At Rain Shadow El Rancho in Scio, the bison are doing what bison do best – eat.

What can't be found on the sprawling 140-acre ranch are the 23 half-ton to 1-ton animals living in pens eating grain to fatten them up. They are free to roam a 50-acre grassy and wooded parcel set aside for them and left virtually untouched by humans year round.

While this may run contrary to the more common cattle raising procedures, owners Joe and Karen Schueller said the practice leaves a good taste in people’s mouths.

Long a staple of Native Americans, Bison, also called American buffalo, is starting to re-emerge as a substitute red meat that several studies say has less fat and more protein than boneless, skinless chicken.

A report from Ohio State University concluded that, “Bison (buffalo meat) is a very lean red meat when compared to other red meats and poultry. It is also a good source of several vitamins and minerals including iron, selenium, zinc, B12, B6 and niacin. You can likely eat bison often without the negative health risks of other red meats, providing the rest of your diet is balanced and healthy.”

Because bison meat has a lower fat content than beef, it also cooks differently. Improperly cooked bison can be tough to chew and lose much of its flavor, turning many first time tasters away.

“It needs to be cooked low and slow,” Joe Schueller advised. “Because it is so lean, if you overcook the buffalo you end up with expensive shoe leather.”

Karen Schueller suggested cooking bison in a crock pot or other enclosed dish that holds in moisture. Additionally, she said meat should be cooked medium rare at the most.

During the winter months, comfort foods such as roasts, chili, stew and short ribs can all be cooked with bison meat.

Rain Shadow El Ranch was started in 2001. Joe Schueller was raised on a farm and had dreamt of owning his own someday. However, he didn’t know what he would raise.

“I was looking for something different,” he said. “Then I read an article in the Capital Press about bison, I said that’s it.”

He started with five bison in 2002 and built it to a herd high of 50 head. While the notion of raising a meat animal that takes twice as long as cattle to raise and doesn’t have the same level of buyers may seem risky, Joe Schueller said it seemed like a no brainer.

“Ted Turner raises buffalo...and pretty much anything he touches works,” he said. “If he can do it and be viable, then it must work.”

The free range farmers also have chickens, pigs, turkeys, rabbits and eggs, all of which Joe Schueller said taste better because of how they are raised.

Meat can be purchased directly from the farm or at local restaurants such as the Word of Mouth Bistro on 17th St. NE in Salem, at Willamette University’s Bon Appetit and at the Silver Grille in Silverton.

Outside of the taste and nutritional benefits, Joe Schueller said buying local products is better for the environment, something he said everyone should consider in their food buying practices.

“A lot of people buy from us because they want to support a local farmer,” he said. “We have a lot of our customers who promote their food coming from within 100 miles of their restaurant.”