Happy National Bison Day! This Saturday, November 1st 2014 is National Bison Day. For the third straight year, the U.S. Senate has set aside this day to recognize and celebrate the historic and legendary American Bison, commonly known as the Buffalo. So, we thought we would take some time to reflect on the majestic Bison and let you know why we feel it is important for us to treat and raise each of our Buffalo with care and respect. American Bison, also known as the Buffalo, have played an enormous role in America’s history, much of which is overlooked. Bison were huge in number roaming across much of the American landscape prior to the arrival of Euro-American settlers in the 1700s. Native Americans revered the Buffalo as a symbol of their culture and used all the animal’s parts for a variety of purposes. They believed that every part had a purpose and this included forming the bones, horns, and hide into everything from utensils and weaponry to clothing. Over the next couple of centuries, the once dominant Bison herds rapidly declined to the point of near extinction due to excessive hunting. Historians believe that more than 4 million Bison were slaughtered during this period. Fortunately, before this important species was completely exterminated, the American government stepped in with measures to protect the few remaining animals. What followed was what many consider to be America’s first conservation success as the American Bison was slowly brought back from the brink of extinction. With the declaration of National Bison Day three years ago, Americans are finally paying homage to an animal, that is as much of an American icon as any other. Today more than 50 other organizations, businesses and tribes, supports National Bison Day as a way to celebrate the Bison.” All of us at Wild Idea Buffalo Co., LLC are thrilled that the Bison/Buffalo is finally getting the attention it deserves. Bringing Buffalo back to their native homeland on the Great Plains has been at the center of our preservation efforts. Wild Idea Buffalo Co., LLC was created in 1997 in an effort to support the preservation of the Great Plains and to offer consumers an alternative to the industrialized food system. The idea was simple: supply delicious, healthy, 100% grass-fed meat to consumers interested in sustainability. The Wild Idea continues today because of Americans like you who care about the food you eat and the world we share. We truly appreciate your continued support of our mission to provide America with this healthy red meat alternative. Wild Idea Buffalo Co., LLC Raised Better, Tastes Better
National Bison Day Keynote
Keynote given at the National Museum of the Bison on National Bison Day – Nov. 2, 2013 It’s an honor to speak to you here at the National Museum of the Bison. Good to see old friends and colleagues in the audience. It’s like a homecoming: federal and state biologists, TNC folks, bison producers and supporters that I’ve known for decades. Good to see you all. And a special tip of the hat to Susan Ricci who started the museum here in Rapid City – what a year and half ago. It took a lot of guts and she’s done a great job of explaining the Bison’s story. If you haven’t already looked around at all this information, do it before you leave. Thanks Susan, this is a real service to all of us who are connected to bison. National Bison Day is a special day for all of us here, but also for the entire country. This is not a day honoring just another animal or kind of meat. This is not like national chicken day. This day honors, yes, an animal but also a spirit, an idea, a way of life that is uniquely American. We are here to honor an integral part of our North American ecosystem – an emblem of wildness, the Great Plains, and the very life of North America. Bison have always been the connective tissue between the humans and the rugged land where we all live. Some nights, when I step out onto my ranch house porch, I am met by the immense, roiling waves of color from the northern lights. But in other seasons I find coiled rattlesnakes or perhaps a wind so cold that skin can freeze in minutes. By any economic ciphering, choosing the Great Plains for my home has caused me to slip behind my contemporaries who chose New England, or California, or the hills of Georgia. Still, like loving a drunk, I had little choice. For over forty years the prairies have been my home and I’ve shared them willingly with all of the species that also called them home. It took many years for me to understand that this place is not only a chaotic jumble of species clawing at each other to assert themselves, but a complex web of life clawing to keep its balance. I love the wind that stokes me as I sit on my front porch, even when it is too cold to endure. It is the wheezing breath of a single, huge, living thing, and I am a part of it. For the years between 1972 and 1990 I worked with endangered peregrine falcons and we were successful in helping to bring them back to the midsection of the US. In the mid 1990’s, after a summer of releasing captive raised baby falcons into the wild I came back to my little ranch on the northern edge of the Black Hills and took stock of my life. I sat on my front porch and looked southeast toward where Bear Butte rises up from the prairie floor like a sentinel guarding the Black Hills. The butte looked lonely and the sight of it made me wonder what I would do with my life from that day forward. It would be five years before the wheels of the US Fish and Wildlife Service worked through the red tape and removed the peregrine falcon from the endangered species list, but it was already clear that the peregrines that lived on the eastern shoulder of the Rocky Mountains …
After The Blizzard
Last Saturday, National Bison Day, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and the promise of temperatures in the mid sixties. I decided to let the day warm. Then I set out into the buffalo herd, for a few updated buffalo snapshots. It was the first time that I had been in the herd since we gathered them after the blizzard. I was greeted first by a Buffalo Cow. She was a beauty, so I started snapping some photos and asked her to show me some love. She stuck out her tongue, which I interpreted as her blowing me a kiss. I continued moving through the herd, and was hoping to find this years summer calves that had lost their mothers in the storm. I found them as fat as bears and safe under the protection of their aunts and uncles. The youngest calf, that was only a couple weeks old when the blizzard hit, is doing fine too. The calves behind and beside it, were born in the summer, which is identifiable by their size difference. Their winter coats are coming in nicely, which is timely with todays new fallen snow. Our own Dan O’Brien participated in the local celebration of National Bison Day, at the Museum of The American Bison in Rapid City. Check the link below to hear a short interview with Dan and to learn more about the museum.Stay warm..maybe with a pot of Buffalo Chili! http://www.newscenter1.tv/stories/14658.aspx
U.S. to Celebrate Second Annual National Bison Day this Saturday
Noted Buffalo Author and Rancher Dan O’Brien to Speak at Museum of the American Bison in South Dakota RAPID CITY, S.D.— The buffalo—revered for its exquisite nature and large size—will be celebrated across the U.S. on Sat., Nov. 2 as the country celebrates the second annual National Bison Day. This year, for this first time, the U.S. Senate has passed a resolution designating the date as National Bison Day. Award-winning author and buffalo rancher Dan O’Brien will be one of the featured speakers at the Museum of the American Bison (www.bisonmuseum.org) in Rapid City, S.D. O’Brien is the author of Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch, the true story of how he returned buffalo to his land after an absence of more than 150 years. O’Brien is the owner of Wild Idea Buffalo, the largest e-retailer of 100% grassfed buffalo (www.wildideabuffalo.com). Other events on Saturday at the Museum include a buffalo chili cook-off, feather painting demonstration and Native American dancers. “Perhaps some might consider it odd that a buffalo harvester is part of National Bison Day. But the truth is we need to keep working to re-introduce buffalo to the American diet for our benefit and the overall survival of the animal,” Dan explains. “My vision is to restore the Great Plains through land and animal management practices are as close to nature’s intentions as possible.” O’Brien is a two-time winner of the National Endowment for the Arts individual artist’s grant, a two time winner of the Western Heritage Award, and a 2001 recipient of the Bush Creative Arts Fellowship. Wild Idea Buffalo is lean and low in calories, fat and cholesterol but high in Omega-3s. The animals are antibiotic and hormone free, non-confined, free-roaming and humanely, field-harvested. Wild Idea Buffalo is a Cooking Light Taste Test Winner and Bon Appetit has said it’s “faintly sweet, thoroughly meaty, and utterly delicious.” The ranch was recently featured on the Food Network. Buffalo is the only red meat recommended by the American Heart Association. Further details about National Bison Day are available at www.votebison.org/events.