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Part 3—Bison Hunting

by Francie M. Berg | Jan 24, 2023 | Blog | 1 Comment

All the tribes used bison hides, hooves, heads, horns, tails, bones and many internal organs to furnish the necessities for a comfortable life. Skulls and other parts were important culturally for religious ceremonies.

Part 2—Horses Return to Native Americans

by Francie M. Berg | Jan 10, 2023 | Blog | 0 Comments

Horses were an invaluable addition to the lives of Plains Indians. The Lakota loved and honored their horses. Decorative painting on tipis and hides often depicted men on horseback. On this tipi, the lowest row of horses and riders appear to be racing. Above, the images seem to indicate scenes of warfare.

Happy Holidays

by Francie M. Berg | Dec 27, 2022 | Blog | 0 Comments

by Francie M. Berg | Dec 28, 2021 | Blog 74 We hope you had a Merry Christmas with a Happy New Year ahead! We will be making some major changes in 2023. During the New Year we will be developing a Virtual Buffalo Website that we expect to be equally available to other countries around the world, in addition to our North American citizens. One of the fun things we did this year related to buffalo, was the three-day Bismarck State College Bison Symposium which we helped sponsor, the last weekend in June. It has inspired us to move ahead. The 2nd day my daughter Kathy and I and 80-some visitors traveled our Historic Tour in 2 large travel buses to the Hettinger-Lemmon area of North and South Dakota. We all had a great experience—we hosts as well as tourists! Note: You can’t visit all our 8 Historic Sites in one day—it’s too exhausting! But we made it to 5 of them. This included: a big herd of 400 live buffalo that came running up over the hills and milled around us in the loaded buses....

Part 1. Plains Villages—Corn Culture

by Francie M. Berg | Dec 13, 2022 | Blog | 1 Comment

Though the Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikaras grew enormous quantities of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers, their agricultural practices were very different from the ones farmers use today.In 1915, a Hidatsa woman named Maxidiwiac (Mah HEE dee WEE ah), described to the anthropologist Gilbert Wilson her methods of growing corn. She used traditional methods learned from her mother and generations of women before her.Maxidiwiac was known as Waheenee (Buffalo Bird Woman) when she was a young girl. At the age of 12, she began to assist her mothers in the garden. (Hidatsa children call their birth mother and her sisters “Mother.”) Her first job was to sit on the watchers’ stage, a platform where little girls spent the day chasing crows and little boys away from the corn. When she grew to be a mature woman, Maxidiwiac had her own garden. She was responsible for planting, protecting, hoeing and harvesting.Her tools were made of iron and wood, but some women still used the traditional tools...

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NEWS ARTICLE

Mycoplasma bovis Task Force Meets

The Center of Excellence (COE) for Bison Studies led M. bovis Task Force met today to continue their work on gaining a better understanding of the virus and offering mitigation options.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Feb 11, 2023. Dakota Dynamite Buffalo Sale Simulcast Auction. South Dakota.

Feb 24, 2023. Beltway Bison Consignment Auction. Pennsylvania.

Feb 25, 2023. Manitoba Bison Assocation Great Spirit Sale. Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.

Mar 9, 2023. Eastern Bison Association Winter Conference. Check for conference updates at the following link: https://www.ebabison.org/

Mar 10, 2023. Alberta Bison Assoication Wildrose Auction. Camrose, Alberta, Canada.

Mar 11, 2023. Missouri Bison Association & Oklahoma Bison Association Show & Sale. Missouri.

Mar 11, 2023. Irish Creek Bull Sale. Camrose, Alberta, Canada.

Mar 25, 2023. Saskatchewan Bison Association Cream of the Crop Sale. Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mar 30, 2023. Jack Auction Group Video Auction. Online.

Apr 27, 2023. Jack Auction Group Video Auction. Online.