Working with bison
Designing for bison behavior
Unlike cattle, bison are native to
North America. They’ve adapted over
thousands of years to survive efficiently
in our often inhospitable landscape.
They can survive independently in
the most challenging of weather
conditions. They’re extremely efficient
at converting limited feed resources
into lean meat and they have
reproduction rates that any cattlemen
would appreciate. Bison are at home
on the range.
Bison are however not naturally
at home in a handling system. For
ranchers new to bison ranching this is
important to understand. Bison have
survived in the wild by being hyper
aware of, and reacting to, changes
in their environment. For bison that
are used to being free, the handling
process can be filled with threats.
How can we minimize these threats?
There are three basic ways that you
can lower the risk to your livestock.
First is to introduce your bison to
your facilities in a safe and positive
manner. Second is to train your staff
to adapt their handling methods to
the individual bison. And lastly, ensure
your equipment and facilities will allow
safe and efficient animal movement.
Bison are very aware of their
surroundings. A new handling system
will look, sound, and smell novel. To
bison anything novel is a threat until
proven otherwise. To remove the
threat of the new handling system it
needs to be introduced carefully to the
bison herd. Ironically those bison that
tend to be most frightened also tend
to be the most curious of changes to
their environment. You can benefit
from this by setting the equipment up
so that your bison can safely explore
the equipment at their own speed.
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Do not force the bison into or through
the system as this will only stress the
bison. All you have to do is make sure
they can safely access the equipment.
Before you give them access to the
system take a walk through the
equipment first to ensure, from the
animals perspective, any threats have
been removed or minimized.
Threats can be many things; smells,
sounds, movements, even shadows.
Some of the often sited threats are
loose chains (that rattle in the wind),
garbage like a discarded plastic bag or
cup, or somebody’s coat draped over
a fence (that smells foreign and moves
in the wind).
Additionally you should make sure
that all the equipment is safe and
that all doors are secured in an open
position. You do not want a curious
animal cutting itself or accidentally
getting itself trapped.
Once your bison have become
comfortable with the equipment some
ranchers have found success preconditioning the bison to the handling
process. This would involve introducing
the herd to the handling process in a
gradual manor. For example they may
first bring their herd into a holding
pen and then opening the gate to
the handling system to let the herd
learn that the way out is through the
handling system and squeeze chute.
Feed can be located beyond the chute
as a reward for successfully travelling
through the handling system.
The next time bison travel through
the handling system the handler may
hold the stock for brief periods in
each section of the working alley. Each
time the herd is brought through the
system another step can be introduced
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and each time the animals leave the
squeeze they can be rewarded with
feed. If training is done well your bison
will enter your system without fear and
move through the system with little
coaxing.
Compared to most cattle, bison tend
to be much more sensitive to novel
situations and perceived threats. Their
reactions can vary from explosive
attempts to escape to tonic immobility
and death. Stress, injury, and death
dramatically affect the economic
success of your operation. This is why
handlers need to be aware of bison
behavior, bison handling techniques
and the various signs that your bison
are stressed or frightened.
There are a few key differences
between working with cattle and
working with bison. Cattle for example
are commonly moved in a single file
alley in a head-to-tail configuration.
Cattle are also often crowded into
the handling system. Both of these
handling techniques will have a
negative impact on bison. Bison
become highly stressed when they
are isolated so bison are best moved
in small groups. Bison also don’t like
being crowded or unable to turn
around or move freely. Bison that are
overcrowded or forced into a single
file alley will often, if there is no roof
on the alley, attempt to climb out of
the alley.
Additionally, when given an open
stretch of alley, cattle will usually
navigate the length of the alley at a
walk or slow jog. Bison on the other
hand are more likely to run the length
of the alley at full speed until they
collide with the gate at the end of the
alley. This is why bison systems tend to
have more gates in the alleys than are
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Working with bison
Designing for bison behavior
found in cattle handling systems.
Lastly, handlers should be aware of
the signs that your bison are stressed.
Careful observation of these indicators
will help you to interpret where you
might have problems in your facilities
or in your handling methods.
And where cattle see an open rail gate
across an alley as a deterrent worth
respecting bison will often attempt to
simply run through it. They wouldn’t
have any difficulty plowing through
a two inch tree in the woods so why
would they consider an open rail gate
to be much different?
These signs might include early
indicators such as licking, frequent
blinking, lifting the tail and grouping
together. As the stress levels increase
you may see frothing at the mouth,
laboured breathing or panting, and
vocalizing. They may also become
either more active which could include
running, attempting to escape or
goring or they may become less active
and sit down, lie down or become non
responsive or immobile.
These are important behavioral
differences that should be considered
when planning your bison corrals and
bison handling system. Ignoring these
differences may result in significant
losses through injuries and potentially
death.
Bison also tend to have a much larger
flight zone compared to cattle which
means that handlers working bison
inside the handling system are usually
deep inside their flight zone. This
makes the handler a much greater
perceived threat to the bison which
means that the handler should be able
to move the bison with less noise, less
speed and less movement.
Bison that have elevated stress
levels may incur injuries or even die.
Recognising the early signs will help
you to take action before your animals
are harmed.
Any time you attempt to move bison
from one handling environment to
another your bison will make a decision
on whether or not it is safe to precede.
If you introduce too many changes to
their environment at any time they will
likely hesitate and potentially refuse
to move forward. One of the key
design considerations when moving
livestock from the open pasture to the
control of the squeeze chute is how
to gradually introduce changes in the
bison handling environment so as not
to stop forward movement.
Be aware of what the bison can see
when they are in the handling system. If
you find animals stalling in the handling
system it is quite possible that they see
something that is threatening them.
Perhaps there is someone operating a
gate further up the alley that they can
see. All you may have to do to remove
the threat is cover the opening so the
bison can’t see the operator.
Careful observation is required any
time you enter the flight zone. The
animal will show you how much
pressure you need to use. Always start
with the minimum amount of noise
and motion.
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Hi-Hogs alley components are
designed to work together to slowly
transition from the pasture to the
squeeze.
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