Conservation Ranching - National Bison Association

Bison and the Environment

Native grasslands comprise more than 40 percent of North America’s natural landscape. The grasses covering these open landscapes serve as powerful carbon traps, with slender leaves removing CO2 from the atmosphere and returning it to the soil through an extensive system of roots. These grasslands did not occur in a vacuum. In fact, North America’s grasslands evolved over tens of thousands of years of continuous grazing by large ruminants, most notably the American bison. This co-evolutionary process to grasses and grazers developed into a symbiotic relationship that is vital to the health of both.

NBA Conservation Management Plan (CMP)

The Conservation Management Plan (CMP) provides bison farmers and ranchers the ability to monitor and document their conservation practices to both improve and exhibit how their work positively impacts the bison, the land they’re on, and the people around them. The simple web app based interface allows all producers to manage and measure their conservation efforts effectively. See a complete overview of the CMP here and these successful, “Master Steward” applications:

777 Bison Ranch

Beaver Creek Buffalo

Nachusa Grasslands

NBA Producer’s App

The National Bison Association is pleased to announce its innovative new NBA Bison Producer’s App, now available for both iOS and Android devices. The app is among the deliverables resulting from a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA RMA) and the project it’s underwriting – Record Keeping for Risk Mitigation. The project aims to improve the overall performance of bison operations through better record keeping and analysis, with the producer’s app providing a powerful tool to do so. The app is available at no charge for NBA members. The app’s extensive features result in a very powerful herd management tool that literally fits in the palm of your hand. App features include animal photo ID, birth date, herd and tag ID, weight, gender, vaccination/dewormer schedule, North American Bison Registry animal history, notes for things like body condition, health, transfer history, animal test results, genetic/parentage information, calving rates, and more. Download the app and start tracking and analyzing your herd’s performance today! Download the Bison Producer’s App Installation Guide here, and contact the NBA with any questions.

The Bison Producer’s App also features access to the NBA’s innovative and ground-breaking Conservation Management Plan (CMP)

Low Stress Bison Handling, By Mark Kossler, Turner Enterprises, Inc.

Much has been written and taught about bison being “semi-free ranging wild ungulents” with a built in predilection that renders normal livestock handling techniques, fences, corrals and equipment insufficient to handle and control these animals. This perception has lead many to build physically large and imposing fences as the “standard” bison fence. In fact, some of the “Jurassic Park” corrals developed for working bison could easily be used for working elephants. Yet many producers use minimal fencing (two wires electric) for pasture separations with little or no problems, and some use minimal corrals made out of wood, rubber belting, wildlife screening, or big straw bales to routinely work their animals.

NBA Conference Presentations

As a service to our members who are not able to attend our conferences, the NBA I pleased to share these conference presentations with you. Thanks to Buffalo Gold Premium Fibers and the Buffalo Wool Co. for their generous sponsorship that made this possible. NBA membership required to view, please learn more about NBA’s membership levels here.