By KIRSTEN LEATHERDALE, of the Weyburn Review
For the first two weeks Ken and Susan Kot owned their small herd of bison, they kept the animals cooped up in a feeding and shelter pen to get them used to the space. Then came the day to turn them loose on the pasture land.
"I opened the gate, and watched the lead cow come out. The rest followed slowly. Then they all took off on a run as hard as they could go. I was praying the fence would hold," said Ken.
"I was thinking, 'there goes our retirement fund,'" said Susan.
The fence did hold, and Ken and Susan are now learning something new about their herd - consisting of 13 American bison - every day.
"I don't have anything to do with them," said Susan, who admitted she's afraid of the big beasts. A full-grown cow can weigh between 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, and a full grown bull can tip the scales at 2,400 pounds.
The couple own Fisk Repair in Weyburn, and for a while Ken was running the business and farming his father's land, north of Weyburn. But the two enterprises became too much. That's when Ken started looking into a less time consuming way to take advantage of the home quarter he and his wife live on.
He looked at alpacas, ostriches, emus, and other specialty livestock, but what he heard about bison from a nephew who raises the animals, sold him on the idea. All bison need in the winter for shelter is a wind break. Ken feeds them oats and checks the hay feeders in the morning and after work in the winter, and will let them graze in the spring and summer. Beyond that, he pretty much leaves them alone.
"When it's storming, you don't even have to go out and look at them. They just stand in the middle of the field, covered with snow," he said with a bit of a laugh.
They breed when they want to, but a cow or heifer won't breed unless she is in good shape to give birth. A bull may or may not breed all the cows in a herd. But if another bull is introduced, you can be sure the dominant bull will breed the whole herd, as a competitive gesture, Ken explained.
And don't even think about getting near a bison cow or heifer when she's calving, advised Ken. During calving season, which takes place between May and June, cows and heifers are left alone to let nature take its course.
Females are very protective of their calves, even though they are fairly self-sufficient right away. Hours after birth, bison calves can already run as fast as full grown cattle.
"They were here a million years ago and they survived on their own - they don't need us now," Ken said.
But ease of care wasn't the lone reason the couple decided to become bison producers. It was also a sound investment.
The meat is high quality - low fat, low cholesterol. There's a big demand in Europe and the U.S. for bison meat, and here at home, private sales are booming. Kot added Saskatchewan bison producers are working to get a meat packing plant here in the province.
Bison meat currently sells for $2.50/pound live weight. Depending on the cut, Kot estimates a steak would cost between $5 and $9 per pound.
There is also a market for bison hides, which many artists use to paint and sell.
However, they are pricey animals to buy, compared to some other specialty livestock. Susan said they paid "enough to give me a heart attack" - $6,000 - for their bull.
Only the males are sold for their meat. The demand for more bison is so high that females are kept for breeding.
Two of Kot's heifers will breed this summer, but they won't sell their calves until they can expand the herd to about 50 bison. So for the coming months, they have a chance to get to know the herd better - although they have made quite a few interesting observations since buying them in April of 1998.
They characterize the animals as cautious, but curious. "Every time I walk out into the yard to do something, they have to come and see what's going on," Susan said.
But sometimes she likes to watch them, too. "They like to play, to run and hop around, and roll in the snow. Up on the top of the snow hill, it almost looks like they're playing king of the castle."
They do have a definite pecking order, with the lead cow being queen of the Kot herd, for now. When the bull gets older and bigger, he will challenge her for domination.
Bison are intelligent animals, who can't be herded the way cattle can. According to Ken, if you manage to trap them once, they won't let you do it again. His philosophy is simple: "You can lead a bison anywhere it wants to go - as far as chasing it, you wouldn't have a hope in hell."
For more information on other people and activities in agriculture today, see our Salute to Agriculture in Section B of today's issue of the Weyburn Review.
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