South Texas Antelope (Nilgai)

South Texas Antelope (Nilgai)

Our best selling game meat is South Texas Antelope. These animals are officially named the "nilgai" antelope and originate in India and Nepal. "Nilgai" means "blue bull" in certain East Indian dialects. They were originally introduced to the King Ranch in the 1930's by a family member who decided that South Texas was a tough environment for cattle that had evolved in a cooler climate. His search for an animal that could thrive in the South Texas climate and produce a high quality, lean meat led him to the nilgai antelope.

The meat has a mild flavor with a good texture, much like veal. It is extremely low in fat, averaging well under 1% for most cuts.

These are large animals, weighing an average of 280 pounds on the hoof. This larger size reduces our harvesting and processing cost when calculated on a per pound basis and allows us to offer this meat at very attractive prices.

We have been harvesting nilgai antelope for over 30 years. The meat goes through several steps to enhance and preserve its quality - some of which are unique to our process. These steps include electro-stimulation immediately after harvest, dry aging followed by wet aging for approximately two weeks, and then flash freezing. The resulting product is what we then market as South Texas Antelope. When you buy these products from Broken Arrow Ranch, you can be assured that they have gone through our unique quality enhancement process.