Minimize Stress to Maximize Animal Health and Productivity

Story and photos by Karen Conley

Reprinted with permission from Bison World, Fall 2023, p26-32.

Working with bison can be stressful for both the animal and the handler. A difficult situation may be unavoidable, but it can be mitigated or avoided with the right mindset and proper handling techniques. Taking the time to understand the animals and how they perceive the world around them can pay dividends in herd health and ease of handling as well as economically for the producer.

Animals that are under stress can suffer from a compromised immune system, opening the door for disease susceptibility. Stress can also cause behavioral changes such as stampeding, herd aggression, or even “suicidal” actions, in which the animal becomes so panicked that they are a danger to themselves and everything around them. Fear, panic, or stress can trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol into the bloodstream, which can ultimately influence the quality of the meat if that animal’s destiny is for meat production.

Bison are wild animals and they are always naturally on guard. They are highly responsive to stimuli and will react to that stimulus accordingly. One animal may vocalize more than another. One animal may react so powerfully that it shuts down and enters a state of shock, sometimes called tonic mobility.

As caretakers of the bison, the goal is to keep the stress to a minimum and work with the animal’s natural fight or flight response to get the desired outcomes.

777 Bison Ranch Herd Manager Cody Smith is one of the best at working with bison. His quiet and calm demeanor and ability to read the animals have paved the way for successfully managing the large herd at the ranch near Fairburn, SD.

Working on the ranch since high school, Smith learned from the ground up and continues to educate himself and those around him about the benefits of low-stress handling.

“When handling bison, stress is a huge deal,” says Smith. “It can lead to sickness or injury or even worse. Those signs of sickness won’t show until the stress is at a high level. Look for things like droopy ears, their tongue hanging out, a runny nose, or something as simple as a head hanging down. I also see a lack of focus when the bison are stressed out.”

Smith says it’s a matter of mutual respect, not dominance when working with bison. “Bison hold grudges, so you need to be nice,” he jokes. “But really, it’s about shared emotions and being empathetic. I want to understand what the animals are thinking and feeling. I try to put myself in their place and look at things from their point of view. Their reactions make sense when you put yourself in that scenario.”

Smith says handling bison is like being in a state of controlled chaos. He emphasizes being quiet and calm around them. Above all, he says, don’t panic. “Learn to flow. The animals will flow like water. Especially in a group, they ebb and flow and you need to do that, too. Don’t go against the flow, but work with it.”

Successful handling is all about getting the animals to go where you want them with the least stress. Pressure is the key to making that happen. “Every movement you make as a handler puts pressure on the bison. Watch your posture. Don’t be aggressive, but don’t be too timid,” explains Smith. “When it comes to eye contact, I feel like they respond when I do that, but again, don’t be aggressive about it.”

Understanding the flight zone and that bison have a larger one than domestic livestock is crucial to using pressure.

 Temple Grandin, noted author and speaker on autism and animal behavior and professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, explains the flight zone as that distance from the animal to a threat that causes the animal to begin to move away from the threat. If the threat is outside the flight zone but still “nearby,” the animal will turn and face the threat. As the threat approaches and reaches the boundary of the flight zone, the animal will turn and begin to move away.

 Increasing pressure on the animal’s flight zone effectively creates animal movement—however, too much pressure and the animal panics. The optimal handler position is at the boundary of the flight zone. Knowledge of the flight zone allows the handler to manipulate animals in a low-stress manner.

 When do you apply pressure? Smith says it’s all about timing. “You use different pressure for different goals,” he explains. “Patience is a virtue when working with bison. Slow IS fast, and you don’t have to make fast moves; keep effective pressure on until they do what you want. Good judgment comes from experience, and much of that comes from bad judgment.

Learn from your mistakes!”

 Handlers should use the minimum amount of pressure to invoke the desired response. Slow movements and slight increases in pressure until the animals respond, will create a calm and relatively positive experience for the bison. Be careful not to apply too much pressure, which can cause the animal to panic. Knowing the animal’s flight zone will allow you to manipulate the animals as desired.

 Grandin says the biggest handling mistake she sees when running animals through a handling facility is too many animals in the crowd pen. She says when that happens, there is not enough room for the animals to move freely, making it more challenging to get them to move and adding another layer of stress to an already stressful situation. Grandin feels the crowd pen should be at most one-third to half full.

 Less crowding also helps alleviate animals becoming aggressive toward each other. She also encourages them not to push animals tightly with the crowding gates. She looks at that gate as the emergency brake. You only need to use it if you have a couple of balky animals that you need to encourage their forward motion by using the gate.

What kind of equipment is needed to work with animals? Not much, and less is better. Smith uses flags and a plastic paddle, with a hot shot being the last resort. “Don’t let the hot shot become your primary tool,” he cautions. “Putting the right people in the right place when working bison is the best tool.”

A sorting stick with a flag or even a plastic bag on the end is usually enough to get the animal’s attention and get them moving. Crazy waving of the flag or bag or yelling is not necessary. Quiet movements and using the flag to guide the animals is the desired action. Sometimes subtle, novel noises such as snapping your fingers, rustling the bag on the end of your sorting stick, or even lightly shaking a few coins in a can will do the trick and get them to move.

Shadows are scary to bison. They prefer to move from dark to light areas and avoid going into dark places like trailers. Using tight tarps to create a solid visual barrier can help encourage animals to find the “light” or the opening to where you want them to go. Handling systems that are tarped or have solid sides offer the illusion of restraint. The bison are less likely to try if they cannot see a place to escape.

