If you ask Sandy Ingram how he got into the bison business, he'll tell you it was never part of a bigger plan. It wasn't even on the radar screen. It was, in fact, almost by accident. He was attending a large bison sale in Canada with a close friend. The animals were selling really well - and his friend was bidding on a high-priced heifer. He looked at Sandy and said, "I'm going to need a partner on this one, do you want to get in?" And he did. That was back in 1998. Today Sandy and his wife Faye own Twin Creek Bison Company in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. Up until recently, their business was strictly dedicated to raising calves - but their daughter and son-in-law joined in this year and are starting to feed some of the babies when they are weaned.
For Sandy, raising bison is very different than raising hogs and beef - which is what he used to do. When asked what he enjoys the most, Sandy said, "once you've got the infrastructure in place, these animals are pretty low maintenance. On our ranch we only handle them once - in the fall, when it's time to sort. Otherwise my fifty cows and their calves spend their lives roaming and grazing on approximately 500 acres." Sandy and Faye are appreciative and respectful of the historical significance of the animal. And, even after all these years, they feel a renewed sense of pride in the spring when they see new calves on the ground - and they enjoy watching how carefully their mamas care for, and protect them.
Did You Know?
Proportionate to body size, the buffalo's trachea is larger than that of any other large land mammal; when it takes a breath of cold air, the air is pre-warmed inside the trachea before it moves down to the animal's lungs. This way, ambient air temperatures have a diminished effect on the animal's body temperature.