Articles

The primary tenet of our national economy is growth. It does not matter what field that growth takes place in: automobile production, new home construction, mortgage banking, agri-business, farming and ranching, franchise business operations, hi-tech fields of all kinds and on and on endlessly. Growth requires expanded production, expanded markets, ever expanding use of raw materials, expanded development of tapping into ever thinning supply lines of resources.

Ranching growth means expanding the herd, acquiring sufficient land to maintain the herd. It is more fences and feed, more hired help and more time, more machinery to maintain. It is easy to have more animals than the land can sustain—but only briefly. When the land suffers, the herd suffers and both the quality and the viability of production becomes diminished. The market recedes, but the outstanding bills do not diminish. They still become due, and the economic and financial downward spiral for the rancher has begun.

To combat the almost inevitable retrogression that untrammeled growth creates, the corporation or the individual must learn to curb and conserve his/her/its financial energy, and this is the point at which the concept and practices of sustainability step into the equation. Sustainability looks toward the future in the long term; unchecked growth looks at the immediate present, toward the quick profit. Sustainability requires, for example, that a rancher achieves equilibrium between the size of his herd and what his pastures can actually support without being damaged. A rancher who overburdens his pastures with animals will likely have to buy feed for the herd, which is an overhead expense that the “sustainable” rancher works to eliminate—by preserving quality over quantity.

Wild Idea Buffalo Company and the Sustainable Harvest Alliance work together with two goals in mind: 1) a sustainable production of buffalo on native grasses, and 2) an humane slaughter of the meat animals. “Sustainable production” mitigates unchecked growth. It requires the highest quality product rather than a greater quantity of “acceptable” product. The pastures and the animals must be maintained in a sustainable balance; that is, the animals and the land have to achieve equilibrium to one another. At its healthiest that relationship becomes symbiotic. The human being enters the equation because land is parceled, owned, and enclosed. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the human being to rotate the various pastures for grazing in a way that resembles as closely as possible the natural grazing patterns of the buffalo were there no fences or ownership to impede them.

Sustainable Harvest Alliance is a 501c3 corporation that owns a licensed mobile slaughter unit, a semi-truck and trailer built for the initial processing of field harvested carcasses. Initial means skinning, eviscerating, halving, hanging and cooling. The personnel within the trailer include two professional skinners and a certified state inspector, who insures that all the procedures and equipment and carcasses are up to code specifications. The mobile unit itself contributes to sustainability as a average day in the field yields seven or eight carcasses and the refrigeration unit can hold only fifteen. Thus production is limited and creates a physical check on growth.

In the field where the slaughtering takes place very rigorous attention is paid to the USDA’s regulations governing “the humane treatment of livestock prior to and during slaughter.” (Summary 9 CFR 313.1-90) That regulation stipulates acceptable “methods of slaughter, including…gunshot….” Title 9, Chapter III, Subchapter A, Part 313–Humane Slaughter of Livestock approves and designates (313.16 Mechanical; gunshot) the method we employ. It also places strict requirements on the “operator,” in the “required effect” “to produce immediate unconsciousness in the animal by a single shot….” and “rendered unconscious with a minimum of excitement and discomfort.” (313.16,a,1) and “Immediately after the firearm is discharged and the projectile is delivered, the animal shall be in a state of unconsciousness and remain in this condition throughout shackling, sticking, and bleeding.” (313.16, a, 3) “The shooting operation is an exacting procedure and requires a well-trained and experienced operator. He must be able to accurately direct the projectile to produce immediate unconsciousness. He must use the correct caliber firearm, powder charge and type of ammunition to produce the desired results.” (313.16, b, 1, iv)

These are the regulations by which we must conduct ourselves. Our practice in the field complies. The animals are in a pasture about a half mile square. The herd is at rest, calm, and together. The operator drives to the herd; the state inspector accompanies the operator. A second vehicle, usually a tractor, used to transport the carcass, follows. The gunshot does not excite the animals. That may sound strange, but it is true. The unconscious animal is then stuck, and hoisted for bleeding. A blood sample is taken for testing. The rest of the herd ordinarily remains in close proximity to this operation and is usually in the same area when the operator returns for the next animal.

When compared to all other slaughter plant operations, ours is far superior with regard to animal welfare – and ultimately the quality of meat produced. The key is that the animals are not exposed to the usual corralling, shipping and crowding into the slaughter plants. Such operations are stressful for all animals but particularly so for animals that are nearly wild. Only Sustainable Harvest Alliance and Wild Idea Buffalo Co. consider this inconvenient truth. There is no laughing, no high fives, only a prayer of thanks to Tatanka. We are serious and deliberate; there is nothing cavalier in our practice of producing the best and healthiest red meat in a humane and sustainable way.