Atlanta - Ted Turner, who taught millions to get their news and sports from cable TV, now wants Americans to learn to eat their heritage -- bison, the namesake product of Turner's new company.
Turner has built up the nation's largest herd at some 17,000 bison roaming his ranches in Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico. He began treating them “like pets,” but as the herd expanded, he directed his son Teddy to look into bison as business.
U.S. Bison Co., chaired by Teddy Turner, began operations last month and on Tuesday announced a partnership with The Buckhead Beef Co., an Atlanta-based national distributor of beef and other meats.
Ted Turner said his entry into the small but growing bison meat industry helps promote an animal that was near extinction after once roaming the West in numbers as many as 40 million. There are an estimated 250,000 bison in North America, growing at a rate of 20 percent a year.
“So we're bringing back an animal that evolved here in North America, a great animal, the largest land animal that was naturally living in North America when the white man got here, and they're just terrific and beautiful,” said Turner, a history buff and conservationist.
“And by making them economic, we're encouraging people to bring them back,” he explained. “So it's really a good thing for the bison, except for those unlucky few bulls that draw the short straw when the time comes to ground them up.”
The North Dakota-based North American Bison Cooperative, which Turner belongs to, has granted the company exclusive rights in the largely untried Southeast market. Teddy Turner said the company will target upscale restaurants and groceries initially as it markets pricey bison as a tasty, healthier low-fat “complement” to beef and other meats.
At Buckhead Beef, guests sampled buffalo tacos and skewers, and bison sausage, short ribs and strip steaks after the Turner news conference.
A spokesman for the Georgia Cattlemen's Association and Beef Board said his industry wasn't worried about the possible competition, saying bison at most would be “a novelty item.”
“Consumers prefer high-quality American beef and I certainly don't see bison taking its place,” said Glenn Smith.
While he was playing up the bison venture, Turner was playing down his interest in a bid for the presidency.
“I was just thinking out loud,” the media mogul said of reports that he is considering a run.
“I wish that hadn't gotten out,” he said, adding that he had been asked about running for president for two decades. “If I don't do it pretty soon, it'll be too late.”
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