Bison Bonanza

Carey Schaefer (right) was one of the employees tasked with leading a tour of North American Bison, LLC's newly-expanded facility south of New Rockford on Saturday, April 15. She explained how the new equipment makes the hard work easier on the plant's staff. She's pointing at the combo dump, a stainless steel machine that automatically dumps containers of meat into the grinders, eliminating manual lifting. The plant tours were part of NAB's annual meeting held in New Rockford last weekend.

Dozens of bison carcasses hang from rails in the hanging cooler, also part of the new addition, on any given day. Generally it takes about 24 hours to properly chill them before they can be processed. An automatic sprinkler system provides adequate water every four hours to keep the carcasses from shrinking. A butchered animal can lose up to 10 lbs of weight per day without adequate water.

The large cooler and freezer, both new additions to the building, store pallets of bison meat that are boxed, labeled and ready to be shipped to customers. The ranchers on the tour are shown for scale. Prior to the expansion, all of this inventory would have been stored in a warehouse in Fargo. The plant's footprint doubled to 32,000 sq. ft. with the expansion.

The new break room has a full kitchen, with future plans to have a cook on site to prepare lunch for employees.

The former hanging cooler is now home to the newly-expanded fabrication room with state-of-the-art equipment, including this cutting table. Each employee has a station that adjusts for comfort and safety.

Jim Wells, President and CEO of North American Bison, LLC, addressed rancher members at the annual meeting on Saturday, April 15. He shared a story about how Lyla Swart, a kindergartner at NR-S School, dreams of working at the bison plant just like her parents, Rodney and Chelsea.