SBA 2022 Convention
The Saskatchewan Bison Association will be hosting their convention in Yorkton.
More Information HERE

Host Hotel: Yorkton Home and Inn
306-782-7829
When Booking a Room Use Code Sask Bison
https://www.homeinnyorkton.ca/

SBA Convention Registration Form HERE
$150.00/person.


Have You Registered For IBC Yet?

The Early Bird Registration deadline has been extended to April 30th

• Full Conference Registration*: $350.00 (Early Bird price until April 30, 2022);  $420.00 (Starting May 1, 2022)
   
• Full Conference Family Registration*: $850.00 - Ticket includes admission for three persons (16+) in the same family

*Includes access to all convention sessions and Tuesday reception, Wednesday Banquet and Thursday Banquet*
And for even more excitement: All those registered by April 30 will be entered to win a $500 package from Granted Sweater!
Go HERE to Register!

IBC Website HERE

Smart Collars Help Elk Island National Park Staff Learn Where And Why The Buffalo Roam
CBC News / Adrienne Lamb, Rick Bremness · 

Elk Island National Park staff are equipping bison with smart collars to find out where and why the buffalo roam.

The national park, 35 minutes east of Edmonton, is home to about 1,000 wood and plains bison. Ten female animals from each herd were randomly selected to wear the high-tech trackers, says Jonathan DeMoor, Elk Island National Park ecologist.

"Our GPS collars record a location every two hours and they transmit that data via satellite once a day so those maps are a snapshot of each point from one day," DeMoor says. 

Which means while park staff may not have up-to-the-minute locations, they do have a pretty good idea of where the bison spend most of their time.

That intel is shared on a map in the visitor centre to "increase your odds of finding the herd," DeMoor says.

Often the herd is just out of sight, over a hill or tucked into a stand of trees, he says. Read More HERE

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Northwest Territories' First Wood Bison Season Since 2012 Ends
Toronto Star / Sarah Sibley

Limited harvesting of the Mackenzie wood bison herd ends on Tuesday, closing the first season since 2012 in which N.W.T. residents have been able to hunt the animal.

Anthrax poisoning caused more than 450 bison in the herd to die in 2012, dropping their number to just over 700 and triggering a territorial pause on harvesting.

Terry Armstrong, an N.W.T. government bison ecologist, says the herd – commonly seen on Highway 3 between Fort Providence and Behchokǫ̀ – had sufficiently recovered for harvesting to resume in a limited capacity.

A 2019 survey determined there were about 1,470 animals.

Forty tags to harvest male bison were given to Indigenous groups in the North Slave, South Slave, and Dehcho, to be used between September 1, 2021 and March 15, 2022. Read More HERE

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He Spent Decades Protecting Buffalo. A Microscopic Invader Threatens That Work
The New York Times / Mitch Smith

BLACKFOOT, S.D. — On the ice-glazed banks of the Missouri River, coyotes chewed through the hide of a buffalo that had recently died from disease. In a corral up the hill, more than 20 orphaned buffalo calves crowded together in the cold with no mother to protect them. Down in the pasture, a few animals stood apart from the others, coughing violently, clouds of their breath hanging in the winter air.

Fred DuBray spent about 30 years building that herd at his ranch on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. But since last year, his buffalo have been dying by the dozens, victims of a microscopic invader, Mycoplasma bovis, that has ravaged pastures across the Great Plains and the West. Read More HERE

Watch The Amazing Bison Rescue In Presque Isle & Fort Fairfield
Q1065.FM / Jeff Clockedile

Did that really happen? 

By now you are likely well aware that a small herd of bison went on a day-long adventure between Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield on Wednesday. A total of 11 bison escaped their local pasture and ventured into the area of the Nordic Heritage Center and Quoggy Jo Ski Center. Unfortunately, one of the bison from the herd was struck and killed in the early morning hours.

A very long and trying day for some

The rescue, or herding effort, to bring the bison back to their home took most of the day with the last of the herd getting into a trailer mid-afternoon. Many local law enforcement officers and other responders assisted the farmer in rounding up the herd of runaway bison. Residents in the area of the great bison escape were able to grab some incredible pictures and videos of the rescue efforts. Check out some of the scenes from a wild day in Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield.  See Pictures and Read More HERE

Ep. 113 Raising Bison: Interview with John Flocchini
Mother Earth News / 

In this episode of Mother Earth News and Friends podcast, John Flocchini of Durham Ranch in Wyoming chats with us about raising bison, and their benefits to the land.

John Flocchini grew up sweeping floors and packing steaks for the family’s Durham Meat Company in San Jose, California learning the business from the ground up. As soon as he could, he began spending summers working at the Durham Ranch in Wyoming. He moved to the ranch full time after graduating with his degree in Agriculture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1980. He took over the management reins of the ranch in 1985. He raised 2 beautiful daughters on the ranch, Erin and Cari and, married Gaylynn in 2009. John’s hobbies are running, flying, fly-fishing, gardening and traveling.

Listen to Podcast HERE

Protein Parity Expected Soon
Western Producer / Ed White

Non-animal proteins are about to lose a disadvantage and start building an advantage, according to Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food industry analyst.

Within a few years, plant-based protein products designed to compete with meat should cost about the same to produce as protein from animals, with micro-organism and animal-cell-based proteins close behind.

“Vegetable proteins are going to become perhaps a very attractive and financially reasonable option,” said Charlebois, head of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, speaking at the Manitoba Protein Summit last month.

“To produce in livestock is costing more money and you have to change accordingly.”

Meat prices have been very high in recent years, something that is likely to cause consumers to be more open to alternative proteins than they would have been if prices were lower. The average Canadian family’s food budget is going from about 9.5 percent pre-pandemic to reach maybe 12 percent.

“I think meat counter economics will actually push consumers to go elsewhere, in vegetable protein, seafood, fish,” said Charlebois.

However, various sorts of protein should not be looking to wrest “stomach share” from each other but view the various protein sources as positives in a dynamic protein market, he said.

“You need to work together. You need to unify.”

The biggest challenge to plant and animal-based proteins now is the advent of cell-based meat, which should be able to be produced cheaply in laboratory or factory conditions.

However, the broad range of protein choices today gives consumers something fresh that can make meal choices more enjoyable.

“Before the second protein revolution, (when plant-based protein products were developed,) I think we all took proteins for granted,” said Charlebois.

“Now it’s exciting again.”
Original Article

Did You Know...

• Fish and game, forestry team up and plow to help Delta Bison. More HERE
   
• Blackfeet Tribe Teaching Bison Hide Tanning To Next Generation. More HERE