By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
The U.S. bison industry has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and its toll on the U.S. travel and hospitality industries, but bison raisers currently remain ineligible for aid through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This, combined with a significant reduction in agritourism, has some bison raisers digging into their savings and retirement to make it through the year.
“Our industry has been very blessed, and we’ve worked very hard to develop high-end trade for our primal cuts, like tenderloins, ribeyes and strips and things of that nature. At the time the crisis hit, the value of those primal cuts on an average buffalo carcass was about 25 percent of the value of that carcass. That’s significant,” Donnis Baggett, president of the National Bison Association board of directors and a Texas bison raiser, told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.
Nearly all of the primal bison cuts went into food service to high-end restaurants and hotels. Very little of it went into the retail sector.
“Overnight, those businesses just went away,” Baggett, a Brazos County Farm Bureau member, said. “The travel industry went in the tank, and there was no need for bison tenderloins and so forth.”
That caused the value of a bison carcass to drop significantly.
“Those cuts that people used to just absolutely cry out for, a lot of it had to be ground up rather than sold as steaks, roasts and so forth,” Baggett said. “That has had an impact of about 25 to 30 percent on animal meat prices.”
For those in the cow-calf sector of the industry, that means calves that will go to market this fall or winter will likely be worth less.
“So, we’re left wondering, what can we do to tread water and wait until things get better?” Baggett said.
The National Bison Association asked USDA to add bison to the list of commodities eligible for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), but as of press time, it was not added to the list.
Baggett raises bison on a ranch outside of Bryan and hosts company picnics, family reunions, wedding rehearsal dinners and other events at their party pavilion.
When the coronavirus started to spread and people were encouraged to stay at home, agritourism and the dollars associated with it dried up.
“It’s a good way to help pay the feed bill,” Baggett said. “There have been no functions of that sort since the COVID crisis hit. So another important part of our industry dried up.”
Some ranchers are selling some of their herd, while some are carrying them a bit longer.
“We’ve got some pretty nice two-year-old bulls that a year ago would have been worth about $3,000 each,” Baggett said. “Now they’re worth about $2,000 each.”
The problem with carrying bison longer, to avoid losing money, is primal cuts on the animal lose their value over time.
“Their primal cuts are still good up until age three,” Baggett said. “After three years of age, the meat starts to get a little tough. So, you can only grind most of the meat except for the tenderloins.”
To make matters worse, some ranchers have been unable to get their bison processed because meat processors are not making appointments for, in some cases, a year from now.
According to the association, between January and April, bison bull prices declined by a weighted average of 37 percent. Bison heifer prices declined by a weighted average of 25 percent, and the cost of feeding bison in finishing facilities increased by an average of 12 percent.
If the animals were eligible for CFAP aid, it could help offset the losses owners are incurring.
“Just to give you an example, I’ve already had to buy hay for this coming winter, and normally I would use revenue from bulls that we are selling to help pay for that hay,” Baggett said. “That revenue is not there this year, and it may not be there. So, I’ll have to dig around in my personal retirement account or whatever to come up with that money.”
He said bison raisers have worked hard and built up awareness of their industry in Washington, D.C., to address the issue. Baggett said the bison raisers just need a little help so they can hang on until things turn around.
Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association, said there is a bright spot if bison raisers are able to weather the pandemic.
“When people rushed to the supermarkets to load up in March and April, in some cases, the meat case was bare of any beef. So, they were looking for some alternatives,” Carter said. “We had some research that there’s a good number of folks that tried bison for the first time in March and April.”
Texas has more bison raisers than any other state in the nation. There are just under 200,000 bison in the United States.