Buffalo at home on the Belgium range


AN AMERICAN BISON and two calves kept their eyes on a visitor to the Lakeview Buffalo Farm in the Town of Belgium. (Lower) Lakeview Buffalo Farm in the Town of Belgium has raised American buffalo since 1996. Owner Al Weyker (left) is selling a portion of his farm to his daughter Jennifer Hoeppner. Photos by Sam Arendt
By 
MITCH MAERSCH
Ozaukee Press staff

A 195-acre farm on Sunnyridge Road in the Town of Belgium has been in the Weyker family since 1848, but its signature animal is a relative newcomer.

Al Weyker started raising American bison, also known as buffalos, in 1996.

Weyker and his daughter Jennifer Hoeppner, who is buying a portion of Lakeview Buffalo Farm as her father starts to step back, had a bit to learn about the big, furry, four-hoofed beasts. They are in most ways nothing like his family homestead’s longtime stars, dairy cows.

“A bison from standing can jump a full story,” Hoeppner said. “Had I not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Nobody goes into the bison’s pasture or touches any of the animals. They are wild, not docile like most dairy cows.

Breeding season from mid-August to about October is especially contentious.

“The bull is very protective of the cow. The bull just follows that cow around,” Weyker said.

“Don’t even make eye contact with them. Just leave them alone.”

As a result, bison take less work to care for on the farm.

“If they have water and food and a place to run, they’re happy animals,” Weyker said. “You spend more time marketing than you will taking care of the animals.”

Bison aren’t milked and don’t need to come inside.

“We don’t have barns for them,” Weyker said. The hardy animals can handle the heat and cold of the upper Midwest.

The bison stand next to buildings to get out of the wind and know where to congregate in the pasture to stay warm or cool.

Bison won’t eat as much during hot periods like this week, but Weyker and Hoeppner don’t sprinkle them with water like cows.

“The heat doesn’t bother them. Dairy cows will all be in a bunch. Buffalo don’t do that,” Weyker said.

Commotion and strangers do bother bison. Back when Weyker had pigs, one got into the bison pasture. The herd moved the calves to the other side of the field away from the intruder, then surrounded and killed it within two minutes.

People know enough to stay away from the animals, but they have to load them on trailers to be slaughtered, which can be dangerous.

A series of pens with doors and gates moving up and down need to be operated in sync by two or three people before the animals walk into the trailer. Everyone speaks in a conversational tone to not upset the bison.

Only once did one jump out back into the field when a gate wasn’t set right.

“If they’re confined they’ll go through almost anything,” Weyker said.

Eight-foot tall electric fences and several posts keep the bison on Weyker’s land.

“They respect electricity very much,” Weyker said.

It’s not 100% foolproof. Hoeppner said watchful neighbors once called when the family was at the State Fair to tell them their bison were roaming outside of their fields. With ATVs, the bison were slowly herded back to where they came from.

“We have good neighbors,” Hoeppner said.

The tamest bison on the farm is Dory. She was stepped on as a calf and was bottle fed. She wasn’t introduced to the herd for a year. Even at 14 years old, Dory will saunter over to the fence to see her humans.

“She’s a wild animal and you took care of it as a baby. There’s a bond,” Weyker said. “She doesn’t know she’s a buffalo.”

The herd still doesn’t know what to make of Dory. “She’s still kind of out on her own,” Hoeppner said.

Like other animals, the herd has a pecking order. “I don’t know who it is, but there’s a dominant cow that tells them what to do,” Weyker said.

Hoeppner finds them entertaining. One night before bed, she looked out the window and saw calves chasing each other. Then the big ones chased each other, too. One would run, stop, then take off again.

“I think they’re pretty fun to watch,” she said.

Bison’s diet consists of 50% hay and the rest brome and timothy grasses. They only need 12% to 14% of protein in their diet. Minerals are added to their feed.

“If you give them too much grain, they’ll put fat on and not muscle,” Weyker said.

Weyker said he has figured out a clever way to ease his workload by studying bison’s behavior. He rolls out their food in different parts of the field since they stay by their feed until it’s gone and defecate around it. That naturally fertilizes the entire pasture.

A bull takes five to seven years to reach 2,000 pounds. The average bison is around 1,100 pounds.

He switched to bison on the suggestion of a friend who worked at a meat shop. People are seeking leaner meat, Weyker was told.

He bought some animals and in 2001 sold his dairy herd and converted all his pastures for the bison. He topped out at 140 and now has scaled back to 30 animals.

Lakeview Buffalo Farm supplies all the meat for the Wisconsin Bison Association booth at the State Fair — people love the bison burritos — as well as to Seven Hills Pub & Grille in Port and Libby Montana Bar & Grill in Mequon.

Hoeppner plans to open a store at the farm.

Bison have the same cuts of meat as a cow, but ground bison meat is 97% fat free and should be cooked like wild game.

Weyker said cranberry buffalo summer sausage is a hot seller. Burgers and steaks are richer, more filling and less greasy than beef.

One of Weyker’s favorite dishes is sirloin tip roast. He scores it, rubs it in cumin, pours maple syrup over it and lets it sit in the refrigerator for a day. Then he grills it until it’s pink inside.

“You’ve got to learn how to cook with it. It just makes a great dish,” he said.

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Ozaukee Press

Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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