Smith touched on another situation where stress heightens if not managed. Loading and transporting bison can be a very trying experience for both the handler and the bison. Working with your hauler ahead of time can significantly reduce the amount of stress and time needed to load the bison. The trucker knows what his trailer can do; defer to their experience when planning a load.

 Be transparent and let them know how you think your animals might react when trying to load them. Do your sorting ahead of time in the corrals and not on the trailer. Throughout the process, be flexible and understanding. Your liability ends where the trucker’s begins.

 Finally, have a transport safety plan. Things can and do go wrong, so be prepared. Give your hauler contact information for each end of the load so they can inform everyone in case of an emergency or an accident.

Minimizing stress in your bison herd paves the way for healthy, content animals performing well in the pasture, finishing pen, or rail.

Story and Photos by Karen Conley, Communications Director at Bison World (25 years in Bison Industry) Bison World Editor and Advertising Manager, Karen@bisoncentral.com

Reprinted from Bison World, Fall 2023, p26-32. Used with permission from National Bison Association. For more information contact www.BisonCentral.com ((303) 292-2833)

Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

Guest Article, Photos and Illustrations courtesy of Gene Gade

Introduction of horses into the cultures of bison-hunting Plains Indians caused changes at least as rapid and profound as did the introduction of automobiles and trucks into early 20th Century America.

How incredible it must have been to people who had hunted for millennia on foot.

Entire paradigms of travel speed, distance, load-carrying capacity, communication, trade and warfare were transformed within a very short time. Now Indians could hunt year-round from horseback. Hunters could range much farther from camp to find their quarry.

A skilled rider with a good mount could now run with the bison and pick individual animals to kill. They could load the meat and hides onto much larger and stronger animals for the journey home.

They didn’t have to feed any of the meat to their beasts of burden as they had for the thousands of years when dogs served that role.

As the numbers of available horses increased, tribes were less dependent on communal hunts in the fall. Within a generation or so of the arrival of horses, “buffalo jumps,” including the Vore site, essentially became obsolete.

As usual, archaeology at the Vore Buffalo Jump provides inferential evidence about this major cultural shift. In all of the early, deeper cultural levels at the VBJ, the buffalo carcasses were broken down into relatively small pieces of meat and bone.

Presumably this pattern was necessary because a human being (possibly an adolescent) had to manually lug them out of the sinkhole and transport them on a dog-propelled travois to a processing camp that may have been several miles away.

The butchering pattern changed in the last couple of times the Vore site was used. Basically, these carcasses were broken into much larger segments, too big to be carried out of the sinkhole by an individual human of any age, gender or stature.

 Almost certainly this change was made possible by the arrival of a larger beast of burden—namely the horse. The archaeological record at the Vore site indicates that this dog-to-horse transition happened in the late1780’s or 1790’s .

 Presumably during the early stages of transition, any given tribe would have had few horses and they would probably have been in the hands of high-status males.

 As more horses became available, more of them would have been used for important, but relatively mundane tasks like dragging quarters of bison carcasses out of a sinkhole and carrying them to camp.

 By about 1800, activity at the Vore site stopped fairly abruptly. Possibly because, by then, the regional tribes had enough horses so they could hunt for fresh meat in all seasons and no longer needed to acquire massive amounts in autumn communal hunts using buffalo jumps.

 Origin of Horses

 Horse-like animals appeared in the fossil record over 50 million years ago. After separating from their relatives, rhinos and tapirs, during the Eocene Epoch, the horse family tree radiated into a number of forms, most of which became extinct leaving no ancestors.

 Originally a forest animal less than 20” tall, horses had four toes on their front legs and three toes on their hind appendages and teeth adapted to browsing woody plants.

The climate of North America became drier during the Oligocene Epoch. Forests shrunk and grasses became more abundant. Horses adapted by becoming larger and faster and by becoming more of an open country animal.

By the Miocene, about 24 million years ago, large grasslands had appeared. One of the three main branches of the horse family expanded into this new niche and, over time and with many failed experiments, became the large, fast, single-toed, grass eater that we know as Equus, the modern horse.

During their development, horses successfully spread to Eurasia. Ironically, they became extinct in their continent of origin—North America–during the late-Pleistocene only 10 to 20 thousand years ago.

Some people believe that, along with rapid and major climate change at the end of the Ice Ages, horses and some other by species were extremely stressed and that hunting by the newly arrived human population tipped a number of Pleistocene mammals over the edge and into extinction here in North America.

A Legacy of the Conquistadors

There are legends that the horses that Plains Indians acquired were descendants of half a dozen feral animals that escaped from the would-be Conquistador, Coranado.

Following the example of Cortez and the Aztecs and Pizarro and the Incas, Coranado went all the way to Kansas in 1540 looking for another rich Indian culture to pillage and plunder.

There are also stories about horses escaping from a Spanish ship that wrecked on the coast of Texas.

It’s possible that a very few horses escaped in such a fashion, but they did not propagate the hundreds of thousands of horses that ended up with the Plains tribes.

The Spaniards were indeed the folks who brought horses north from Mexico to their missions and settlements near Santa Fe and in California.

However, they understood how much of an advantage horses provided and they tried very hard not let their horses fall into Indian hands. In fact, it was illegal under their rule for Indians to ride or own horses.

However, some Indians who were slaves on Spanish Rancheros learned to handle the speedy and powerful new animals.

