WHY BISON?

"Why Bison?" It's the first question we always get when people find out about our interest in bison. Bison is truly representative of the Northern Plains Cuisine™ that we proudly serve at Blue Mountain, specifically the Smokehouse Grille. In addition to being a staple in the Native American hunters' diet, bison have been domesticated and continually raised on American farms and ranches. By raising our own free-range bison we not only create a more authentic link with our food, we also control the quality of the meat we bring into our kitchen.

In addition, bison is a great heart-healthy meat, with higher protein than beef, and lower calories and less cholesterol than beef, chicken, pork, or salmon. Customer satisfaction ratings have always been quite high, and our bison burger regularly out-sells all of the beef burgers on our menu.

OUR BISON

We're now into the third year our bison have roamed their six acre area of land we've set aside for them. Their pasture is filled with a lush green mix of 16 varieties of all-natural Midwest prairie grasses, eight warm and eight cool weather varieties. Their diet is also supplemented with black walnuts and apples that grow nearby on the farm.

Blue Mountain is also the proud parent of a bison calf! Affectionately named Tonka, the baby boy was born sometime around June 18 and is very healthy. Tonka is being raised without any hormones or antibiotics on the free-range farm near Newkirk, IA. Herdsman Devin DeYoung says the future for Tonka won't be certain until he sees how his build develops; he may become the stud for the four lovely females in his herd. We harvested and served our first "house-raised" bison at Blue Mountain earlier this year and it was a hit with Chef K. C. who said "the bison had a perfect lean to fat ratio—which is really nice when you consider how many burgers we grind daily."

As for what to expect next out of the farm, look for bison jerky and some special additions to our features menu!