Tonight I'm cutting up a hormone free, grass fed bison a friend and I killed, gutted, skinned and quartered in the field last week. I have spent some time on the kill floor in my youth but this is the first time I took a large animal an 1,800 lbs male from pasture to retail cuts and smoked meats by myself. After 42 years I can finally call myself a real butcher. LOL
When splitting the carcass I could not get the saw all the way through the hump so I had to make a choice and move the blade to one side. As it turns out I bought the side without the hump attached. LOL.No steaks, but boning it out made boning out veal necks seem like a picnic.
I also broke the other guy’s side first and found out that on a bison it’s 7 ribs up not 5.
Buffalo is in such short supply here in northern Ohio that bones (not just dog bones but all bones) are selling for $8.00 a pound. Add another $1.50 per lb for smoking. I use a relatively cold smoke so I don’t lose too much weight.
Porterhouse and T-bone are $23.99 and tenderloin is $35 lb. but because of the bone structure there is more money to be made keeping them attached to the loin cuts. Bulk ground meat is 11.99 add another $1.00lb for patties.
I’m a stickler for figuring out yield and actual cost.
The hide weighed 150 lbs and the skull was another 60 lbs.
I killed this one for family and friends but the next one goes to a federal slaughter house so I can sell it to retail customers and restaurants.
I will post more pictures and let you guys know what the yield was
In the Sprint of the west. As a teenager, growing up in Wisconsin. Bison had numbers of just a few, is they made a come back ! I believe to be one of the First Slaughtered, under the NEW WI insp. (1966-7) It was a Rouge Bull, that needed put down because of age . Well I got the honor! The robe is on my couch . Roast/steaks/burger/sausage where made! The owner hand out out product to all over the Mid-west. Put us on the map, as the go to sausage makers !
Bison is expensive everywhere and not sure how long its going to last. I buy a half bison at a time. Last year this time price was $2.70/lb hanging which was a good deal. This year it is $4/lb hanging and still cheap. I will have to buy another here soon and am sure the price will be even higher, but customers sure love it, especially the sausages.
__________________
I'm not a vegetarian, but have eaten many animals that were.
Here in the west it is not so expensive, fun to cut though, first time I cut a bison short loin I thought it was a dark cutter calf, the loins are very small compared to beef and the shoulders are larger. I have never slaughtered one but have cut boxed bison alot. There is a ranch in Gillette Wyoming that is a big supplier of bison to the western part of the U.S. I am not sure if they have a website but they are called Durham Ranch.
