Jed Hammon’s home is where the buffalo roam.

And that home happens to be on a hillside spread in Placer County, between Auburn and Lincoln.

The sound of thundering buffalo hooves on the ground is a rumbling rhythm not long forgotten as it shakes the earth below your feet.

And the bison themselves – still more wild than tame and sometimes weighing in at a ton or more – can be a tricky animal to raise.

Hammon has been a buffalo rancher for the past two decades and has learned to appreciate the animals running in a herd or grazing in a group on his pastureland. He has 55 together on one parcel and 25 in more pasture nearby.

Buffalo – or American bison as they’re officially titled – are more of a plains animal but they can also be raised in other areas of the country. Hammon has heard of bison operations in Hawaii and Alaska.

In Placer County, with housing developments eating up farmland, Hammon and his herd have already had to move once. That time, a subdivision was built next to the Granite Bay buffalo pasture and a golf course was put in just over the fence.

Hammon recalled that after a photo was published of the buffalo without his knowledge in a Sacramento newspaper, people began flocking and gawking at his fenceline. That created a dangerous situation for his buffalo as well as people who arrived there to catch a glimpse of the majestic but unpredictable beasts.

“People were climbing over fences and at one point a mom was even hanging a baby over the edge of the fence,” Hammon said.

Hammon decided to find a new place for the herd. It's now located on land in rural Placer County, which can only be reached down a private road.

There, Hammon and his buffalo live in peace. The bison calmly approach Hammon when he whistles and throws down some feed but thunder away together as a single herd when a stranger approaches.

Hammon has some of the herd literally eating out of his hand. That involves something sweet, like a sugar cube.

But Hammon also is constantly wary of a herd that has some members weighing 2,000 pounds.

He carries a baseball bat and if things get a little dicey, a light tap on the horns will be enough to keep them away.

But Hammon said he has to show his confidence when he’s in the middle of the herd.

“They can smell fear,” Hammon said.

Hammon’s herd is sold as meat and breeding stock. with a growing demand in the marketplace for buffalo meat and interest in them from ranchers. It’s leaner than beef and that makes it healthier, said Ashley Coughran, meat cutter with Auburn’s Longhorn Meat Co. Hammon added that his bison are raised with no antibiotics or growth hormones.

Longhorn Meat has customers who prefer it over beef and other cuts, with tri tip, New York steaks and specially made sausage very popular.

“To me it tastes a lot like beef, but a little sweeter,” Hammon said.