Bison: It's On The Menu At The National Western Stock Show
(From Westword.com)
Millions of bison used to thunder across the plains of Colorado. Today, the nation's largest mammals still travel across the state - but they do so by truck.
Nearly ninety buffalo are in Denver right now for the National Western Stock Show -- 57 were unloaded Tuesday and another thirty or so will lumber into the grounds today - as the the National Bison Association holds its annual conference and several other big events.
On Thursday, former media mogul Ted Turner will give the keynote address to 250 bison ranchers from around the country. (Turner is the world's largest bison producer, with 45,000 head on fourteen ranches around the United States.) On Saturday at noon, the association will host its marquee event, the Gold Trophy Show and Sale the National Western complex.
And the bison ranchers in town should have smiles on their faces, says National Bison Association executive director Dave Carter, because consumer demand is growing.
"Ten years ago, this industry was in trouble," he says. While restaurants were serving a lot of bison tenderloins and New York strips, ranchers were having trouble selling the other 90 percent of the animal. So the federal government stepped in, helping to prop up the business by buying $10 million worth of ground buffalo meat at market rates and then serving it in school lunches and on Indian reservations nationwide.
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