Comes the Revolution

The event that changed the entire situation was the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680. Having chaffed under the heavy hand of the Spanish for over a century, the normally peaceful farming villages along the Rio Grande River and its tributaries, rose up and violently chased the Spanish back to Mexico.

As the Spaniards retreated in disarray, much of their livestock, including many horses, were captured by regional Indian tribes. The Pueblos apparently did not keep the Spanish animals, but some of their more nomadic neighbors, especially the Utes and Comanches took as many horses as they could catch, capture or trade for.

When the Spaniards returned a dozen years later, the Comanches on the Plains and the Utes in the Mountains were committed horse people. Moreover, those tribes had relatives and trade partners.

The genie was out of the bottle. The cultural revolution was on.

The Spanish colonial horses that the Indians acquired were derived from several European breeds including Spanish Barbs, Arabians and Lipizzaners. They came in a wide variety of color, size and conformation.

The average Indian horse was small in stature, but strong and wiry. They probably stood only 13.2 to 14 hands high and they probably weighed about 700 pounds on average. (By comparison, modern quarter horses are usually 15 to 17 hands high and weigh over 1,000 pounds.)

Indian horses are described as having a “large head with a good eye; short thick neck; large round barrel; relatively heavy shoulder and hip; fine limbs and small feet.”

By trading (and probably raiding) horses were transferred from tribe to tribe. The transfer occurred on both sides of the Rocky Mountain chain.

The Utes apparently took horses across the mountains and into the Great Basin. The Comanches and their trading partners took them north via the Plains, east of the Rockies.

The Shoshone Connection

Both the Utes and the Comanches were relatives of the Shoshone, so the Shoshone were among the first of the more northern tribes to acquire horses.

For a generation or so in the middle 1700’s, the Shoshone gained power and expanded their territory to include large areas of the buffalo country. During this period and, perhaps later, they probably used the Vore Buffalo Jump.

Most of the Great Basin groups were linguistically and culturally Shoshonean. Horses kept moving with them through the Basin to the Palouse Prairie in what is now eastern Oregon, Washington and Idaho where they were acquired by the Nez Perce.

The Nez Perce became famous for developing a distinctive breed of spotted horses—the Appaloosa—a somewhat distorted name for the Palouse region where they lived.

The trade continued north and east from there, bringing horses to the Flathead, Blackfeet and Cree Indians over the next 20 to 30 years.

Written history from the fur-trapping War Chief—A Nakota horse thought to have conformation typical of Indian horses from the pre-reservation period documents that the Blackfeet had few horses during the early decades of the1800’s.

Postulated Pattern and Time-line for Distribution of Horses Among Indian Tribes in the Western United States

Spanish colonialists brought numerous horses to rancheros and missions in New Mexico and California in the 1600’s.

The Pueblo Rebellion of 1682 allowed regional Indian tribes to capture horses abandoned by the Spanish.

The were two major dispersal paths: from the Utes through the Rockies and Great Basin and from the Comanche northward and eastward from the southern Great Plains, but mostly east of the Rockies.

It took over half a century for trade and warfare to disperse horses from the southern to northern Plains, but horses created a cultural revolution everywhere they went.

Dispersion to the Northern Plains

The Crow or Absoraka tribe are often cited as among the first and best horsemen of the northern Plains. However, they probably acquired horses from the Shoshone about 1740. Being relatives of the Hidatsa, they probably also exchanged horses and other trade items with them as well.

The main branch of the Plains trade route was north from the Comanche in Texas and Oklahoma.

Around 1720, the Pawnees acquired horses. The Pawnee along with most of the Missouri River Indians made their living partly with farming (corn, beans, squash, etc) and the rest with hunting (bison) and trading.

They lived most of the year in earthlodge villages along river valleys. They were centrally located with a cultural center in eastern Nebraska and from there were also important in trade and warfare both up the Missouri River to the north and west along the Platte River.

The Arikara [or Rees], who lived farther up the Missouri, were closely related to the Pawnees and were also integral to regional trade.

The Arikara almost certainly got horses from the Pawnee sometime in the middle of the 1700’s. They, in turn, would have traded with the other earthlodge-dwelling/farming-hunting cultures farther up the river—the Mandan and Hidatsa.

Linguistically and culturally, the Mandan and Hidatsa are similar (Siouan language) and they were renowned in their day as entrepreneurs.

Until they were decimated by smallpox, the Mandan and Hidatsa were at the hub of tribal trade in the northern Plains. They traded farm goods (corn, etc.) for the meat and hides brought by the bison hunters.

As European goods started to arrive via the river and lake transportation routes of southern Canada and as the fur trapping enterprise expanded, the Mandans and Hidatsa were central in that trade as well.

It is likely that, when horses arrived, the Mandan and Hidatsa were central to their dispersal to regional tribes including the Cheyenne, Sioux and Assiniboine.

Once horses were available, the switch to the nomadic lifestyle of following the buffalo herds was swift and complete for the Cheyenne and Sioux.

By the time most of the Anglo-American journals were written, just a few decades later, the Cheyenne and Lakota were the consummate and most powerful buffalo hunting/tipi dwelling/horse riding Indians on the northern Plains.

Only the oldest tribesmen could really remember life without horses by then.

For Caucasians moving west, it was an easy assumption that the tribes had possessed horses and practiced their 1800’s culture for a very long time.

Good buffalo runners and war ponies were among the most prized possessions of 19th Century Plains hunters and warriors. The relationship between Indians and horses seemed inextricable.

