On a cool, blue-skied October morning, Erick and Kristen Doyle stood on the outside of a thin wired fence, on the other side of which a pack of bison quietly munched on a small mound of hay.

“She has a cracked horn. She probably got in a fight with another girl, and that’s how that happened,” Kristen said. “Some people used to dehorn them, to keep the girls from hazing each other. But it’s part of their skull; there’s a vein that goes all the way to the tip of that horn. So it’s better for them to just have the horn.”

These sometimes tame, sometimes fighting bison currently reside at Readington River Buffalo Farm, a family-operated property expanding across roughly 400 acres of farmland and located at 937 County Road 523 in Hunterdon County.

Entrance to Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Approximately 80 bison roam around 110 acres of the farm’s pastured land, famously outnumbering its 15 chickens, 14 beef cattle, 3 pigs, and an odd number of barn cats and dogs to a tremendous degree.

These bison are helmed by owner Erick Doyle, who with his wife and head of marketing and event planning Kristen Doyle, have worked to promote, grow, and sustain the only commercial bison farm in the state since 1995.

Bison at Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Terry Wright | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

What’s there to do at a bison farm?

The agrotourism element of the farm -- which Erick described as "not selling a product, but selling an experience” -- came to a close on Oct. 31.

“No one is going to buy pumpkins, and no one wants to go on hayrides, because it’s just getting too cold,” Erick said.

To cap off the end of its visiting season, this past Saturday the farm hosted its third annual Family Hay Day, a portion of the proceeds for which was donated to the Whitehouse Fire Company.

Hundreds of individuals from in and beyond the county arrived at the farm to hop on hayrides, attempt to navigate a Harry Potter-themed corn maze, visit a craft vendor or purchase a local or nationwide-brand beer from the farm’s saloon.

Saloon of Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

According to Erick, Hay Day went “very well.”

“I couldn’t be happier with the response. The fire company said they did well enough that they want to do it again next year, so that’s a good enough indication,” Erick said.

According to Kim Weger, associate member of the Whitehouse Fire Company, approximately 1,000 individuals attended the event to raise roughly $3,000 for the department.

“It was fantastic. (Erick and Kim) were so helpful, and we really worked well together with them,” Weger said. “They did the corn maze, the pumpkin picking, and the hayrides, and we did everything else -- tethered balloon rides (and) we had all kinds of food trucks.”

While today the farm attracts approximately 10,000 visitors to its pastures annually, several years ago its tourism numbers dramatically fell.

“When we first got started, there was a cache with the intrigue of having a bison farm in New Jersey. That took us very far up to 2004, 2005, and then our numbers started to decline,” Erick said. “I was relying on the uniqueness of our product, and just stubbornly thinking that we have such a special farm that people are going to want to come year in and year out. And I was only modestly correct.”

“(The farm) never did a lot of advertising; they always kind of depended on the novel idea of a bison farm in New Jersey to bring people here," Kristen echoed. “And it became apparent, to me anyway, that something needed to happen to remind people we were here."

To revive the farm’s popularity, Kristen began publicizing the business through building its social media presence, reaching out to local news sources, and even circulating flyers “at all the places I go on my little journeys.”

She and Erick spearheaded Hay Day, as well as the farm’s Wizard World Harvest -- which in September celebrated its second year at the farm -- and further promoted its annual springtime Buffalo Watch event to further solidify the farm’s significance in the Readington community.

Kristen and Erick further promote the farm by serving as a member of the Agricultural Advisory Committee for the township and of the State Board of Agriculture, respectively.

“We’re not just farmers. We’re trying to be members of the community as well, and that was really the motivation behind what brought us Hay Day, and what brought us the Buffalo Watch. And we really do want to maintain a good, healthy presence in both agriculture and our local community,” Erick said.

They also began conducting between four and five educational tours of the farm for local schools each year that have “an environmental spin,” according to Erick.

