Agriculture in upstate New York doesn’t often include bison, but one local farm has been raising a herd of 170 bison in Homer that are finding their way onto restaurant menus.
While there are only 27 bison farms in New York compared to the 12,796 beef farms, according to the 2017 USDA’s Census of Agriculture, its demand is growing. The National Bison Association says that nearly all of its bison meat marketers reported growth last year, with half reporting an increase of more than 10%.
Skaneateles Buffalo was started in 2014 by Ellen and Tony Rusyniak when they purchased 30 cows from the Onondaga Nation and three bulls from Saranac Lake.
“We liked the idea of natural grass-fed animals, and we liked the idea that they could be free range,” Ellen Rusyniak said. “They are minimal intervention, and they’re kind of unique animals.”
Working with bison can be dangerous because of their size and their lack of trust with humans, said Spencer Rusyniak, Ellen and Tony’s 19-year-old son who helps care for the bison.
“They’re very dispassionate, and I don’t trust them at all,” he said. “People have this idea of prey animals being peaceful and gentle creatures, but with bison, that could not be farther from the truth.”
For safety, the Rusyniaks don’t interact closely with the grass-fed bison without the protection of a truck or tractor in between them. They don’t go into their enclosures on foot, and the fences are much higher than typical fencing for cattle.
The process for butchering bison is quite different from cattle, Spencer Rusyniak said. Rather than loading the animal onto a truck alive and killing them at the facility, the bison are shot and killed on the farm, then taken to be butchered.
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-mysticenergy
Categories: New York, Livestock, Beef Cattle