Lucky, you are in luck today Marilyn said. I going to tell you about my friend Carol Klein and her animals. Her animals are not dogs like you and Brutus or the cats but are something bigger called Buffaloes. Carol and her husband Leon have a ranch called Oak Creek Buffalo Ranch, located south of Jane, MO. They have been raising buffalo sine 1994 and currently have 100 head. Buffaloes, often called by their scientific name, bison (so as to distinguish them from water buffalo). The Kleins began raising a small head on their 40 acres in McDonald County. “Next thing you know, we bought the farm across the way (an additional 120 acres)” said Carol. Carol attachment to each buffalo is quite evident, as she has named every one that has come to the ranch. Thus, a sobering revelation came as her pastime developed into a ranching business of raising buffalo for meat to sell.
“The bison meat is probably one of the healthiest meats you can get,” said Carol, who has a degree in health education. “It’s lower in calories and cholesterol. It’s also very, very rich in protein and all kinds of minerals.” Near South West City there was a restaurant called the Red Caboose Cafe specializing in buffalo burgers. In its first year, the restaurant sold over 20,000 buffalo burgers. Recently a market selling organic food and buffalo meat has opened in Pineville. Marilyn and Al haven’t had a chance to visit it yet.
Marilyn also remembers meeting a man here in the 1970’s who “cornered” the American market for water buffalo. He sent cowboys all over the world to collect specimens and ship them back to the U.S. He had a project with the University of Florida to see if they could be come a meat source in the U.S. Unfortunately, unlike the buffalo, they could not be cross-bred with cattle as they were genetically incompatible. On his large ranch in the NE part of the county, he also had elk and he sold elk antlers to the Asian market where they were believed to have aphrodisiac qualities. No shortage of strange critters here in the Ozarks. Human or otherwise. Tony later sold his ranch to J.B. Hunt, the trucking guy. J.B. converted the ranch to a hunting lodge and resort for wealthy hunters who, for a very hefty fee, like to relax and shoot fish in a barrel, so to speak.
No buffalo burger for me” said Lucky!
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