How bison farmers juggle safety and growing demand in Maine | Animals

How bison farmers juggle safety and growing demand in Maine

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23 Oct ’15 - 10:48 am

Didn't even know someone was raising them up here, surprised that 23 is enough for a full time working farm.

WATERFORD, Maine — On a sprawling, upland pasture, where docile cows long grazed, a newer tenant occupies the field. They are neither soft nor cuddly. In fact, the owners of Beech Hill Farm & Bison Ranch are so buffaloed by their herd that they keep a respectful distance.

“We consider each one dangerous,” rancher Ted Colburn said.

The mighty American mammals that can weigh a ton and charge at 30 mph are not pets, though Colburn and his wife Doretta have named a few.

Bison farming is what the couple call a “life-extension program.” Every morning they rise early and plan their day over coffee. Compared to cattle raising, bison rearing is hands off. They feed on grass during the summer and organic hay during the winter. Pasturing 23 bison is an active, full-time pursuit. Maintaining fencing and caring for an abandoned calf keeps them busy when they aren’t growing organic vegetables, pruning fruit trees and tending their 47 rolling acres.

“They have a good life while they are here,” said Ted Colburn, who purchased the buffalo farm from his cousin in 2007 and moved here from Connecticut for a new adventure. “They have resort living,” he said. “Their owners do not.”

“There is not a day that we don’t wake up and look out to see where the bison are,” Doretta said. “You have to be ever vigilant.”

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