Lineboro, Md. (Map, News) - Health-conscious consumers are driving a booming buffalo industry, including Carroll’s largest bison farm.

“It’s really come alive in the [United States] and it’s neat to see the progression of clientele,” said Martin Hill, who owns Twin Springs Farm in Lineboro with his wife, Michelle. “It used to mostly be customers over 50 who said they love red meat, but their doctors told them they couldn’t eat it. Now we see all ages.”

Hill, who owns a construction company, opened his farm in 1998 with eight bison.

Today, his 700-acre operation boasts 146 buffalo, a petting zoo and a store that sells $1,200 stuffed bison heads and any cut of meat, from New York strip to London broil to award-winning hot dogs.

Nationally, sales of buffalo meat have more than doubled since 2002, according to the National Bison Association.

Hill attributes the bison’s popularity to its lower cholesterol and fat and lack of hormone injections.

Michelle Hill usually suggests that first-timers buy ground meat — roughly $1 more per pound that lean ground beef — to make buffalo burgers, which taste sweeter than beef, she said.

But it hasn’t all been sweet.

Four years ago this Monday, Hill nearly lost his life.

On July 2, 2003, he tried to rescue a calf drowning in water in the lower pasture. The mother calf gored him and would have killed him if a nearby lumberyard worker hadn’t intervened.

Hill was flown to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where doctors almost amputated his leg.

His kneecap is now plastic, but Hill said he never thought about selling his farm.

“It’s like riding a bike. If you fall off, you got to get back on.”

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com