Is Grass-Fed Bison Better for your Health?
Not all bison burgers are created equal.
As with other livestock, it stands to reason that how and where bison are raised would impact the meat’s nutritional profile. But there isn’t much science on how different forages and finishing strategies effect bison quality.
Until now.
Nutrition science graduate student Joseph Vinod Varre and Professor Stephan van Vliet at Utah State University are taking an innovative look at the nutritional composition of bison raised and finished at three ranches in the West. Their research could inform consumers and ranchers as they navigate the health and environmental benefits of this popular, growing industry.
“Bison sales were over $340 million last year and they continue to grow as people look for alternative sources of red meat,” Varre explained. “We know that bison generally has less fat and more protein than beef, but we know very little about how rotational grazing management may impact bison’s nutritional quality.”
For most consumers, bison conjures the image of buffalo roaming the open range. They might be surprised to learn that more than 80 percent of bison sold in the United States are finished in a feed lot, often with grain to increase the animals’ fat and weight.
Rotational grazing offers many environmental benefits such as keeping weeds and other invasive species in check, providing water storage and carbon sequestration and supporting habitat for endangered plants and animals. Varre and van Vliet suspect that rotational grazing and finishing bison in pastures with diverse plants also supports human health.
With support from a Western SARE grant, Varre and his team will collect meat from two bison ranches in Montana and one in New Mexico. The samples will be frozen and powdered and lab tested for various vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and health-boosting chemicals found naturally in plant-based foods. The team will compare pasture-finished bison to pen-fed meat, and also look at the nutritional differences among pasture-finished bison from various regions.
“It makes sense that bison grazed on grasses in one region would have different nutritional components than bison raised in another state or area,” Vliet said. “The livestock consume different plants in different environments and that impacts the resulting meat product”.
Some ranchers in the West are already turning to bison as a cost-cutting idea, letting bison finish on grasses that grow naturally. Varre hopes this research can add further value to sustainably raised bison to strengthen the environment, human health and local ranching economies.
“The adoption of more sustainable ranching practices is ultimately dependent on consumers’ interest in healthy products,” he explained. “Having information on the impact of these different finishing practices is crucial for helping support practical, actionable, sustainable farming practices.”