 For most northern Plains tribes, the era of free-roaming, horse-mounted buffalo hunters lasted little more than a century, but it was, for them, a glorious period indeed!

 Guest Article by Gene Gade. As the County Extension Agent in Sundance Wyoming, Gene Gade served 20 years as president of the non-profit Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, helping to develop and guide the research, education and economic potentials of the Vore Buffalo Jump site until his retirement. He has continued to write for the VBJF Newsletter. Reprinted from the VBJF Newsletter with permission: Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, 369 Old US 14, Sundance WY 82729; Tel: (307) 266-9530, email: <info@vorebuffalojump.org>

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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

It’s coming up! Buffalo Day is November 4, 2023—Always the first Saturday in November. Get your family ready to celebrate!

Remember, in the US and Canada we use the terms Bison and Buffalo interchangeably. And that’s OK. Either fits!!

Some would have us use only the scientific name, Bison. But just think how many cities and towns, counties, creeks, rivers and majestic buttes across this North American continent are named for Buffalo! Would the so-called “experts” have us change them all? Impossible, of course. And how petty to be so limited in our vision!

We’ve been using that term since 1616 when the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, used it to describe the animal. A few years later, in 1625, Buffalo first appeared in the English language in North America, from the French word, boeuf, a Greek word given to Buffalo by French fur trappers here. Not until 1774—a century and a half later—was Bison first recorded to refer to these mammals in a scientific sense. So are we OK with that?

“We want to go full Buffalo and embrace their unique appearance, calming personalities, and utterly cute shapes. Get ready to learn more about them and why we should all try and be more like bison,” says one Buffalo Aficionado.

Anyway,—no apologies. Use whichever you prefer. (Except of course in a scientific discussion.)

How Will You Celebrate?

1. Wear a Buffalo T-shirt

Select a T-shirt that shows your love of bison—and wear it proudly! Your kids will enjoy a new Buffalo shirt if they don’t have one! So will Grandpa and Grandma.

2. On National Bison Day—Change your profile picture to Bison

On National Bison Day—November 4, 2023—Change your profile photo on social media to a Buffalo silhouette. It’s an annual event that falls on the first Saturday in November. All Americans can reflect on the impact bison have as a part of our environmental and cultural heritage.
Keep it up for a full month! November is Native American month–you can honor Native Americans at the same time with a nice Buffalo photo. Buffalo are especially revered by Native people—They’ve been central to their survival for centuries as both food and spiritual inspiration.

3. Visit a Buffalo herd

A vast number of wildlife parks, tribal herds, and buffalo ranches showcase Buffalo across the US and Canada. Find out if any are located close to where you live. Your children will be delighted to experience the wonder of our latest national icon—the Bison, or Buffalo!

However, take care! Don’t get too close—75 feet or more is recommended! Buffalo are stoic—but don’t try to push them around!

4. Plan a Party

Celebrate with a family party, kids party, young adult party, or just friends getting together!

Buffalo are easy to draw. Design and paint or color a stand-up place card for each guest. Or design some dark brown bushy beards. Tie them on your guests with a shoestring around the ears. Know any Buffalo games?

5. Eat some Bison—yum, yum! Tastes great!

Delicious! Buffalo Producers celebrate (bold) National Bison Month in July as a great time to grill bison meat. Select any tender cut from Prime rib steak to hamburger! You might be amazed that it’s healthy as well as tasting great!

Producers want you to know that bison is the leanest protein available to consumers today, boasting 26% more iron than beef and 87% lower in fat. Bison has 766% more B12 vitamins than chicken, and 32% less fat, based on nutrient data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

6. Watch a Buffalo video

There are several good possibilities, both short and long videos, on the National Park Service (nps.gov), Public TV, and Wildlife Parks websites. Or you might decide to review some of our Blogs. We’ll have more suggestions for you after our Website goes live in November!

Fun Facts About Bison

1. Buffalo Survive just fine through long, cold Winters

Their hump is composed of muscle supported by long vertebrae, which allows them to use their heads to plow through deep snow and eat grasses below. They also thrive on cottonwood leaves and browse.

Fierce blizzards don’t faze them. Buffalo face into a storm rather than walking away from it. Or they lie down, letting it blow over. Thus they avoid being trapped by fences, water holes and creeks as happens to cattle and sheep—which travel with the wind.

2. Calves are born a Different Color than their Moms

Buffalo calves are called ‘red dogs’ by Forest Rangers. When born they are orange or cinnamon colored. It takes 3 to 4 months to grow a
hump and spike horns, shed their baby hair, and change to a darker color like their mothers. Their heads turn blackish first.

3. Buffalo can outrun most Mammals

Buffalo bulls may look big, slow, and lazy. But don’t be fooled! They can spin on a dime, jump straight up and over a 5- or 6-foot fence, leap
a 7-foot long jump, run up to 35 miles per hour, and are strong swimmers.

In addition, it seems, a Buffalo bull on the fight can tear down most any fence that is in his way! So be sure to place something large—like a
pickup truck—between you and that bull!

4. Moms are fiercely Protective of their Young Calves

Mothers stay close by their buffalo calves and fight off predators. However, if she has twins, a mother might select only one, walking away
from the other. Does she perhaps realize she can care for only one lively calf? Or maybe she instinctively knows she won’t have enough milk
to raise two healthy calves?

5. Dads and Uncles still Guard the Herd when they feel Threatened

When predators threaten, Buffalo bulls may circle the group into a tight herd, facing out and pawing dirt, with mothers and calves protected inside the circle.