“We don’t want these tours to be like, ‘Oh, hey, cute, look at the bison,'" Erick said. "When I’m leading the tour, I want to focus on agriculture ... A lot of people see this as an intriguing farm to go to because of the bison, but there’s so much more to farming than what it is that you raise.”

According to Kristen, fall 2019 has marked a “very good season" for the business, attracting roughly 2,500 visitors.

“October didn’t have that much rain; all of the events we’ve had this year have been mobbed. We’ve had wonderful weather,” Kristen said.

“My pumpkin patch was as good as it’s ever been, and there was a more substantial presence on the internet,” Erick added.

Despite the farm’s increased promotion and visitation, Kristen emphasized that its function as a tourist destination “is secondary to anything.”

“The most important thing would be to keep the farm healthy, to keep the meat business thriving. Because bison is a healthy product; it is something that I feel Americans need to have in their diet ... Tourism is just gravy,” Kristen said.

What’s in a bison?

Bison at Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Roughly 80% of the farm’s revenue is earned through the sale of bison meat, according to Erick.

One-and-a half-year-old bison weigh an average of 685 pounds, pregnant females close to 1,000, and breeder bulls as much as 2,200 pounds.

“A thousand pound (bison) will give you 375 pounds of meat. And that’s just table cuts,” Erick said. “You want them to have strong, healthy coats. You want them to look like that they have been putting on weight ... we only want to keep the best ones."

The tremendous weight of bison illustrates the animals’ eating and drink habits, as bison consume between eight and ten gallons of water per day, and commit between eight and ten hours of each day to eating pasture grass, hay, and -- on special occasions -- farm-grown corn.

Emphasizing its utility as “a healthy meat," Erick labeled bison as “the perfect alternative” for red meat lovers who want to remove beef from their diet.

“It’s very low in fat, low in cholesterol, high in iron, high in protein ... it really has all the ideal things that you want from a red meat, with very little of the things that keep people away from it," Erick said.

While bison are not predators, Kristen said that they are highly defensive creatures.

“If they were to get out, they’d be like, ‘Look! Green grass!' But if you were to approach them, or make any sharp gestures near them, that’s a different story," Kristen said.

Bull at Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Building upon Kristen’s characterization of the mammal, Erick added that bison “have all the instincts of a wild animal.”

“You have to be a whole lot more careful when you’re around them, because ... their behavior is unpredictable. I don’t know anyone who knows how to handle bison better than I do, at least not in New Jersey. And I’m a little bit frightened when I do it," Erick said.

Why a bison farm?

Farmlands of Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The idea to create the sole commercial bison farm in New Jersey first took root in -- of all places -- a state located far across the country.

“I was living in Colorado after college, and my parents (Gerry and Scarlett) came to visit me," Erick said. "We took a tour of the state and ate lunch at a bison ranch and restaurant. So here we are on the back porch eating bison chili, watching them graze, and just thinking, ‘How quaint is this?' It can’t be more than a couple of months later that my folks said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to start raising bison.’”

In May 1998, Erick, born and raised in Bedminster, decided to move back home to New Jersey and help his parents -- who were in their late-50s and not fully retired from their other jobs -- run the bison farm.

“I was going to continue to snowboard and squander my life away in beautiful Colorado, and there would be no issues aside from that,” Erick said “But after a little bit of soul-searching, I said, ‘No matter what I do, I’m not going to be able to establish a career here.'"

In the first year of owning the farm, much of the equipment left by the previous owners, who were dairy farmers, was overhauled and replaced to make room for more animals -- predominantly bison.

“Bison are something people otherwise wouldn’t be connected to, or see,” Kristen said.

Farming friend or farming foe of the environment?

Since the farm’s establishment in 1996, Erick and Kristen have implemented a number of changes to diminish its negative impact upon the environment.

In June of this year, the Asbury-based North Jersey Resource Conservation & Development (North Jersey RC&D) organization awarded the farm with a River Friendly certification.

According to Kristen, the farm received the certification for its efforts to both clean up its farmlands and make them less hazardous for the animals that live upon them.

