Grass Fed Beef - Luc?

[MikeLM]

AmericanGrassFedBeef is in fact listed in Eatwild.

Mike

[Luc_H]

and also Michael Pollan's book: The Omnivore's Dilemma, right smack on the homepage.

Luc H.

[shel]

Originally Posted by MikeLM

AmericanGrassFedBeef is in fact listed in Eatwild.

I noticed that.

shel

[greyeaglem]

If you are interested in buffalo meat, I can recommend buffalogal.com. Their buffalo farm is about 30 miles from me. There is also an Indian tribe that I believe is in Missouri or Kansas who raise wild buffalo on grazing lands. They have a mobile processing unit that is comprised of several semi trailers. They go out on the range and process the buffalo on the spot. I know they ship the meat all over, but I can't remember their name. I'll try to do some research and see if I can find it. A lot of people in my area have buffalo and elk farms, but for some reason the meat is hard for an individual person to access. They both turn up on local restaurant menus at several places, but not in the small meat markets or grocery stores. You can also look for suppliers on the National Bison Association web site. I looked at one producer in Missouri (Thunder Ridge) whose prices are more than reasonable. There was no shipping info available, so I don't know how expensive that would be. Buffalo is very good meat. People are sometimes put off by the idea of it because they tend to associate it with venison. They are completely different animals and their meat is nothing alike taste wise. Buffalo is not at all gamey. It has less fat and cholesterol than white chicken, with all the satisfaction associated with red meat. Unlike other animals, buffalo do not get cancer

[shel]

Just a word of caution, especially to those buying "buffalo" meat from unknown sources.

There is buffalo and there is bison. The American plains animal is bison - bison bison to be more accurate - and the meat is not the same as the various types of buffalo, such as cape buffalo, water buffalo, and so on.

More than likely, if you buy "buffalo" meat here in the US, from reputable sellers, you are getting bison, or at least some bison. But you could be getting something else. Learn where the meat you buy comes from.

Why the emphasis on some? Because labeling laws in the US are sometimes vague, and what you see described on the package may not be what you get in the package. By law, a package labeled as buffalo meat can contain as much as 49% of other meat, usually beef, but sometimes other meat.

If you want buffalo meat, or rather bison meat, be sure you're getting 100% bison. And look for grass fed bison, not grain fed or grain finished. The meat looks and tastes quite a bit different.

How did bison become known as buffalo - well, that's another show <LOL>

Years ago bison was hard to come by as the herds were very small and their harvesting was pretty well regulated. The way I recall it, people would pay a lot of money to certain native American tribes for the privilege of hunting bison. It was during that period I met a fellow who lived in Montana, and, being native American, he could get pretty much get all the bison he could eat. I met his family - mainly his sister, her husband, and his grandparents when I spent a summer living in Montana. It was during that time I enjoyed true bison, cooked properly, for the first time.

Now that the meat is finding it's way into the mainstream, it's easier to get, and it's easier to get good quality bison meat. If you've never tried it, I urge you to take it for a "taste drive." You may be pleasantly surprised at what you've been missing.

shel

[Luc_H]

Tatunka!
(Dancing with wolves)

Luc H.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Luc_H

Tatunka!
(Dancing with wolves)

A few years ago I was travelling through South Dakota, not far from where some of Dances With Wolves was shot. There's a neat tourist place called "1880s Town" which is comprised of a lot of original old buildings - some refurbished, but most not - that were moved to the site in order to preserve them and protect them from demolishion or just turning into dust. The buildings were laid out like a regular town.

Before going out to the town, one passes through a large octagonal (if memory serves) building, and upstairs in that building was a lot of memorabilia from the movie. One of the things I learned from that visit was that a number of bison used in the film were from Canada, and were part of Neil Young's herd. That little tidbit of info really fascinated me.

shel

[Luc_H]

Apparently, after the systematic killing of the whole bison population from the American plains to eliminate the native opposition, the only wild herds left in existence of the prairie bison were in Canada.

Luc H.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Luc_H

and also Michael Pollan's book: The Omnivore's Dilemma, right smack on the homepage.

He's got a few other books that are worth reading, and a plethora of articles as well. The link below makes many of his articles available on line. Especially interesting - to me at least - is his dialogue with Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey. Sometimes he can be seen at one of the local farmer's markets, or so I've been told. I've not yet run into him.

Michael Pollan - Articles

Home Page

shel

[KYHeirloomer]

Guess that depends on how one defines "wild".

For instance, in Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota, there is a free-ranging herd; one of several such in the U.S.

I'm working on memory now. It's been ten years since I researched this. Back then there were something like 75,000 bison living in the U.S.

Kansas has three state herds, but even the largest doesn't have as much land to roam as the one at Roosevelt.

Montana has a free-ranging herd in, as I recall, the Henry Mountains. There's even a fair-chase hunting season for them.

It's gotten to the point that states that had historically had woods bison are looking to restore them, using existing plains bison stocks. For instance, Kentucky is looking at restoring them to the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Thanks to these and other public herds, and the many private herds that dot the United States and Canada, the bison have made an incredible comeback. Certainly not the millions that once dotted the plains. But enough to assure their survival.