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There’s a really good autobiography called buffalo for the broken heart which chronicles a ranchers quest to switch from a cattle ranch to a buffalo ranch. It

by mattrp 7y ago

There’s a really good autobiography called buffalo for the broken heart which chronicles a ranchers quest to switch from a cattle ranch to a buffalo ranch. It really lays out the case for these amazing creatures.

pacifist 7y ago
Thank you for the recommendation. Probably my next book to read. There is a little bison operation here in Oregon and I'm a regular customer. Strange to think that we are saving them by eating them. I like the "move everyone to Texas" version proposed upthread better.
- mattrp 7y ago
  Well I guess I got downvoted because of the implication that you picked up on - “saving them by eating them.” One kind of has to read the book. When you look at efforts to repopulate bison to the prairie, the most famous is Yellowstone. And indeed it’s been successful. But we are talking about a herd of a few hundred - not the millions that once roamed the American prairie. Further, when you consider the prairie is not the Rocky Mountain region but places like North/Sohth Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, eastern Colorado, etc, one needs to consider current land use/ownership - most of the land is privately owned and used to grow feedstock for the cow - An animal that is essentially a foreign invasive species. So before one gets all high and mighty about not eating bison, consider that by replacing cows with bison, the prairie ecosystem gets restored (the bison’s hooves act as natural aerators vital to an amazing amount of bird species that also have all but disappeared), an amazing amount of feedstock land gets returned to its native state, etc, all without resorting to some tyrannical scheme to move everyone to Texas which despite its landmass could not support anywhere near the population of the US much less the world without an ecological catastrophe. Am I angry I got downvoted - not really - everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I do think we need an ounce of reality in this discussion. anyway read the book - if it helps the author is a conservationist and his plea/rationale is very humane and respectful to nature.
  - pacifist 7y ago
    Thanks again for turning me onto the book. I just got it and I'm through the first chapter already. I eat bison for the same reasons alluded to barely in the first chapter: they graze well[1], and they have evolved together with the surrounding vegetation and wildlife. Yeah, the Texas thing is silly. Mostly wishful thinking on my part. [1] https://phys.org/news/2019-11-yellowstone-migrating-bison-springtime-green-up.html https://phys.org/news/2019-11-yellowstone-migrating-bison-sp...
    - mattrp 7y ago
      I’m glad you like it. Above article is fascinating - it’s like cows destroy the ecosystem through grazing while bison “engineer” it to make it better to the point they can see bison grazed land from space.

by mattrp 7y ago

pacifist 7y ago

Thank you for the recommendation. Probably my next book to read. There is a little bison operation here in Oregon and I'm a regular customer. Strange to think that we are saving them by eating them. I like the "move everyone to Texas" version proposed upthread better.

mattrp 7y ago
Well I guess I got downvoted because of the implication that you picked up on - “saving them by eating them.” One kind of has to read the book. When you look at efforts to repopulate bison to the prairie, the most famous is Yellowstone. And indeed it’s been successful. But we are talking about a herd of a few hundred - not the millions that once roamed the American prairie. Further, when you consider the prairie is not the Rocky Mountain region but places like North/Sohth Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, eastern Colorado, etc, one needs to consider current land use/ownership - most of the land is privately owned and used to grow feedstock for the cow - An animal that is essentially a foreign invasive species. So before one gets all high and mighty about not eating bison, consider that by replacing cows with bison, the prairie ecosystem gets restored (the bison’s hooves act as natural aerators vital to an amazing amount of bird species that also have all but disappeared), an amazing amount of feedstock land gets returned to its native state, etc, all without resorting to some tyrannical scheme to move everyone to Texas which despite its landmass could not support anywhere near the population of the US much less the world without an ecological catastrophe. Am I angry I got downvoted - not really - everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I do think we need an ounce of reality in this discussion. anyway read the book - if it helps the author is a conservationist and his plea/rationale is very humane and respectful to nature.
- pacifist 7y ago
  Thanks again for turning me onto the book. I just got it and I'm through the first chapter already. I eat bison for the same reasons alluded to barely in the first chapter: they graze well[1], and they have evolved together with the surrounding vegetation and wildlife. Yeah, the Texas thing is silly. Mostly wishful thinking on my part. [1] https://phys.org/news/2019-11-yellowstone-migrating-bison-springtime-green-up.html https://phys.org/news/2019-11-yellowstone-migrating-bison-sp...
  - mattrp 7y ago
    I’m glad you like it. Above article is fascinating - it’s like cows destroy the ecosystem through grazing while bison “engineer” it to make it better to the point they can see bison grazed land from space.