6. Who really Saved the Buffalo from Extinction?

Those who really saved the Buffalo were ordinary people—westerners, ranchers, all buffalo hunters, with boots—or moccasins—on the ground. Separately, these families cared for and brought buffalo back in significant numbers for survival—onto the western plains and grasslands.

Without them, American bison would likely have gone extinct! These 5 family groups saved calves one at a time. All had hunted buffalo, both Native American and white. They saw what was happening to the buffalo and cared about saving them.

· Samuel Walking Coyote (or his son-in-law), and herd purchasers Charles Allard and Michel Pablo in western Montana

· James McKay and neighbors in Manitoba, Canada

· Pete Dupree and herd purchasers, the Scotty Philips in South Dakota

· Charles and Molly Goodnight of Texas

· Buffalo Jones of Kansas

At crisis time—in the 1880s and 1890s—these families were the only ones standing between live buffalo and determined hide and trophy hunters who poached even the few remaining Yellowstone Park herds down to fewer than 25!

7. A President helped Save the Buffalo

The Buffalo Conservationists we know best are President Theodore Roosevelt, William Hornaday, and George Bird Grinnell. Together they made a significant impact on wildlife conservation—particularly on buffalo.

Teddy Roosevelt, a frail child, built up his strength and endurance and helped restore buffalo after he traveled to Dakota Territory to hunt them in 1883. He shot an old bull and stayed to set up a cattle ranching enterprise. On his western ranch Roosevelt soon realized that the elk, bighorn sheep and buffalo that he so admired would not survive relentless overhunting. He grew increasingly convinced of the need to protect the buffalo and provide large, safe places for them and other wildlife to live.

As president—from 1901 to 1909—he became one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation and earned himself a place on Mt. Rushmore, SD, as this country’s greatest champion of public lands. Roosevelt created the United States Forest Service and established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves and set aside 230 million acres of public land. He worked with Congress to establish 5 national parks and dedicated 18 national monuments.

8. Native Americans are Interrelated culturally with Bison

The history of Native Americans and bison is culturally interrelated. Bison have been integral to tribal culture, providing Native people with food, clothing, fuel, tools, shelter, and spiritual value from time immemorial.

Established in 1992, the InterTribal Buffalo Council works with the National Park Service to transfer excess Buffalo from national parks to tribal lands. It also gives assistance in management of herds and how to integrate traditional values to the experience.

9. Bison have poor Eyesight

Buffalo cannot focus well and are known to have poor eyesight. But with one eye on each side of their heads they are said to have good peripheral vision, able to keep track of 90% of the area that surrounds them. Handy for checking on lurking wolves!

Buffalo do have excellent senses of smell and hearing and communicate well with their herd. Cows and calves communicate using pig-like grunts and during mating season, bulls can be heard bellowing across long distances.

10.  Bison have been around for Ages

These giants have such a special place in the country’s history and Native American cultures and for good reason. They are fiercely protective yet calm animals that will do anything to protect their herds and their calves. They are truly North American treasures!

11. Buffalo are Social Creatures

They like living together in herds. But not just any group—their own herd. And not too large a herd—30 to 60 seems a good size. For most of the year, the buffalo sort themselves into “cow groups,” or maternal herds, and “bull groups.”

An older grandmother is the usual leader of the herd. She leads them to water at the time that seems right to her. Bull calves are allowed to stay in the herd with their mothers until they become too large and aggressive. Then they are kicked out of the maternal herd to join bachelor groups that wander at a short distance from the main herd.

In the wild herds of long ago, with roughly equal numbers of males and females, bachelor herds were known to be large.

Historically in late July and August, the great herds came together for rut, or breeding season. Today in managed herds, young bulls are usually sold off long before age three. They sell well in the market place for meat or as potential herd bulls. In Native tribal herds young bulls are especially desirable to provide meat for naming feasts and community gatherings. By giving of their meat, they honor the person celebrated, especially when the honored one is a young man.

This prevents buffalo herds from out-growing their pastures. Otherwise, the herd will double and redouble in a few years, soon over-grazing their pastures. Having fewer bulls also means less fighting, and makes breeding easier for the dominant bulls. The oldest bulls often range far from their home herd.

12. Buffalo Enjoy a Wallow

A little dust or mud won’t hurt. Called wallowing, bison roll in the dirt to get rid of biting insects and help shed their winter coat. Male bison also wallow during mating season to leave behind their scent and display dominance.

13. Watch Buffalo’s Tail for Warning

You can judge a Buffalo’s mood by its tail. When it hangs down and switches naturally, the buffalo is usually calm. If the tail is standing straight up, watch out! It may be ready to charge. No matter what a bison’s tail is doing, remember that they are unpredictable and can charge at any moment. Every year, there are regrettable accidents caused by people getting too close to these massive animals. It’s great to love the bison, but love them from the distance of at least 75 feet.

14. Buffalo eat Grass, Weeds, Browse

Pass the salad, please. Bison primarily eat grasses, weeds, and leafy plants—typically foraging for 9-11 hours a day. That’s where the bison’s large protruding shoulder hump comes in handy during the winter. It allows them to swing their heads from side-to-side to clear snow — especially for creating foraging patches. Learn how bison’s feeding habits can help ensure diversity of prairie plant species after a fire.

15. Average Lifespan 10 to 20 Years

Bison can live up to 20 years old, but some live to be much older, especially with good care on ranches.

