They say that by experiencing something new every day of your life, it keeps you mentally and physically young at heart. Went down to visit a friend this morning who has been farming all his life. Up until 10 years ago, he was running a dairy operation, milking 135 head daily. He made a decision to get out of dairy, selling his cows and also selling his dairy quota. Dairy production is controlled by assigned production quota here in Canada. He now is in the organic hay business, cutting 1200 acres. As well, he has another farm in the area which produces a herd of approx. 200 BUFFALO.......... This mornings adventure was to go down and help the lads to worm and apply fly deterrent to this years crop of young Buff's. These little darlings weigh anywhere between 500 and 1000 pounds. They also possess and real hatred for anything human or anything confining. The process involves herding them out of the pastures and into a large corral. That involves about two days of getting them to go into the corral for feed and water without having any contact as they will scatter at first sight of a human. In any event, we were able to catch them in the corral this morning and shut off the escape route before they realized we were there. They are then ran into a round maze of chutes, getting smaller and narrower ending with a head chute similar to that used on cattle. Difference with this chute system is that it is totally enclosed so that they are not able to see humans or open daylight in front of them. I soon learned that a Buffalo will do unbelievable gymnastics, in a fierce and forceful way, if they see a chance to get free. One by one they are run thru the maze thru various steel chutes until they are in the headstall gate where they are given a liberal dose of wormer and fly deterrent sprayed across their backs. They are they released from the head gate and leave the chute with about the same level of force of a small locomotive. I can only imagine the thrill of penning the adults which range in weight up to 2500 lbs. The PBR bucking bulls don't even come close to attitude compared to a penned Buffalo. It was quite an experience.
..........and a staring eyeball that tells you " I'd have no problem taking you out".......................... You can just see the fire in their eyes !!!!!!
Last summer we were in the Black Hills area for vacation. Some shots of the local wildlife. All taken from the car.
Nah, I'm into the real life type of experience. Some things you just have to be there. Like GTG's, can read about it, but not the same as being there.
99% of them will disappear over the hill if you approach them. The mature bulls are another issue.................... The yearlings we did saturday are going to be shipped west later this fall.
