Bull Showcase
Bold Venture
Gold Force
PA Payday
A Brief History
Frequently Asked Questions About Bison Blend Cattle
Image Gallery
Archived Articles
Contact Us
Sure looks like a Buffalo.
It’s not.
This is a 3/4 Bison-1/4 Brahma Hybrid
(Photo from Butler Collection)
How The American Bison Got Cattle DNA
By Jon Nichols
Some time ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Bison with Bovine Dilemma” and posted it to our website. (Click here for the archived article.) This paper discussed the impact of DNA testing of the public bison herds, where some animals were discovered containing remnant cattle DNA. Increasing the number of pure bison was endorsed, but I also cautioned against eliminating those with trace amounts of cattle DNA. Since today’s bison originated from such small breeding numbers, we might also be eliminating those with valuable and unique genetic material.
The article was written from the perspective that DNA testing is like the proverbial two-edged sword. On one side, it can be used as a valuable genetic tool for managing and preserving the bison. On the other, it could also be used as a weapon to indiscriminately cleanse the public bison herds. Having pure bison for the sake of genetic purity could be a big mistake. Such an action could severely reduce bison numbers and their existing genetic diversity.
That concept became even more apparent by the reaction to my “The Bison with Bovine Dilemma” paper. It seems there are indeed a few people out there who are running around, figuratively tearing their hair out over the fact that some American Bison have a little cow DNA.
Impure Bison! How could this have happened?
The answer actually is a little more complex than just saying, “Pioneer bison breeders used some animals left over from the early day cattalo experiments in their herds.”
At the heart of the matter is what happens when you interbreed bison and cattle. You can get calves which exhibit significant bovine phenotype (look like a domestic calf) with few apparent bison traits. Then, you can get a mixed looking animal with both bison and bovine characteristics, and finally you can also end up with an animal that throws to the bison side of the cross, with the appearance of almost a pure bison. And, this is where the whole “Bison with Bovine Dilemma” started; using hybrids that looked like pure bison in the some of the foundation herds.
Take the case of Scotty Phillip in South Dakota who bought the Dupree herd at the turn of the last century. The herd at time of purchase was estimated to be around 80 head of both bison and cattalo. Fred Dupree started the herd in 1882 with five calves, captured with the help of his son Pete. Two of the five calves died in captivity a couple of months later. Then three years later a hunter mistakenly shot one as a “wild” buffalo. That left Dupree with only a breeding pair. The math on his herd increase didn’t add up. How did he end up after 17 years with 80 head from only two bison?
Researching further, we find the answer. Dupree in one aspect had a bit of luck. When his bison bull matured, it would breed both cattle as well as bison. Dupree noted that his bull bred domestic cows successfully, and never encountered the compatibility problems that others experienced in producing a live calf. So Dupree ended up with more hybrids than others. Further Dupree was also reported running his cattalo, buffalo and domestic cattle all in one herd. It’s easy to see the Dupree stock may have gotten pretty mixed up genetically.
When Phillip purchased the bison in 1899, it was from the Dupree Estate, not from Fred or his son Pete who had both passed on. That meant the original owners were not around to help Phillip pick out which might be pure bison and which ones were not.
After Phillip got the stock rounded up, he slaughtered those he identified as cattalos or sold them off as beef. He firmly believed that he had cleaned out all the impure blood from the herd. He hadn’t.
Neither Phillip, nor anybody else at the time could tell the difference between a pure bison and some of those hybrids. It took DNA testing over 90 years later to discover he had mistakenly incorporated some hybrids into his herd.
Then we have the story of Gordon W. Lillie, better known as Wild West Show Impresario Pawnee Bill. Lillie grew disturbed over the fact that by the early 1900’s there were far more bison males than females in captivity. He estimated bison bulls outnumbered cows by almost a three to one margin. He set about to correct the problem by “creating” more bison on his Oklahoma ranch.
He started a grading up program by breeding his bison bulls to cattle. The resulting hybrid cows and their female offspring were bred back to pure bison. Lillie was disgusted with some of the crosses resulting in light colored or brindle hybrids out of Jersey or Longhorn cows, but was satisfied with crosses on Galloway cattle, which were darker or black in color. Even though Lillie experimented with these hybrids, indications are he enjoyed his pure bison better. It’s unknown if any of Lillie’s “Breed-ups” ever got into a public herd, but their descendants may be out there somewhere still breeding away.
Next, we have the account of “Buffalo Jones and the White Buffalo”.
On one of his forays to capture bison calves in the Texas Panhandle during the mid 1880’s, Jones came upon a small herd of buffalo with an old white swing bag milk cow running with them. Three young white buffalo were with the old cow, a three year old, two year old, and a yearling. PT Barnum had a standing offer with Jones to pay ten thousand dollars for a white buffalo, and here was money on the hoof!
Jones was riding an exhausted horse, used hard from the day’s work chasing after bison calves, but Jones took down his lariat, made ready for a catch, and went after them anyway. As he pushed his tired horse into the chase, Jones got close enough to see these white buffalo were actually cattalos, offspring of the old white milk cow. Jones horse gave out on him before he could make a catch, but he vowed to go after them later on a fresh horse. Jones did a considerable search, but never found them again.
One has to speculate. Did bison attempt to save themselves from extinction by naturally breeding to range cattle? There are indeed several documented cases of bison readily taking up with cattle in the closing days of the buffalo slaughter. Did they interbreed and produce hybrids on their own? In the case of the white buffalo, Jones believed it was so.
These are three good cases of how remnant cattle DNA got into today’s bison herds; either by accident, deliberate breeding, and the probability that bison may have interbred naturally with cattle.
So where does the concern over a little bovine DNA in bison originate? There is of course, the true scientific viewpoint, but there is another which is based on an ideology.
This is a new credo espoused by certain environmental groups; which is to restore all things of nature, including the bison, to a wild state prior to European Colonization of North America. This thinking demands a restoration to the way things were before the coming of the white man, the horse, the gun and cattle. And, how can they turn the clock back, using impure bison; a man influenced species? Why, it just spoils everything, doesn’t it?