Bison health is a priority at Harlow Ranch Bison Co!

Bison are a key element in regenerating the ranch from the soil up. As we use different crops to increase soil health and nutrients, the bison are taking in those nutrients to grow strong and healthy.

Harlow Ranch bison eat lots of grass and grass hay. The bison’s favorite treat is Range Cake. We have these custom made in Miles City, MT. Made from alfalfa, peas, and sunflower meal, it has about 18% protein. This cake keeps them healthy and happy - and gets us lots of great photo ops!

To give you an idea of their daily intake, each bison typically eats 25 lbs of grass or hay and 1 lb of range cakes.

Because mineral deficiencies are a leading cause of disease and failure to thrive, we feed RioMax 360 mineral tubs. Unlike other mineral tubs and loose minerals, these tubs do not have any oxides or sulfates. Minerals with those components are not absorbed by the animals and they come right out in the manure and the urine and they actually damage the soil. More invasive annual grasses like cheatgrass and ventenata are found where oxides and sulfates are a large part of the diet. With the RioMax they get white salt blocks and that completes their nutritional requirements and helps them to thrive on the all-natural diet.

Water on the ranch comes from Sqaylth-kwum Creek, right in our backyard. We also have one stock tank that is fed by a natural spring. It is so nice not to have water that goes through treatment with chlorine, fluoride or anything else. We drink the same water they do, so you could say that we test it for safety. It’s delicious!

Weed management is a large focus on the ranch as we focus is on building soil health to make it inhospitable to weeds. To build the soil, along with the help of the bison, we add natural soil amendments like Liquid Calcium and Humitech from Agritech and RhyzoGreen from RioMax. We don’t spray any pesticides at all and use the absolute minimal spot spraying to contain the noxious weeds that pop up. We also use beetles on the knapweed and the St. Johns Wort. Our goats are great for weed control, and the bison also do a great job of cleaning their pastures.