The U.S. cattle herd is not the only one facing low numbers. The National Bison Association says that its producers are in a similar spot.
According to Executive Director Jim Matheson, “From a macro view, we’re very similar to the cattle industry. We are at a very tight supply still in our business, very similar to the low inventory of cattle right now, which is having an impact, of course, on pricing, etc. Meanwhile, and this is kind of a new one for us; consumer demand is just growing like crazy for bison. It’s really caught on, and we’ve had these shortages before. However, this time, we didn’t have the pent-up demand for it like we do this time, and on top of that, with cattle prices being so strong, typically when we would hit high prices like this, we would see transition, of course, from cattlemen crossing over to bison, which we’re not seeing so much this time because of those great cattle prices, and we’re happy for those producers as well.”
Matheson says that the boom in demand for bison is something the industry has been working towards for quite a while.
“We’ve been beating the drum about our great product and how it’s uniquely American. All bison in the commercial marketplace are raised in America and Canada, and nowhere else. Obviously, it’s a great protein option for folks out there with an unbeatable nutritional profile, and it tastes great. So, I think honestly, folks are just catching on.”
He says that the industry saw a big bump in consumer demand after the global pandemic and, since then, has really focused on consumer outreach, but that, combined with low numbers has led to what he says is the tightest inventory the industry has ever seen.
