Where the buffalo roam

Hamilton rancher returns buffalo to

Texas culture – and dinner tables

Ronny Wenzel, shown with some of his bison memorabilia, promotes bison as a heart-healthy protein alternative to beef. Photo by Dan Malone

By Ashlee Watson, Texan News Service

Ronny Wenzel wears a lot of different hats. The 70-year-old has worked as an insurance salesman, former owner of Dutchman’s Hidden Valley – a sprawling store along U.S. Highway 281 in Hamilton that has become a favorite stop for passersby for 28 years – and, most recently, a bison rancher.

He changes hats, literally, as he talks about his bison operation. For the last 11 years, Wenzel has raised bison on his ranch near Hamilton. He sells the meat at Wenzel LoneStar Meat Co. off the courthouse square in downtown Hamilton.

“I attended a seminar by the Texas Bison Association, and while I was down there they had an auction, and it (the price) seemed pretty reasonable,” Wenzel said. He wore a black-and-white checkered cap as he baked loaves of bread and worked behind the counter at his meat company. “So I raised my hand, and it put me in the bison business.”

With more than 65 head of bison on his ranch, Wenzel wears another hat as one of the key promoters of Texas’ growing bison industry. Once an abundant resource in North America with over 125 million head, bison were almost near extinction in the past.

Now, however, bison populations are growing as more ranchers switch from raising beef-on-the-hoof to buffalo. When Wenzel got started in the bison business, about 250,000 buffalo lived in the United States. Currently, the estimated total is around 300,000, a sizeable increase considering the time and effort it takes to raise and breed the animals.

Naturally a wild animal, bison cannot be raised the same way one might raise cattle. Their immune systems are intolerant to pests and bacteria that cattle encounter every day.

“Domesticated animals like beef are used to standing around in their own droppings,” Wenzel said. “That’s where bacteria and parasites breed, and bison aren’t used to that. They’re roamers. They don’t stand still and eat. They move constantly.”

Buffalo’s breeding habits also differ from cattle. “A beef animal will also breed back and deliver a calf even though they’re hurting or not in good shape,” Wenzel said. “A female bison will not breed. She may go into heat and she may attempt to breed, but it will not stick. They’re a very private animal. I guess they need to have soft music and Reunité on ice, and there they go!”

Bison also have a longer lifespan than cattle before they head to the slaughterhouse. “You can slaughter a beef animal in a year to a year-and-a- half,” Wenzel said. “Bison, you don’t slaughter for 34 months.”

Bison meat has grown in popularity in recent years because of its nutritional value. It’s high in protein and low amount of fat compared with other meat. The flavor is similar to beef, but the texture is leaner.

“A lot of cardiologists have put their patients on bison meat,” Wenzel said. “It’s much healthier. It’s lower in cholesterol than chicken and turkey.”

The lack of synthetic hormones and minimal fat marbling, with only 2.42 grams of fat per 100 grams of cooked meat, makes bison appealing to health-conscious consumers.

“If you eat nothing but synthetic, what is your body gonna become? Synthetic,” Wenzel said. “More people are going to it because it’s a healthier food.

“The biggest problem is there are just not enough animals,” he continued. “On a kill ration on an everyday situation, you don’t have enough bison in the United States to last six months if you start killing them like you do beef because it would all be gone.”

Wenzel said raising buffalo can be an adventure because the animals are so different from cattle.

“They’re a unique and wild animal,” he said. “You can tame anything up, generally speaking, there are always exceptions, but the bison is genetically wild. It’s just unique in its whole perspective.

“It’s faster than a beef animal,” Wenzel added. “It’ll outrun a horse. If it gets into a dangerous situation, it will automatically go hip-to-hip and face the enemy or the predator.”

Wenzel said he is delighted that people are rediscovering the animals he holds so dear. “There are more and more people finding out about it and loving it,” he said.

The Texan News Service is a project of the journalism program at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. Story editors were Morgan Christensen, Joanna Hensley and Kelsi Kelso. Contact us at texannews@tarleton.edu.

Ronny Wenzel's latest products are baked goods, such as these cinnamon rolls, from his Hamilton bakery, The Rollin' Pin. Photo by Dan Malone