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DATELINE: 10 November, 2005

Transmitted by DOUG STRANGE, USA

www.crazywomanbison.org

a people's history of the world

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Ekalaka, MT, USA - In reflecting on the awful predicament for farmers in Britain during the mad cow crisis, one could well believe that were Thomas Hardy alive today, he might seize upon the tragedy and morbidity in the English countryside to pen a novel of heartbreak and woe. But Hardy likely would fail to feature, as the general media failed to publicize then, a protagonist from the natural world that could give his novel, and their headline stories, a happy ending. That protagonist is a native hero, the American bison.

The Bison bison, came to North America over the Bering Strait over 200,000 years ago. Their adaptation to the ?harsh climate and sparse ecology of the Great Plains has been a Darwinian triumph. They endure heat, and thrive in cold to 35 degrees below zero. They have the athleticism to run at speeds up to thirty miles per hour, to leap over obstacles of five or more feet, and to turn on a hoof-print to crush a coyote or rattlesnake. They possess an astonishing ability to heal quickly from injury and their millennia-tested immune system conquers many diseases that overwhelm other creatures. They are fertile into their twenties and they appear to be able to time the ir birthing to avoid spring blizzards and periods of endangerment. Their impressive longevity results from their ability to eat lean and to metabolize their food more efficiently than any other bovine ruminant.

At their peak, they covered the plains in the tens of millions. No wonder that the Native Americans, who shared their landscape, viewed them not as beasts, but as kin; present at the world's creation; purveyors of sustenance and maintenance; and agents of spiritual awakening.

And no wonder that Euro-Americans who sought to destroy the Indians, rallied behind General Philip Sheridan's order to exterminate the bison to allow "civilization to advance." By the beginning of the twentieth century only approximately 1,000 bison remained.

Meanwhile, bison have been replaced by the over seventy million European cattle that "advanced" the civilization as General Sheridan had predicted. And these European immigrants -- Herefords, Angus, Charolais, et al. -- have ravaged the West.

Doug Strange

They consume more grass than bison and process it less well. While bison tend to feed on the uplands, cattle prefer riparian areas. While bison drink sparingly and consume snow in the winter, cattle drain water resources year around. Cattle weather blizzards poorly and often perish. Only a few years ago, for example, thousands of cattle died in two spring blizzards in the Dakotas. Not a single bison succumbed to the storms.

Bred to produce large calves, cattle give birth with increasing difficulty, and every "civilized" ranch's equipment includes -- in addition to branding irons, vaccination syringes, hormone implant guns, and castration tools -- "a calf puller." Their useful breeding life proves to be one-third of that of bison.

In supplying humans with healthy nutrition, cattle also fall short. Recent studies have shown that per equivalent serving, beef has greater cholesterol, nearly four times as much fat, and a third more calories than bison meat.

Given these comparisons, the obvious question is, why don't ranchers switch to bison? In fact, many have. Over 2,000 ranchers in America do today profitably raise approximately 350,000 bison, and in our new century, bison in theory could methodically replace beef cattle on our western range. But will they? Without government intervention and public demand it is not likely to happen. There are several barriers that prevent ranchers from endorsing such a transformation, despite the economic and ecological advantages.

To begin with, America's ranchers are suffocatingly bound to a heritage and a past the motto of which is "Dad didn't do it that way."

Moreover, America's ranching community is as tightly bound together as a sectarian religious order; "damned if I'll change" is its sacred oath. To do something "different" from one's neighbor is nigh impossible. Then there is a psychological barrier. To raise bison successfully, requires something of a kibbutz psychology. It demands patience, a respect for animals, a willingness to be their equal, a desire to share their herd mentality and to join their community. Cattle ranching, by contrast, is based upon a plantation psychology: the animals are ignorant, servile, dependent, and must be dominated.

Add to this the economic barrier. Animal agriculture around the world is financially foundering. Bison ranching requires formidable startup costs. To finance a new venture and to market a new product is difficult and frightening. There is simply a greater comfort level in staying with cattle.

Finally, for many ranchers there is a racial barrier. While few of these articulate their prejudice openly and fewer still see it as such, they hold a racial view that bison are Indian livestock and meat. While white men raise cattle and prefer beef, only Indians want to mess with bison.

It's all very maddening. However, the scare over Mad Cow Disease (BSE -- Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) could be a catalyst to bring about a renewal to the American West and further return native bison. The evidence suggests that BSE began and expanded due to cattle eating feed from animal protein. Bison are, in this regard, a truly natural alternative to supply America with safe red meat. Bison are solely grass eaters. Although they can be trained to eat grain and feed cake, they are intelligent enough to know good feed from bad.

A long-time bison rancher in South Dakota recently found that his herd refused to eat a shipment of feed cake. In disdain they pushed it away with their noses. He discovered that his supplier had inadvertently given him a cattle feed that contained animal by-products. This anecdote illustrates bison's natural good sense and no doubt contributes to the naturally good taste of their meat.

To date, most bison thrive on the open range, whereas cattle are typically placed in feedlots. This confinement requires continual human intervention with growth hormones, antibiotics, and feed additives to assure the animals' weight gain, health, and survival. Many Americans are finding the end product increasingly distasteful.

If ranchers aren't willing to make the change, perhaps the American meat consumer will be able to persuade them. Mad about dangerous beef, the American people should use their anger to implement fundamental change in federal farm and ranch policy relative to cattle disasters and dangers. They can urge the federal government to deny financial assistance for replacement cattle to cover losses due to blizzards and drought and to offer grants instead to purchase the more adaptable bison. The Canadian government a few years ago sponsored a related program with good success. They also can insist that aid to individual ranchers who founder, should take the form of commodity and cooperative grants that emphasize bison, and that fund common handling facilities, fencing realignments, land exchanges, and joint marketing experiments.

Finally, they can recommend that when health dangers occur in our animal food supply such as we currently face, that government remedies be pro-active and preventive rather than reactive and palliative. If bison provide a safer food product, their proliferation should be encouraged.

Moreover, if humane care in the housing, handling, and feeding of animals produces a significantly healthier food product then this should be promoted rather than to perpetuate a questionable animal food supply with drugs, feed additives, irradiation and the like.

The return of the bison to America's West and its contribution to the advancement of the safety of the world?s red meat supply, could be the happy ending to a mad and sad story. Such an auspicious ending would be alien to Thomas Hardy, but he could heartily appreciate its irony.