Beefalo, the other red meat

January 25, 2006 8:56 AM

Beefalo is a feritle hybrid of cattle and buffalo (bison bison). It's story cannot be told without mentioning the irascible "Buffalo" Jones, the man who helped save the American buffalo and tried to cross-breed cattle and buffalo. He called it cattalo. Later successful hybridizations gave way to the beefalo. Some cite the near-extinction and later ultimate repopulation of the buffalo to free-market forces such as the private herds kept by Buffalo Jones for creating sustainable cattalo .
posted by ozomatli (16 comments total)

by the way yes I know I misspelled "it's".
posted by ozomatli at 9:04 AM on January 25, 2006

Yes but is is hallal?
posted by Pollomacho at 9:08 AM on January 25, 2006

i dunno, probably. Both bison and cattle are...but don't quote me.
posted by ozomatli at 9:17 AM on January 25, 2006

I've had a beefalo burgers. It's sweeter and crumblier than regular ground beef, as I remember.
posted by dhartung at 9:28 AM on January 25, 2006

Cattle are some of the weirdest looking domesticated animals I've ever seen. Like their heads are made of silly putty.
posted by cmyk at 9:41 AM on January 25, 2006

I like to think of them as 'Frankencows'.

BTW, I recently learned about a new dog breed: the Labradoodle. It's excellent to have along when you shoot ducks on the Champs Elysées.

Okay, I made the last part up. But if I ever go hunting for Beefalos, I definitely want to have my faithful Labradoodle with me.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 9:44 AM on January 25, 2006

I had to look at the dateline while reading this. I cringed when I remembered an article in my local newspaper when I was 17. The Cork Examiner world exclusive on the hybridization of a Gerow (Giraffe and Cow, I know I Know!) meant to provide milk at high altitudes... oh the embarrasment.
Traumatic. I still don't believe this story, I keep looking for a punchline.

Oh and by the way, of course it would be Hallal if it is slaughtered in a hallal way. Try the beef factory in the woilds of Co Monaghan processing hundreds of cows a day while some poor frostbitten Imam from sunnier climes prays over the PA system.
posted by Wilder at 9:48 AM on January 25, 2006

Beefalo is a combination of buffalo and domestic cattle, but the combining doesn't take place in a mixing bowl.

Check, no mixing beef and buffalo meat in a mixing bowl. Accept no substitutes!
posted by Parlour Tricks at 10:04 AM on January 25, 2006

Beefalo is possibly my favorite word ever. It sounds like something I would've made up, but it's an official term!
posted by flaterik at 11:39 AM on January 25, 2006

My grandfather raised those things in South Dakota for several years. Apparently the beefalo is harded to kill than one of HR Geiger's aliens, and was the only thing that could survive the winters.
posted by iron chef morimoto at 11:41 AM on January 25, 2006

I must confess, I've never heard of an animal being named after the food it produces. I like this trend.
posted by undule at 12:20 PM on January 25, 2006

Okay, I made the last part up. But if I ever go hunting for Beefalos, I definitely want to have my faithful Labradoodle with me.

Wow -- that's a milk through the noser. Whew, thx.
posted by undule at 12:23 PM on January 25, 2006

It sounds like some sort of insult:

“Hey! You!”
*gestures*
“Beefalo!”
posted by Smedleyman at 1:43 PM on January 25, 2006

I bet it tastes like chicken.
posted by fuerloins at 2:26 PM on January 25, 2006

has nothing on the aurochs (ᚢ)
posted by Zurishaddai at 8:40 PM on January 25, 2006

One of my best friends did a speech on beefalo in grade four. Or maybe grade six.

It became a running joke for years and years afterward, though.

I mean... beefalo.
posted by blacklite at 8:13 AM on January 26, 2006