Hobby Bison Ranching Enhances Quality of Life

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

We are all familiar with the phenomenon of farm families relying on off-farm income to keep the farm alive. But increasingly, we are seeing newly rural families relying mostly on off-farm income to enjoy the farm lifestyle.

That is the case of Daniel Blais, a North Battleford teacher who dabbles in bison ranching about 15 kilometres southwest of Battleford, in the Eagle Hills Escarpment area.

“Our family got into bison in 1994, at the same time as my father and brother. His father now runs 30 head of buffalo but at one point he had a couple hundred head. Our big choice to move out was motivated by the desire to provide a healthy wholesome lifestyle for our children. I have a farm background myself. We lived in Battleford. We had a beautiful home and a large backyard but it is still not the same—the liberty that life provides on a small farm.

“We have a half section of land and we have our bison and chickens. Someone farms broke land for us. It is not like a farm where someone is running a couple hundred head of cattle or even 50—we have a herd of 6 bison cows and a bull. They are a majestic critter. They do not require a lot of maintenance. They calve on their own. They are not prone to diseases. I de-worm them and take care of them like you would. I don’t give them shots. I built a high-tensile steel, 8-strand, five-and-a-half-foot-fence with one electric line in the middle of it and I don’t have to worry about keeping them contained.

“It was a big investment. At the time, the price of bison was way up. It made sense to invest in them. When the bison prices came down, at least my bison were paid for. The fence is there now and will be for some time.”

Blais and his wife were aware that full-time agricultural activities for them were not an option.

“We knew that living out on our farm would never replace our in-town jobs. What we are hoping is that perhaps with the bison and some of the revenue coming in with the broke land, that it would help to pay for some of the difference in cost of travel from living in town. I can’t say that it has necessarily done that, but we definitely have a good quality of life out here.

“Children love playing outside. When we first came out here they were scared of going outside. There was no fence to keep them in; to give them a boundary and they found that intimidating. A year later, they loved it. They love that fact that there is no fence—that they could go explore. All we had to do was to establish verbal perimeters.”

Blais and his family were in awe of the location, and full of admiration for the authentic creature of the Canadian Plains that the bison is.

“When I moved out here, dad and I talked. I had some older cows and I basically bought from him some two-year-old heifers that I moved out here. They were young and I felt I wouldn’t have to worry about them trying to escape, as some of the older ones might. I moved out here with six bred two-year-olds. The first year we moved out here, I fenced off one quarter and cross-fenced it. So I have four 40-acre pastures that I use on rotation. I have a well in that quarter, so I run a summer line up and on to a trough. Therefore the trough is accessible to all four pastures. In one of the pastures, I also have a freshwater spring that they use up to late fall and in the spring again for water. They are free-range animals.”

With his current set up and the amount of pasture he has, Blais figures he is pretty close to capacity in term of the number of animals he can keep.

“If I had 8 to 10 breeding cows, that would be the maximum I’d want to have. I don’t want to overtax the land. They’re still a ruminant and can add pressure to the land. I am an educator. We want to keep it as a hobby. If prices rose and we wanted to buy more land, I suppose expanding could be an option.”

Regardless of the size of his operation, Blais feels he is still part of the agriculture economy at some level, through the relationship he enjoys with the people who farm his land, his community, feed suppliers, and the channels through which he markets his crop of animals each year. At this point, he wouldn’t give that up for the world.

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For more information, contact:

Daniel Blais
(306) 445-3843