A buffalo cow may weigh 1,000 pounds, while the bull weighs twice as much, or up to 2,000 pounds! Cows begin breeding at the age of 2. For males, the prime breeding age is 6 to 10 years.

16. Improving Soil

Bison are known to play an important role in improving soil and creating beneficial habitat while holding significant economic value for private producers and rural communities.

17. Ancient Bison came from Asia

The American bison’s ancestors can be traced to southern Asia thousands of years ago. Bison made their way to America by crossing the ancient land bridge that connected Asia with North America during the Pliocene Epoch, some 400,000 years ago. These ancient animals were much larger than the iconic bison we know and love today.

Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

The Buffalo Treaty is an agreement of cooperation, renewal and restoration of the ways that Native Americans envision the past and future with buffalo.

It is designed by Native American tribes to help create a national agenda that will return bison back to the land and allow them to roam freely between the United States and Canada.

The treaty originated when, following the advice of Elders, Blackfoot professors Leroy Little Bear and Amethyst First Rider of the University of Lethbridge envisioned a Buffalo Treaty and began to generate interest among the leaders of the InterTribal Buffalo Council.

Little Bear and First Rider organized a network of non-governmental organizations, corporations and others of the business and commercial community, to form partnerships with the signatories to bring about the manifestation of the intent of this treaty.

It took 10 years as a grassroots effort, designing the document, determining what to include and coordinating the network.

Then history was made. For the first time in 150 years, 13 nations from 8 reservations came together on Sept 23, 2014 and signed the first cross-border indigenous treaty on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.

Four additional First Nations signed the treaty in Banff, Alberta the next year in August 2015.

This treaty, often referred to as the “Buffalo Treaty,” is an agreement of cooperation, renewal and restoration. It represents a significant step by indigenous people to preserve prairie ecosystems and their culture.

Since that time, hundreds of First Nations across North America have signed the Buffalo Treaty. To achieve the treaty’s vison, collaboration between researchers, governments and conservation groups is considered a must.

One of the most recent was when several First Nations from Canada and the U.S. came together at Wanuskewin in July 2023 to sign the Buffalo Treaty.

This treaty established an intertribal alliance to restore bison to 6.3 million acres of land between the United States and Canada—an area the size of Massachusetts!

Chief Daryl Watson of Mistawasis Nehiyawak first signed the treaty back in 2017. He asked, “How do we incorporate this knowledge and develop curricula’s around it so that our children have the ability to understand what the bison meant and what they’re going to mean in the future.”

James Holt from the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho flew to Canada for the first time to make his mark and sign his name.

“It’s refreshing to see so many people from so many different walks of life come together for our love for buffalo,” Holt said.

It represents a significant step by indigenous people to preserve prairie ecosystems and their culture depending on restoration of the buffalo in both Canada and the US.

The treaty is aimed to help create a national agenda that will return bison back to the land and allow them to roam freely between the United States and Canada.

Initial signing of Buffalo Treaty with Blackfeet in Montana. Photo NPS by Keith Aune.

“Creator gave us many gifts and teachings to survive this world. One of those teachings is everything is interrelated. In the Indian practice, the interrelated world is realized through Treaty-making with all my relations.”

THE BUFFALO: A TREATY OF COOPERATION, RENEWAL AND RESTORATION 2014

Fort Battleford National Historic Site

RELATIONSHIP TO BUFFALO

Since time immemorial, hundreds of generations of the first peoples of the FIRST NATIONS of North America have come and gone since before and after the melting of the glaciers that covered North America. For those generations, BUFFALO has been our relative. BUFFALO is part of us and WE are part of BUFFALO culturally, materially and spiritually. Our on-going relationship is so close and so embodied in us that Buffalo is the essence of our holistic eco-cultural life-ways.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE OF THE TREATY

To honor, recognize and revitalize the time immemorial relationship we have with BUFFALO, it is the collective intention of WE, the undersigned NATIONS, to welcome BUFFALO to once again  live among us as CREATOR intended by doing everything within our means so WE and BUFFALO will once again live together to nurture each other culturally and spiritually. It is our collective intention to recognize BUFFALO as a wild free-ranging animal and as an important part of the ecological system; to provide a safe space and environment across our historic homelands, on both sides of the United States and the Canadian border, so together WE can have our brother, the BUFFALO, lead us in nurturing our land, plants and other animals to once again realize THE BUFFALO WAYS for our future generations.

PARTIES TO THE TREATY

WE, the undersigned, include but not limited to BLACKFEET NATION, BLOOD TRIBE, SIKSIKA NATION, PIIKANI NATION, THE ASSINIBOINE AND GROS VENTRE TRIBES OF FORT BELKNAP INDIAN RESERVATION, THE ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX TRIBES OF FORT PECK INDIAN RESERVATION, THE SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI INDIAN RESERVATION, TSUUT’INA NATION, along with other nations.

ARTICLE I – CONSERVATION

Recognizing BUFFALO as a practitioner of conservation, WE, collectively, agree to: perpetuate conservation by respecting the interrelationship between us and ‘all our relations’ including animals, plants, and Mother Earth; to perpetuate and continue our spiritual ceremonies, sacred societies, sacred languages and sacred bundles to perpetuate and practice as a means to embody the thoughts and beliefs of ecological balance.

ARTICLE II – CULTURE

Realizing BUFFALO Ways as a foundation of our ways of life, We, collectively, agree to perpetuate all aspects of our respective cultures related to BUFFALO including customs, practices, harvesting, beliefs, songs and ceremonies.

