12th April 2013
Spring 2008: Battling for bison
A recent Craft Guild study tour ventured into the heart of rural Leicestershire to find out what happened when one frustrated farmer decided to trade in his cattle for bison
North American bison can't be herded or ‘driven' in the same way cattle can. Despite their size and docile demeanour they have incredibly fast and powerful manoeuvrability and therefore require a fair amount of respect, something George Wakeling found out very quickly when he began farming bison at Bouverie Lodge 10 years ago.
“When our first stock arrived on the farm I went to slap their backside to get them moving like I would with cattle, and the delivery guy shouted out: ‘No!' He quickly explained that bison can kick as fast as a rifle shot and you wouldn't know what had happened until you looked down and found two of your fingers missing,” explains Wakeling.
Back then red meat was getting a fairly bad press with BSE and other health issues were coming to the fore, and George and his wife Ruth were looking for a way out of the “rat race of cattle farming”.
“I was farming subsidies not products. I wanted to get out of the commodities market and sell direct to the customer,” he says. “There was a study about US park rangers who had a diet of nothing but red meat, yet they had the lowest cholesterol levels. This was because they were eating the wild bison and red deer, whose meat was still how nature had created it – not like the animals that have been bred for production over the last 100 years, intensively fed to lay down different levels of fat.”
Bison meat is naturally higher in protein while being lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than other meats. Per 100g of cooked lean meat, bison contains 2.42g of fat compared to beef at 9.38g and chicken at 7.41g, while its calorie content is 143, lower than beef and chicken at 211 and 190 respectively. It is also said to be easier to digest, yet being a dense meat it can satisfy the appetite more quickly.
“The health benefits of bison is one of the main reasons we got into it in the first place,” says Wakeling.
His first stock came from a contact in Wiltshire, and he started out with six bison plus a bull. Today he has around 80 in total, which are kept along with approximately 100 red deer on his110 acre farm near Melton Mowbray.
“It was a very big gamble, but so many farmers were going under anyway, it was worth trying. People thought we'd lost it. But we survived while others didn't.
“Our income is half and half on venison and bison. We thought the bison would need a lot of promotion but in the end it sold itself on the novelty value. Once people have tried it they come back for more.”
At the time of the Craft Guild's visit, organised by José Souto, chef lecturer at Westminster Kingsway College, the majority of the bison were enjoying their winter shelter.
“It's a very wet site here so we keep the bison under cover for the wet months. They are born in the spring, and we would usually kill them at about 30 months, in September or October time.”
At present, however, the farm isn't killing its own bison, due to an astounding mix of EU regulation and bureaucracy, says Wakeling. “The ironic thing is we got into bison to get away from the bureaucracy of cattle farming. It's certainly been an expensive learning curve.
” The main issue is that the animals are classed as bovine [cattle] so have to come under EU cattle regulations when they are processed.
“The problem is bison need to be shot on the farm, so because they don't walk off the farm, they are classed as a casualty.” This means that when they reach the abattoir, hygiene officers are inclined to pull them out for inspection which, says Wakeling, often triggers a test on the animal before and after as well. This causes the abattoirs a lot of headaches and makes bison an unpopular customer. “We can't find an abattoir within 100 miles that wants to know us.
” Bison were classed as game before being put into the bovine category by the EU. However when this happened they were never actually removed from the game category. As a result the animals can go from being categorised as bovine by the vet on the farm, classed as ‘casualty' when it's shot, but also termed as ‘farmed game', Then by the time it reaches the abattoir it is classed as bovine again. Wakeling even had to apply for a wild game licence initially.
“In Canada bison are loaded up and treated just like cattle, but here that wouldn't be acceptable due to the stress and welfare of the animal as well as health and safety issues,” says Wakeling, adding that stress levels of bison are considerably higher than cattle or even deer. “In a cow that was pretty upset, cortisol levels that measure the stress of an animal would be around 20-90. A bison that is stressed measures up to 140. They really don't like being handled.”
As well as dealing with issues unique to bison – from a low calving percentage of around 80% to their susceptibility to a fatal virus carried only by sheep – an exhaustive catalogue of legislative obstacles and red tape has been thrust in Wakeling's path over the years. However with steely determination and seemingly endless good humour, he continues to campaign the Government and EU legislators to make it possible for his bison to get to market. “It could have been so easy to just say ‘let's pack up and forget it', but we won't, we'll beat it. If politics could just work with us, there's a tremendous opportunity for bison in this country.”
