Archive for June, 2009

June 26, 2009

Cutting wheat by the Bison Farm

From the top of my pasture hill I can see wheat fields three different directions, and could hear the humming of the combines as they rolled across these fields this week. It’s super hot, humid, and the wheat is ripe. Everyone’s in a dash working as late as they can, combining until the wheat straw gets too tough to cut at night, which might be anywhere from 7 pm until midnight.
 
Farmers are racing to get the wheat harvested because weather can change their crop from a bumper yield to nothing to cut. Hail stones can pound a year’s worth of work and income in the ground in seconds.
 
We had a quick 2.5 inches of rain on Saturday that stopped the combines for two days. That rain dropped the quality and weight of the wheat kernels a little,  but so far the yield in our area is very good!
This year’s wheat stalks are clean and bright, making beautiful yellow straw that the farmers are baling right away to keep it that way.
 
Straw is used for bedding for livestock, and can also be ground for feed. We buy small square straw bales from a neighbor to make our little mazes that people walk through during our maze season too.
 
The goal for our area is to be done cutting wheat by the 4th of July. By the looks of all the cut fields surrounding the Bison Farm, they will make it in time to enjoy the holiday.

June 19, 2009

Smoky Hill Bison's buffalo bull Chief

When we bring in new bulls every three years, we usually introduce them to our buffalo during the winter, so they are part of the herd by late summer’s breeding season.  
 
Buffalo bull Takoda’s abrupt action and departure left the herd without a breeding bull at the wrong time of the year. But the problem has been solved by a friend who brought buffalo from southwestern Kansas to our work pens to rest and sort, before moving them to northeastern Kansas. 
 
From this group we picked out our new bull, Chief. He’s just three years old, about 1200 lbs, and seems very congenial and polite (for a buffalo bull). After three weeks of him getting used to the place and being introduced to a few young heifers in our group, we put the two groups together in the big pens last weekend.
 
Dust was a flying as the herd surrounded the new stranger. I didn’t see when he and head cow Esther met, but cows Annie and Clara sure shoved him around to show him who was boss. We left them together in the pens overnight, and then let them back out into the pasture the next morning.
 
Chief came from a big open range pasture and never seen an electric fence before, so we needed to be sure he felt comfortable with the group (and vice versa) to stay with them and not hop the fence and head for his old home.
 
This first week he has been in the middle of the herd, and has paired up with Annie who didn’t have a calf this year. He’s made two moves just fine and was mildly curious when the Prairie Tram lumbering out for tours.
 
We also brought back two-year-old bull Scout, who was in the other pasture, for a backup bull. He grew up here as a calf, so happy to be back roaming his calfhood pasture. Scout and ChaWakan have paired up so he’s a happy camper.
 
Hopefully the breeding season will go well and we’ll have lots of new calves next spring.

June 12, 2009 

Buffalo Cow Esther

June 6th, 2009 marked buffalo cow Esther and her sister’s 10th year at the Bison Farm.
It’s been a adventurous decade for both us and them. Bison are very unique animals and they have taught us, and visitors, a lot about their wild species.
 
I’ve taken thousands of photos of the herd in the past years, and Esther is always prominent since she’s always first in line for everything. Here’s one of my favorite photos of her when she was two years old. (Talk about no hips when she was young!)
 
But her most famous photo is of her and calf Emily that’s in the top right of our logo. It was one of those perfect shots of motherly love.
 
Evening with the Buffalo
 
We had people from CT to CO last Saturday for our first “Evening with the Buffalo”. It was a warm day but cooled down for a great evening in the pasture with the herd.
 
We had our buffalo burger meal first in the air conditioned Visitors Center, and then headed out in the Prairie Tram after that.
 
This was only the new calves third showing, but they were more at ease and knew what was going on. People enjoyed seeing the herd up close and hearing Verne’s stories about our buffalo.