American bison are being increasingly farmed for meat but retain strong wild behavioral drives that are frustrated by fencing, handling, and conventional cattle management techniques.
Bison retained their wild behavioral profile through millennia with minimal domestication pressure. Handling methods appropriate for cattle can cause extreme stress in bison — a species whose fear responses are more intense and whose flight distances are greater. Injuries during poor-quality handling are common. The welfare case for bison farming depends heavily on management quality, with well-managed range systems providing far better outcomes than intensive feedlot approaches.