts of intramuscular fat and significantly lower moisture content than bulls. During cooking tests, it took 40 percent less time to cook the meat from bulls because of the extra fat on the heifer meat.
Even though there are differences in meat, Rutley said they are too minor to justify separating the heifers and bulls in the feedlot.
“It’s encouraging to see so few differences between males and females,” said Rutley, who added it is good news for producers wanting to feed out all the offspring.
Dan Patten, a Bezanson, Alta., bison producer and owner of bison exporter Frontier Foods, said the study may show few differences, but his company still treats the sexes separately, neither feeding nor marketing them together.
A tenderloin from a 24-month heifer weighs four ounces, compared to six oz. from a 24-month bull.
“You can’t put them in the same box,” said Patten, who said his company is trying to develop new markets for heifer meat.
“It’s a different product.”
There is a large demand for heifer carcasses in the United States if the animals are consistent, said Patten. He is trying to work with producers who feed their heifers at home to develop a consistent product for a heifer meat market.
“There’s going to be room for them,” said Patten.
The northern Alberta study did show 60 percent of the bull carcasses and 30 percent of the heifer carcasses had medium dark to dark muscle colour. The dark colour is generally associated with prolonged stress before slaughter. While the animals looked like dark cutters, further tests showed the animals hadn’t been under stress.
“They look like dark cutters but the pH and other testing comes out at acceptable levels,” said Rutley.
“This is buffalo you’d be proud to serve to your best critic.”