To meet demand and remain in business, the Wakelings currently import their bison meat from Ireland and Belgium. “A lot of people are bringing in bison meat now but much of it is reconstituted steaks. In a lot of laces you may see bison medallions but they are made from reformed cuts,” explains Ruth, who oversees the sales and orders for both consumers and chefs. “We've been out to Ireland and Belgium and seen how it is farmed there, so we know it is good and are happy to source our bison from there.
“We get the whole animal sent over from Ireland, and from Belgium we get most of the forequarters and steaks.”
As well as sirloin, rump and fillet steaks, they sell mince and braising meat for casseroling, and her speciality is bison burgers. “We use forequarter meat and throw away what most people use to actually make their burgers. The process of making them can be laborious, so we once tried to buy burger meat from Canada. But it was made with trim; it was finely ground so they could put everything in it. We quickly went back to making our own and have established a very good name for our burgers.”
After a tour of the farm, the group of chefs were treated to a tasting lunch with bison prepared in a number of different ways including cuts of roast meat, sirloin steak, burgers and even smoked bison.
When cooking bison, a few pointers must be followed, says Ruth. “There's no fat at all so don't dry it out. You need to baste the meat and be careful not to overcook it.”
When roasting bison, a temperature of about 140ºC is recommended for about the same time as an equivalent beef joint. Burgers need brushing with a little oil to prevent drying and will cook much quicker than beefburgers, as they are much leaner. There is also said to be virtually no shrinkage with bison and smaller portions often suffice, she adds. “If you would normally serve an 8oz beef steak you only need a 6oz bison steak as it fills you up quicker.”
The chefs were unanimous in their opinion of the meat, which they described as “sweeter and smoother than beef”, “very tender” with “more flavour than beef while not being a gamey meat like venison”.
After tasting the sirloin steak, Phil Bowen, development chef at Underwood Meat said: “I can't imagine what a fillet would be like if the sirloin tastes as good as this does.”
Similar positive feedback is received from customers when they sample bison for the first time at farmers' markets and food fairs, says Ruth, but it is getting over that initial reluctance to try something new that is sometimes difficult. “Once people try it the feedback is phenomenal, but the biggest hurdle for us is that people are ignorant of the meat and often they are frightened of it because it's different.”
The price, for some, could also be a problem. At around £35 a kilo, it's not cheap. “Bison costs about 70% more than the price of good beef.”
However it can add a real point of difference to a menu, and Ruth believes with growing consumer demand there's stillroom for chefs to make a profit from it.
“A high class, well known restaurant in the area took our fillet steak. Its cheapest main course was £35 yet they said they couldn't afford the £4-£5 for a bison steak. With the margins they are making I don't see how that's right.”
“When our first stock arrived on the farm I went to slap their backside to get them moving like I would with cattle, and the delivery guy shouted out: ‘No!' He quickly explained that bison can kick as fast as a rifle shot and you wouldn't know what had happened until you looked down and found two of your fingers missing,” explains Wakeling.
Back then red meat was getting a fairly bad press with BSE and other health issues were coming to the fore, and George and his wife Ruth were looking for a way out of the “rat race of cattle farming”.
“I was farming subsidies not products. I wanted to get out of the commodities market and sell direct to the customer,” he says. “There was a study about US park rangers who had a diet of nothing but red meat, yet they had the lowest cholesterol levels. This was because they were eating the wild bison and red deer, whose meat was still how nature had created it – not like the animals that have been bred for production over the last 100 years, intensively fed to lay down different levels of fat.”
Bison meat is naturally higher in protein while being lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than other meats. Per 100g of cooked lean meat, bison contains 2.42g of fat compared to beef at 9.38g and chicken at 7.41g, while its calorie content is 143, lower than beef and chicken at 211 and 190 respectively. It is also said to be easier to digest, yet being a dense meat it can satisfy the appetite more quickly.
“The health benefits of bison is one of the main reasons we got into it in the first place,” says Wakeling.
His first stock came from a contact in Wiltshire, and he started out with six bison plus a bull. Today he has around 80 in total, which are kept along with approximately 100 red deer on his110 acre farm near Melton Mowbray.
“It was a very big gamble, but so many farmers were going under anyway, it was worth trying. People thought we'd lost it. But we survived while others didn't.
“Our income is half and half on venison and bison. We thought the bison would need a lot of promotion but in the end it sold itself on the novelty value. Once people have tried it they come back for more.”
At the time of the Craft Guild's visit, organised by José Souto, chef lecturer at Westminster Kingsway College, the majority of the bison were enjoying their winter shelter.
“It's a very wet site here so we keep the bison under cover for the wet months. They are born in the spring, and we would usually kill them at about 30 months, in September or October time.”
At present, however, the farm isn't killing its own bison, due to an astounding mix of EU regulation and bureaucracy, says Wakeling. “The ironic thing is we got into bison to get away from the bureaucracy of cattle farming. It's certainly been an expensive learning curve.
” The main issue is that the animals are classed as bovine [cattle] so have to come under EU cattle regulations when they are processed.
“The problem is bison need to be shot on the farm, so because they don't walk off the farm, they are classed as a casualty.” This means that when they reach the abattoir, hygiene officers are inclined to pull them out for inspection which, says Wakeling, often triggers a test on the animal before and after as well. This causes the abattoirs a lot of headaches and makes bison an unpopular customer. “We can't find an abattoir within 100 miles that wants to know us.
” Bison were classed as game before being put into the bovine category by the EU. However when this happened they were never actually removed from the game category. As a result the animals can go from being categorised as bovine by the vet on the farm, classed as ‘casualty' when it's shot, but also termed as ‘farmed game', Then by the time it reaches the abattoir it is classed as bovine again. Wakeling even had to apply for a wild game licence initially.
“In Canada bison are loaded up and treated just like cattle, but here that wouldn't be acceptable due to the stress and welfare of the animal as well as health and safety issues,” says Wakeling, adding that stress levels of bison are considerably higher than cattle or even deer. “In a cow that was pretty upset, cortisol levels that measure the stress of an animal would be around 20-90. A bison that is stressed measures up to 140. They really don't like being handled.”
As well as dealing with issues unique to bison – from a low calving percentage of around 80% to their susceptibility to a fatal virus carried only by sheep – an exhaustive catalogue of legislative obstacles and red tape has been thrust in Wakeling's path over the years. However with steely determination and seemingly endless good humour, he continues to campaign the Government and EU legislators to make it possible for his bison to get to market. “It could have been so easy to just say ‘let's pack up and forget it', but we won't, we'll beat it. If politics could just work with us, there's a tremendous opportunity for bison in this country.”
To meet demand and remain in business, the Wakelings currently import their bison meat from Ireland and Belgium. “A lot of people are bringing in bison meat now but much of it is reconstituted steaks. In a lot of laces you may see bison medallions but they are made from reformed cuts,” explains Ruth, who oversees the sales and orders for both consumers and chefs. “We've been out to Ireland and Belgium and seen how it is farmed there, so we know it is good and are happy to source our bison from there.
“We get the whole animal sent over from Ireland, and from Belgium we get most of the forequarters and steaks.”
As well as sirloin, rump and fillet steaks, they sell mince and braising meat for casseroling, and her speciality is bison burgers. “We use forequarter meat and throw away what most people use to actually make their burgers. The process of making them can be laborious, so we once tried to buy burger meat from Canada. But it was made with trim; it was finely ground so they could put everything in it. We quickly went back to making our own and have established a very good name for our burgers.”
After a tour of the farm, the group of chefs were treated to a tasting lunch with bison prepared in a number of different ways including cuts of roast meat, sirloin steak, burgers and even smoked bison.
When cooking bison, a few pointers must be followed, says Ruth. “There's no fat at all so don't dry it out. You need to baste the meat and be careful not to overcook it.”
When roasting bison, a temperature of about 140ºC is recommended for about the same time as an equivalent beef joint. Burgers need brushing with a little oil to prevent drying and will cook much quicker than beefburgers, as they are much leaner. There is also said to be virtually no shrinkage with bison and smaller portions often suffice, she adds. “If you would normally serve an 8oz beef steak you only need a 6oz bison steak as it fills you up quicker.”
The chefs were unanimous in their opinion of the meat, which they described as “sweeter and smoother than beef”, “very tender” with “more flavour than beef while not being a gamey meat like venison”.
After tasting the sirloin steak, Phil Bowen, development chef at Underwood Meat said: “I can't imagine what a fillet would be like if the sirloin tastes as good as this does.”
Similar positive feedback is received from customers when they sample bison for the first time at farmers' markets and food fairs, says Ruth, but it is getting over that initial reluctance to try something new that is sometimes difficult. “Once people try it the feedback is phenomenal, but the biggest hurdle for us is that people are ignorant of the meat and often they are frightened of it because it's different.”
The price, for some, could also be a problem. At around £35 a kilo, it's not cheap. “Bison costs about 70% more than the price of good beef.”
However it can add a real point of difference to a menu, and Ruth believes with growing consumer demand there's stillroom for chefs to make a profit from it.
“A high class, well known restaurant in the area took our fillet steak. Its cheapest main course was £35 yet they said they couldn't afford the £4-£5 for a bison steak. With the margins they are making I don't see how that's right.”