ARTICLE III – ECONOMICS

Recognizing BUFFALO as the centerpiece of our traditional and modern economics, We, collectively, agree to perpetuate economic development revolving around BUFFALO in an environmentally responsible manner including food, crafts eco-tourism and other beneficial by-products arising out of BUFFALO’s gift to us.

ARTICLE IV – HEALTH

Taking into consideration all the social and health benefits of BUFFALO ecology, We, collectively, agree to perpetuate the health benefits of BUFFALO.

ARTICLE V – EDUCATION

Recognizing and continuing to embody all the teaching we have received from BUFFALO, We, collectively, agree to develop programs revolving around BUFFALO as a means of transferring intergenerational knowledge to the younger and future generations and sharing knowledge amongst our respective NATIONS.

ARTICLE VI – RESEARCH

Realizing that learning is a life-long process, We, collectively, agree to perpetuate knowledge-gathering and knowledge-sharing according to our customs and inherent authorities revolving around BUFFALO that do not violate our traditional ethical standards as a means to expand our knowledge base regarding the environment, wildlife, plan life and the role BUFFALO played in the history, spiritual, economic and social life of our NATIONS.

ARTICLE VII – ADHESION

North American Tribes and First Nations, and NATIONS, STATES, AND PROVINCES may become signatories to this treaty providing they agree to the terms of this treaty.

ARTICLE VIII – PARTNERSHIPS AND SUPPORTERS

WE, collectively, invited non-governmental organizations, corporations and others of the business and commercial community, to form partnership with the signatories to bring about the manifestation of the intent of this treaty. Organizations and Individuals may become signatories to this treaty as partners and supporters, providing they perpetuate the spirit and intent of this treaty.

ARTICLE IX – AMENDMENTS

The treaty may be amended from time-to-time by simple majority of the signatories.

SIGNATORIES AND RESOLUTIONS

Map, Resolutions and Official Letters

• Buffalo Treaty Map – High Resolution
• The Treaty – High Resolution image
• 2021 Letter from USA DOI office of the Secretary to Montana American Indian Caucus
• 2021 Letter from Montana American Indian Caucus to Secretary of Interior
• 2021 Canada Federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change – Letter to the Buffalo Treaty
• 2021 Buffalo Treaty letter to Canada Minister of the Environment and Climate Change – finding ways and means to work together
• 2021 Buffalo Treaty letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior – DOI Bison Conservation Initiative
• 2020 Buffalo Treaty letter to Canada Minister of the Environment and Climate Change – Bison Conservation Initiative
• 2016 Buffalo Treaty all supporters Resolutions
• 2016 Buffalo Treaty Alberta Wildlife Bison letter and resolution signed
• 2016 Buffalo Treaty Badger Two Medicine letter and resolution signed
• 2016 Buffalo Treaty National Bison Range letter and resolution signed
  2016 Buffalo Treaty Tunnel Mountain Name change letter and resolution signed
  2016 Buffalo Treaty Yellowstone Bison Quarantine letter and resolution signed

What Signers of Buffalo Treaty Say

“I grew up without having a herd. As far as the cultural side, we missed the buffalo all these years and the younger kids were losing interest. But, with us getting the buffalo back now, I hear a lot of talk among themselves and that’s why we do it. We have to keep the culture alive, we have to keep the language alive and the buffalo has that spirit.”– Wyman Weed, Eastern Shoshone Tribe, Wind River

“The herd has grown. The work now is to create more space and make more of our lands available for them to exist on, and to grow a population to a sustainable level where we can begin harvesting them again. We can begin utilizing them in ceremonies, have an education program to work with our youth, bring our elders together with our young people, and to reinvigorate our language to learn about how we use all the parts of the buffalo. That’s part of the cultural revitalization. We are just glad to be part of this effort and to be with these other tribes that are working on bison conservation.” – Jason Baldes, Eastern Shoshone Tribe, Wind River

“Some of our creation stories are around the buffalo. I think it’s our time now as the two-leggeds help our four-legged silent nation, the buffalo nation, that was almost extinct. And to continue the teaching of our ancestors, our grandmas and grandpas and pass that on generation to generation. The more we help each other nation-to-nation, tribe-to-tribe, the more powerful we’re gonna be. The stronger voices we’re gonna have. The more relationships we’re gonna build.” –  Ricky Grey Grass, Fifth Member Oglala Lakota Nation

“I’ve seen maps of the buffalo and how wide a range they used to have. But with this Buffalo Treaty, the two-legged have to do their part. We have the intelligence to be able to combat these things. A lot of it is storytelling – we have to compel people to try to understand.

“Back in the day, policies were put in place to eradicate us from our ceremonial, hunting and medicine grounds and that severed our connection to parts of the continent. Wherever the buffalo went, that’s where our territory is. But it took allies, it took people of compassion, people like yourselves, the allies and the NGOS that have seen something different, seeing that those policies are not good for their hearts…

“I think today with the Buffalo Treaty signers, they’re all allies together to find other options. We shouldn’t be treating the buffalo like livestock and trying to have so many restrictions on them. All they really want is their own place to go, they can take care of themselves. We used to be that way, we can’t be that way anymore because of our own fences that we’re stuck in too. We can’t go out and hunt or prepare for the winter.

