At the time that most of the laws were passed, the bison were still fairly plentiful in the wild; there was no economic motive to ‘raise’ them. Later they were hunted almost to extinction, because the meat was in demand.
Someone cited the law upthread- it seems like bison are a real outlier in terms of the livestock covered by this law. They are substantially larger than the other animals on the list. I’m not defending this guy- he decided to be an ass and decided to ignore the law. But I think defining buffalo as livestock under this law places an undue burden on neigbors of such ranches.
Strange approach to private property out West, where people are expected to incur the burden of someone else’s livestock.
Too bad there isn't a fact checker as well as a spell checker. You got it half right in that they were hunted nearly to extinction, but not for their meat, but for their hides which sold for three dollars each. The carcases were left to rot in the millions.