The Caring of Buffalo

On December 28^th, 15 buffalo arrived at the ranch. There was one older cow, nine just turned yearlings, and five orphaned orange calves. The youngest was only a couple of weeks old. They had come from a farm that kept them as a novelty item to their operation. The prices were high for their mothers, so they sold them off, leaving the babies and yearlings motherless.

Our friend Duane Lammers had heard about them, and told Dan. And as if it were 15 years ago, Dan said “I’ll take em’.”  (Dan started his herd 15 years ago with 13 baby buffalo). Much like before the large trailer pulled up to the corrals and the buffalo, trickled out one by one. They looked real tough, a few emaciated. The yearling’s coats were scruffy, and their bones stood out from beneath their prematurely shedding fur coats. It would be a big job to keep them alive, and offering them a chance at life on the prairie.

They were weak and vulnerable, so we kept them in the corral where they would be a bit more protected and would hopefully gain strength. We started a twice a day feeding regime, which consisted of grass hay, weight on protein pellets, and calf manna milk pellets. We approached the corrals quietly and moved slowly while feeding them, attempting to gain their trust.  On the second day, Jilian brought home some powdered milk replacement to be mixed with warm water, in hopes that they would drink from a pail. The older one’s ignored it, but the orange calves slowly came around taking in soft little slurps.  But it wasn’t enough for the youngest. On January first, we were down to 4 orange calves. The loss of the smallest effected us all, but there were still 14 other’s that needed us, and looked forward to our arrival and the food that came with our presence.

After a couple of successful weeks of putting some weight on them, we felt comfortable with moving them to the open pasture. Still wanting to keep a close eye on them, we made a plan to move them into the horse pasture, closest to the house and outbuildings.   Our plan was to move them slowly – but once the corral gate opened they took off at a charge, free at last.  After a quick 300 yard dash they slowed, giving us a chance to catch up on foot.  We gently guided them along the fence line that led through a green gate and into their new home of 20 acres.

It’s still early to tell if they will make it. The thinnest of the yearlings do not show a lot of progress, but we keep trying and hoping that they will pull through.  Rolling out a big round bale of hay, Jilian said, “I wonder if the inside of a hay bale is like the inside of a cinnamon roll?” We can only hope so.