“The (North Jersey RC&D) ... are looking for farms that want to improve their pastures, and it doesn’t just mean river friendly; it means that the pastures will be safer for the animals ... and it’s really all about clean water,” Kristen said.

Bison at Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Terry Wright | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Erick said that he found it “rather interesting" that, prior to the farm becoming river friendly certified, he was already engaged in eco-friendly practices approved by the organization, including establishing riparian buffers, planting native species along waterways, and implementing erosion- and sediment-control basins in various regions of the farm.

In addition to serving as a boon to the environment, the farm’s eco-friendly practices have also directly benefitted Readington Township taxpayers.

Over the last five years, Erick has worked with the NRCS to build four dams designed and partially funded by the organization throughout their farmlands.

While three of these dams enable rainwater to slow down and be pumped underground, one was built along a retention pond located in the farmlands to manage the water runoff and prevent the neighboring Woods Church Road from flooding out.

“(The water runoff) was having a bad effect on Woods Church Road; it was washing it out. So the township was having to spend money on fixing Woods Church Road, and this actually eliminated that need,” Kristen explained.

NRCS-designed dam built around retention pond at Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Erick confirmed that the farm continues to work closely with the NRCS to continue developing his lands in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

“When you do that, you also make your farm healthier, and that will end up making your animals healthier, and the operation will be more complete," Erick said. “Rather than trying to patch a whole bunch of holes, you’re actually showing, ‘This is what a farm could look like.’”

Kristen said that their continued efforts to establish the farm as a friend to the environment as their greatest accomplishment.

“I have a hard time hearing people say that farms aren’t healthy, or animals are bad for the environment. Well sure, that’s true if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do,” Kristen said. “So I love that we’re being responsible about that.”

What’s next?

While proud of the strides the farm has made over 24 years in the community, Erick and Kristen have established a number of ways in which they intend to further develop and improve their operation.

Erick will begin implementing intensive grazing techniques, through which the bison will be moved “rapidly” from one pasture to another to create healthier farmlands and bison.

“The grasses that were grazed upon have a better opportunity to re-establish once you move them off. And it also eliminates the parasites, because if there are any worm eggs that are in the droppings of the bison, they won’t find a new host," Erick explained.

Erick will also reseed all of his pastures to create richer, healthier pastures that will enable the farm to increase its bison stock.

“Because we have the limited amount of acres, we would be capped out at 150 bison. But if we did have better pastures that (Erick) could do better planting on and produce more grass for the bison, we would have more animals,” Kristen explained.

Kristen added that she would like to expand upon the farm’s agrotourism by creating more attractions for younger children in particular.

“I would like to make a mini maze for little kids, and do more school tours,” Kristen said. “I gave a tour on Friday to three-year-olds, and instead of just talking and talking about conservation, I made all of these pictures for the kids, things that they know, and really tried to gear it towards them. It worked out really well, and I thought that was something we could do more of.”

Kristen Doyle talking to kids at Buffalo WatchTerry Wright | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Why do people come?

In reflecting upon the success of their establishment, Kristen and Erick recognized that what separates their farm from the rest is not only the uniqueness of what they offer, but the aesthetic charm of that uniqueness.

“When we advertise a buffalo farm, it’s another level of interest besides just a hayride, you know?” Kristen said. "Everyone from little kids to retired adults are interested in seeing bison out in the field.

Erick added that he wanted “to establish our farm as the standard for what a farm could potentially be.”

Property of Readington River Buffalo Farm, 2019Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

“I want this farm to be the farm that everybody wants to come and take a picture of. Beautiful pastures, healthy animals on those pastures, nice buildings that make it worthy of a coffee table book, and there’s a lot of work that goes into that,” Erick added.

“I spend more time on a lawnmower than most farmers do because I need my farm to look good. If a farm doesn’t have beauty to it when visitors are coming, they’re going to stop coming.”

Caroline Fassett can be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.

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