Free-ranging bison disappeared from the Sandhills during the late 1800s. They were briefly replaced by free-range cattle, escapees of the Texas to Montana cattle drives that gave rise to the beginnings of open-range cattle ranches. Then the early 1900s saw a growing number of privately owned and fenced ranches. The cattle industry grew during the next five decades, even during the difficult years of drought in the 1930s and 1950s. By the 1960s, Sandhills ranches had become well-known as a source of high-quality feeder cattle for the expanding feed lots of Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
Early in the 1900s, bison were nearly extinct, with only about a thousand animals remaining. Three federal reserves were established to ensure that the bison would not become extinct: the National Bison Range near Moiese, Montana; the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in the northern Sandhills near Valentine, Nebraska; and the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma. Bison numbers on the initial federal refuges and parks and selected state parks had increased to more than a hundred thousand by 1960. Surplus bison began to be made available to private ranches. The Peterson Ranch in the Sandhills south of Newport, Nebraska, was probably the first serious bison ranch in the Sandhills. Bison numbers on private ranches and conservation lands grew steadily through the 1970s and ’80s, then rapidly in the 1990s, only to have the market crash in 1998–2000. Since the early twenty-first century, the private bison industry has consolidated into fewer and larger operations.
In 2022 there were approximately 530,000 beef cattle and 25,000 bison on private ranches in the Sandhills. Within comparable grasslands, cattle tend to consume more forbs in their annual diet than do bison, who consume more grass. A gross calculation using Sandhills cattle and bison herd numbers, range site productivity, and total Sandhills rangeland area suggests that the current management of cattle and bison is sustainable at the large scale. However, there are a few species of specialized plants and fish in need of focused conservation action.
Managing the Sandhills with adapted large grazers like cattle and bison provides an opportunity for a low-cost, high-value product that also provides important environmental and recreational values. Bison have resisted many attempts at domestication, whereas cattle have been domesticated worldwide for thousands of years. The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge plays a unique role in conserving bison as a species. The Fort Niobrara herd continues to be managed as a natural sex and age ratio herd at a population scale. In contrast, most private ranch and conservation herds of bison in the Sandhills are managed with an adult bull
to cow ratio of 1:10 or a bit higher. Similar stocking rate calculations can be made, but the difference in social behaviors between cattle and bison also may influence factors, such as seasonal forage selection and soil disturbance. Cattle tend to drift with the wind during snowstorms, whereas bison stand facing into the wind. On hot summer days, cattle tend to form tight bunches in up-wind pasture corners, especially when flies are feeding on them, a behavior not seen in bison.
Whether raising cattle or bison, Sandhills ranchers focus on sustainably using the native rangeland for as much of their forage needs as possible. Bison adaptations provide them with advantages for using Sandhill forages year-round. An extra heavy winter coat covers a bison’s head, shoulders, and chest, and limited blood circulation to extremities reduces body heat loss. Another winter adaptation is a lowering of the overall metabolic rate, which reduces their need for forage. The downside of this adaptation is reduced winter growth potential and delayed sexual maturity, even if high-quality winter forage is available. Bison heifers typically breed as two-year-olds and have their first calves as three-year-olds. This results in lower herd productivity relative to a typical cattle operation. However, it is common for bison ranches to have more than 90 percent of three-year-old bison cows with live calves in the fall roundup.
Bison ranches that maintain their herds year-round on native Sandhills rangeland without supplemental feed have a defined calving season of late April into July, although their bulls are in the herd and fertile year-round. This is a result of the improved body condition of adult cows grazing the high-quality spring and early summer
forage following calving. Another trade-off between cattle and bison operations is the extra feed and labor required by cattle at calving time. Bison calve on pasture without assistance by virtue of natural selection for smaller calf size. This is another example of lower cost with lower productivity.
When ranchers move cattle with calves to new pastures, the best practice is to take plenty of time to reduce stress on the cows, calves, and people involved. The move usually ends at the closest water source in the new pasture. This helps to congregate cows and calves for a drink and grazing of the new grass around the water source, holding most cows for a while. It typically takes an hour or more to ensure all the calves have paired up with their mothers in the new pasture before they head out to explore. If a cow and calf don’t find each other, they are likely to return to where they came from, even if it requires going through fences. With moving bison, the calves are seemingly still glued to their mother’s side when they reach their destination.
Over the last four decades, ranchers have seen that raising bison and cattle can range from highly profitable to less profitable. By combining multigenerational ranch experience with the management techniques proven by university research and extension scientists, the Sandhills will continue to provide high-quality grazing land requiring few inputs, other than those needed to maintain the diverse and resilient native plant communities.