Bullish on bison

COBDEN, Ill. -- Buffalo roam the pastures and hills of an 800-acre farm near this Southern Illinois town. The massive, shaggy animals are kept in check by a 7,000-volt electric fence. A wooden fence wouldn't hold them.

On the open range, they would meander across 600 acres in a day. But there are no Great Plains in Southern Illinois.

Still, Clifton and Kim Howell are right at home on this range they call Bison Bluff Farms. They say their bison are, too.

The Howells started raising bison in 1997, beginning with the five head they bought from a Puxico, Mo., farmer. Today, their herd numbers about 250 and includes animals purchased from at least 12 states and some bred here on the farm.

The herd includes 12 bulls, but the services of all of them aren't required. "The one dominant bull will do the majority of the breeding," Clifton Howell said.

Fifty bison calves were born at the farm last year. So far this year, 55 have been born. He expects the herd to grow to about 300 head soon.

The Howells aren't trying to recreate the Old West, and they're not running a national park. Like cattlemen, they're raising the animals for meat.

While the Howells are fond of the bison, they don't treat them like pets. "Never name something you might eat," said Kim Howell.

With their huge heads, horns and shaggy hair, buffalo can look menacing. But the animals generally aren't. "Out in the field, they are a docile animal," Clifton Howell said.

However, buffalo don't like to be confined to small areas. That's when they'll get aggressive.

The Howells say the animals draw stares from passers-by. The distraction has nearly caused accidents on several occasions on the county asphalt road that borders the farm.

School children and Scout groups have visited often.

Clifton Howell runs a construction company, but raising buffalo has become a passion. His free hours and weekends are spent taking care of them.

The Howells have begun selling their meat. Buffalo will soon be on the menu at the nearby lodge at Giant City State Park in Makanda, Ill.

Mike Kelley, lodge manager, said adding buffalo steaks and burgers to the restaurant menu fits with the decor of the rustic lodge where a buffalo head has decorated a stone mantle in the lobby for decades.

"We are just going to give it a try," he said.

Clifton Howell eventually hopes to sell the meat to a number of restaurants. He'd like to sell about 200 pounds of buffalo meat a day. To do that, he would have to butcher about 100 bison a year.

Inside the barn is a large metal cooler where the Howells store every cut of bison meat from steaks to burger patties. A buffalo head is mounted above the cooler door.

Kim Howell said she cooks up a lot of buffalo. "I do steaks and roast quite often," she said.

Buffalo meat tastes a lot like beef only better, she said. "It's leaner and a little sweeter," Kim Howell said.

She is fond of buffalo meatloaf, too. "There is hardly any fat on it," she said.

She has even made buffalo pizza.

Out on the farm, the grunting herd eagerly moves to another pasture after Clifton Howell dumps piles of corn meal on the ground.

Within minutes, they have moved far from the gate.

Kim Howell watches as the grazing bison move toward the top of a hill. "They like to see what is on the other side," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

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About bison

While everyone calls these animals American buffalo, they're technically bison. They belong to the same family of mammals as domestic cattle.

That doesn't mean bison are the same as cattle, however.

A bison can outrun a horse, said Clifton Howell, who along with his wife owns Bison Bluff Farms near Cobden, Ill. Bison can move at speeds up to 35 mph and cover long distances in a lumbering gallop. With bigger hearts and lungs than cattle, bison can run for up to three hours at 80 percent of their top speed.

"His first defense is to take flight," Howell said.

In contrast to cattle, bison can jump as high as 8 feet. "They are more athletic, like a deer," he said.

In the fall, the animals race back and forth across the pastures. In winter, they romp in the snow.

The bison -- the largest land mammal in North America since the end of the ice age -- has a healthy appetite. A herd of 300 bison will consume 9,000 pounds of grass a day, Howell said. Huge, round bales of hay are already being stored away for winter feeding.

A full-grown male bison can tip the scales at 2,000 pounds or better, while a mature bison cow weighs about 1,200 pounds, Howell said.

A bison will drink up about 10 gallons of water a day.

Bison prefer cooler weather. "They have seven times as many hair follicles per square inch as a cow," Clifton Howell said.

The average life span for a bison in the wild is 20 to 25 years. But on a farm they can become steaks within a couple of years.