Your Wild, Buffalo Adventure Awaits at Greenville County’s Only Bison Ranch

Did you know there’s a ranch in Greenville County with over 35 bison roaming the beautiful foothills? It’s called Big Balls Ranch and you’ll love meeting the bison and the family who runs it! Thanks to BBR for the opportunity to take a tour and learn so much about bison.

Big Balls Ranch has it all: mountain views, bison, the opportunity to get pretty close to these wild creatures, and awesome t-shirts. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about America’s national mammal, this is the place. In fact, it’s the only bison ranch in Greenville County and the largest in South Carolina.

About Big Balls Ranch

BBR was started by Brent and Robin, who bought the land in northern Greenville County to essentially have a family compound. They have two grown daughters and wanted everyone to be near each other. 

But then they went to Yellowstone and were fascinated by the bison herds. Brent especially fell in love with the majestic, wild creatures and set out to learn all about them. Like a kid obsessed with trains or LEGOs, Brent soaked up all the knowledge he could about bison and he and his family volunteered on a small ranch in South Carolina to learn firsthand about how to care for the massive animals. 

The family had two years under their belt of caring for bison on that ranch before they brought buffalo onto their land. BBR has a thriving herd of 38 bison, including the new herd of five buffalo that was just last month. 

Private tours are a brand new endeavor because the family wants to share their love of bison and help supplement the enormous expense of caring for the herd. Everyone in the family has day jobs but besides being related, they have this common thread of a love of bison and the desire to educate others about the cool animals. 

Why Big Balls Ranch?

The name of the ranch certainly elicits a second glance and maybe a raised eyebrow or two. Definitely a laugh. The acronym BBR is actually the initials of Brent and Robin. It’s also a hat tip to Robin’s love of decorating and using all kinds of balls to make things pretty. 

Additionally, bison are huge animals, most weighing over a thousand pounds. They can move fast, jump over a six-foot fence, and take out any tourists who try to pet the fluffy cows at national parks. To purposely take up the task of raising bison, caring for them, and getting pretty close to them takes some nerve and heck of a lot of courage and brass. The ranch is aptly named.

Learning about Bison at Big Balls Ranch 

I’ve had the pleasure of staying at a bison ranch in North Carolina and learning a bit about these magnificent creatures. But getting a tour from Brent is a whole other level of education. 

The man knows bison. He’s like the ChaptGPT of bison. Ask a question and he knows the answer. And he’s going to tell you everything else you didn’t ask because it’s that cool.

I’m pretty good at remembering information when I go on tours and write stories. But I thought my head was going to explode at the amount of bison knowledge I was thrown in the 20-minute introduction to the farm and the bison herd. We learned all about the history of the bison and how they were nearly driven to extinction during the mid to late 1800s when the animals were desired for their hides. It was only due to the efforts of private citizens who were determined to save the species and therefore created ranches to raise the animals. 

In 2016, bison became America’s national mammal. Today, there are just under 400,000 bison on private ranches and about 31,000 on federally managed land and national parks. But bison did roam all across North America at one time. They were especially important to Native American tribes. 

Once Brent unloaded a significant amount of bison knowledge on us, we headed out to the pastures to see the animals up close. 

Big Balls Ranch Bison Tour 

Big Balls Ranch offers two options for private tours: a wagon that can seat up to 12 people and air-conditioned UTVs that seat up to four. We took the open air wagon, which is pulled by a massive tractor, into the pasture with the larger herd. I wasn’t sure how close we were going to get to the bison but I wasn’t disappointed.

Brent told us that bison are curious animals and the herd he has is very docile. It’s not like we were going to be walking amongst the buffalo but Brent did tell us he has worked closely with the herd for years and they know him. One came right up to him to lick his glove and others came pretty close to the wagon, maybe 10 feet away. 

We saw lots of the baby bison with their moms, which was adorable. We learned that the cows are pregnant for nine-and-a-half months and the births are usually uneventful. The other cool thing about the herds is that they are a matriarchal society. There is one alpha female yet the only thing Brent didn’t know was how she’s picked by the other herd members. That’s it – he knew everything else. 

The male bison that fathered all the babies is appropriately named Big Boy. He’s over two thousand pounds and yes, he was huge. I was wondering if the ranch was named after him (it’s not). 

The bison peacefully passed us and continued to graze. It was super cool to see them this close. 

The Land at Big Balls Ranch

Seeing the bison is really neat and learning about their history and how the herds operate was truly enjoyable. However, the land has to be mentioned here because it’s just God’s country out there. It’s stunningly beautiful. 

The ranch is on more than 100 acres and very close to Table Rock and Jones Gap. In fact, one of the views you’ll see is facing Jones Gap. The mountains surround the pastures and since the tours are in the evenings during the golden hour before sunset, the light that hits the mountain peaks, trees, and bison themselves is breathtaking. As a photographer, I couldn’t take enough photos of this place. 

The way that the family moves the herd around to different pastures is sustainable and healthy. They want the bison to graze naturally and have taken an approach to caring for the herd that is as natural as possible. They let the bison roam in large pastures and move them around as needed to let the grass grow again and prevent erosion. The herd is sometimes fed hay but they are mostly grassfed – this is a big reason why the meat the ranch sells is so delicious. You may have seen Big Balls Ranch at some of our local farmers markets since that’s one place they sell the meat. 

Honest Mom Review 

While having been on a bison ranch before, I had an idea of what to expect at Big Balls Ranch but I was surprised by a lot of the elements. I certainly didn’t expect to learn so much about the animals. And I did not expect to be completely enamoured by the ranch itself and the natural beauty that surrounds it. 

My favorite part was getting to see the animals up close. I have a healthy respect for bison and the fact that they are indeed wild, and enormously powerful, animals so it was amazing to see them so close and having Brent there to explain why we are able to get that near to them. 

The whole experience of learning about the bison, enjoying the stunning land, and getting to see how one family has chased their dreams was just so cool. And to know that it’s all part of Greenville County was even more amazing. 

Booking Your Own Tour 

Tours are in the evenings on weekends at Big Balls Ranch and you can easily book them online. Tours last approximately 90 minutes and they are a minimum of $100 for three people (not $100/person but $100 for three people). For each person after the initial three, it is $25 per additional adult and $15/ages 3-12. Under three is free. 

While the ranch doesn’t have specific field trips or homeschool days yet, they are open to working with groups to create those kinds of tours so reach out if you’re interested. 

Included in the tour is a reel that they will make for you! 

You can also purchase Big Balls Ranch t-shirts (imagine all the fun places you can wear that to) and bison meat raised right there at the ranch.