“It kind of gives us hope if we can help the buffalo to be happier, more at peace and maybe that’ll help heal us. That’s the big message you hear with a lot of tribes—maybe if we can help them, it’ll help us.” –  Mike Catches Enemy (Lakota name Sacred Thunder Buffalo), Oglala Lakota Nation

“We were established in 1992 and our mission was and is to return buffalo to tribal lands. Ideally, the way I see ITBC and the Buffalo Treaty working together is to heal across the land and bring the buffalo across the landscape. It’s a beginning and it’s a start to something new and better, for the buffalo and our future generations, not just us.” –  Arnell Abold, Executive Director, Intertribal Buffalo Council

“The Buffalo Treaty is a testament to the agency and sovereignty of Indigenous nations. This international treaty unites diverse Nations and Tribes across North America by acknowledging the sacred relationship we have all had with the buffalo since time immemorial. The buffalo is our relative and our source of life. Nations recognize that by working together to restore and renew this relationship with our relative, we will grow stronger. Each year this treaty has welcomed new signatories and supporters. I am confident this momentum will continue to accelerate and that we will once again see the buffalo roam free on our homelands.” –  
Marlene Poitras, Regional Chief, Assembly of First Nations Alberta Region
https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/sk/battleford/culture/Buffalo

The college professors generally focused their efforts on increasing buffalo on tribal lands and to educate young people around bison culture.

Native tribes are being challenged to bring back and strengthen the Buffalo Culture as in the past.

The treaty commits the nations to ongoing dialogue and compelling advocacy for buffalo conservation, restoration and the reintroduction of buffalo to the grasslands.

At the same time, the treaty wisely leaves it up to each signatory to decide how to approach buffalo
and ecological restoration.

Honoring Relationships, Teaching Youth

There are so many great ideals in this treaty and we applaud them. Learning the old languages, songs and positive culture and customs. Teaching youth how to respect and take pride in their heritage and culture.

To honor, recognize and revitalize the time immemorial relationship tribal people have with BUFFALO, culturally, materially and spiritually. To perpetuate the health benefits of BUFFALO.
Continue economic development revolving around BUFFALO in an environmentally responsible manner including food, crafts eco-tourism and other beneficial by-products.

Perpetuate knowledge-gathering and knowledge-sharing according to their customs and inherent authorities revolving around BUFFALO that do not violate their traditional ethical standards.

‘Being environmentally responsible. Not violating ethical standards.’ Surely this means moving ahead with peaceful and positive attitudes and intentions—not glorifying anger, violence, bitterness, resentment, pain and other harmful or self-defeating activity. 

However, some people also wonder if there might be negatives.

If the corridors for free movement of buffalo are established, will tribal buffalo migrate and perhaps never come back to the people who have nurtured and cared for them for so many years? Will Canada again be depleted of its Plains Buffalo? How can that be sorted out?

We wish them all the best in restoring the good things of traditional buffalo culture. If there are negatives, we would hope that the wiser heads will prevail. And any negatives that might better go by the wayside are avoided. Are there possible negatives here?  

Of course we need to rise above the old cultures of warfare. Be accepting of all persons, rather than moving certain groups of people out of their homes as more powerful groups move in and force them out.

But we still see that happening.

Personally, I am mourning the deliberate breaking up of historic 5- and 6-generation neighborhoods and small towns by the American Prairie Reserve group in Montana, led by Silicon Valley consultants who aimed to “move fast and be nimble” in the manner of high-tech start-ups. And they did.

Their target is the Missouri River Breaks where I was born, where my family lived and loved, celebrated with friends and neighbors and survived through the terrible droughts of the 1920s and 1930s.

Now their lands are considered empty as these friends get pushed aside, their history, hard work and conservation projects obliterated from the face of a vast, empty wildlife playground for world-wide benefactors and “environmentalists.”   (See my MT Blogs 8 and 17, June 23 and Oct 6, 2020.)

Letters Attached to the Buffalo Treaty

Some of the letters attached to the Buffalo Treaty can strike fear in cattle-ranching families. For example, one letter comes from members of the Montana Legislature’s American Indian Caucus.

It asks Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is “the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary and other federal officials” to begin a dialogue with the Tribes to restore buffalo to public lands in general, as well as to the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in central Montana and Glacier National Park in northwest Montana.

“As Montana legislators and members of the Montana American Indian Caucus, we also urge you to take action to work with Montana Tribes to restore buffalo on public lands in the state,” says the American Indian Caucus letter.

Montana has a great deal of public lands. What of these 5-generation families who have worked hard to establish the recommended irrigation projects in the area? Who have sons and daughters ready and eager to take over their ranches?

The town of Malta, MT is losing its population of 2,000, say ranchers. They worry that each ranch lost to the community drains taxes from the county treasury, children from schools and business from stores.

The properties purchased by American Prairie Reserve are all strategically located near two federally protected areas: the 1.1 million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the 377,000-acre Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Other Federal and State lands intersect as well. Most of these lands are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a division of the Department of Interior (DOT).

Needless to say, cattle ranchers and many local townspeople—who have been watching the inevitable disintegration of formerly close communities, as one rancher after another sells out and families and businesses leave—are not pleased with what is happening.

Marko Manoukian, Phillips County Extension Agent of Malta, represents the Phillips County Livestock Association in presenting the cattle ranchers side of the Montana controversy over Prairie Reserve.

“They are crowding out the ability of ranchers to compete economically for agricultural land—in this case grazing land. Because they are a 501C3 charitable organization they get tax-free dollars to compete,” Manoukian says.

“Because American Prairie pays a premium for the property—more than a neighboring rancher could pay off with cows—this doesn’t allow for young people to come back and engage in livestock production.”

Who wins?

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NEXT:_______________________________________

Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog