Located on 200 lush Minnesota acres, and next to one of the state’s 10,000 lakes, John and Leila’s bison ranch is as rich in stories as it is animals. After retiring from their city jobs, this couple of “high school sweethearts” bought land and built a dream. The dream started when they began raising Charolais-Angus-Hereford cattle. But, when John attended the Blue Mound State Park bison sale, their direction changed. He brought home five bison heifers and phased out the beef. John doesn't remember when he first fell in love with bison, but suspects the fact he was raised with cattle and grew up surrounded in agriculture had something to do with his attraction. Today, at any given time, there are approximately 300 animals rotationally grazing on their property. As the Arndt's herd grew, so did local interest. They were inundated with calls from people who wanted to come see their animals, and they had strangers driving in and out of their property on a regular basis. They quickly recognized an educational opportunity. John bought an old 22-passenger school bus and started providing organized tours of their ranch — and they converted their family room into a gift shop. From May 1 to Nov 1 they have guests visiting from all over the world.
When asked what they love most about raising bison, Leila says, "The joy it brings to us, and the happiness we see in the people who visit. We believe there is a romance between humans and bison that is driven by the stories in our history books."
Did you know? At one time an estimated 70,000,000 bison (scientific name for buffalo) roamed North America. Unregulated killing of bison led to the many millions of animals being reduced to no more than 1,500 individuals in the mid to late 1800s. Today, bison are back. Legal protection of bison, the establishment of preserves, along with individual ranches raising animals on their own have restored the bison to greater than 350,000 animals.