Why Beefalo... for the Feeder?

The experiments conducted by Canada from the early 1900's to the late 1940's all indicate that Bos X Bison had a better conversion of roughage feeds compared to Bovine. This data hasbeen pretty well accepted by cattlemen and scientists alike, but it always has been assumed that Bison and Bovine had similar conversions for grain. However the Koch study cited in this previous post reported that Bos X Bison had higher feed cost for Beefalo even if a normal ration is fed. However, for best results the feeder should feed a higher roughage ration to Beefalo to keep the feed intake up.

Why Beefalo... for the Packer?

There have been numerous studies by the individuals as well as a large study by Texas A&M (late 1970's) that show an increase in both dressing percentage and retail cut percentage . The Koch study cited in this previous post reported a dressing percentage for Bos Taurus of 60.7% and a retail cut percentage of 65.9% and for Bos X Bison 64.1% and 69.1%. If you work out the math for a 1,000 pound live animal, you find that you get about 44 more pounds of retail meat from a Bos Bison than you would get from a Bos Taurus. This 11% more meat per animal means that the packer makes more money from a beefalo even if he pays a higher price from it live.