I put in my last post that I was going to surprise my Mom on Saturday with an adventure and that’s just exactly what I did! The only thing that I told her was that she would probably need some gloves. So when she showed up, in the house she came with gloves in her hands. Now remember, she didn’t know where we were going to go yet. So I told her that we were going to the Buffalo Ranch and feed the buffalo, guess what she said? In a very calm voice she said, ‘OK’. I think that’s kind of funny. Maybe that’s what happens when you have six kids. You just never know what the day is going to bring, and you just have to go with the flow.
So off to our adventure we went. I wasn’t sure just exactly where this ranch was, but not only did the guy who owned the ranch reassure me that there was signs all along the way, but I thought how how could you hide buffalo right? Well, not so right. I found all the signs that I needed and I felt pretty comfortable that I wouldn’t have any trouble, well until I ended up on a T intersection and there was no buffalo there at all! But after a quick phone call and finding out that one of their signs had got stolen, we did some backtracking and ended up at his farm.
We got a brief overview of the Native Americans that were in the area, and a quick ‘smudge’ that was a Lakota Sioux ceremony, off to the truck we went. They wanted to know if we wanted to ride in the back of the truck or the front cab, and man oh man that was an easy question to answer. The cab of course! The sun was shining, but it still was cold outside. And I had no idea how far out in the 300 acres we had to ride to find the animals. Mom and I laughed when we pulled out of the driveway, because just across the road we could see the buffalo eating. Too funny! I guess we could have hopped up in the back after all.
Coming to the truck to check us out
Anyway, after a bumpy ride through the frozen manure that was in the front of the pasture, we stopped to see if we could get any of them to eat corn cobs out of our hands. At first they were really wondering what was going on because the owners said they usually give tours in the warmer months, and they feed them from the wagon that they pull. But after some coaxing, we got them to eat out of the windows of the cab. Now Mom was having much better luck with the buffalo on her side then I was, but I was more interested in trying to get a picture.
Mom feeding the buffalo from her window
After they got a little bit familiar with us, they got so close that they were trying to stick their heads in the window to see if we had any more corn to feed them.
Trying to see just how much corn we actually had
The owners said they have around 25 to 30 head and are working on increasing their herd.
The bull of the group.
I think if my Dad was alive, he would just wonder what was wrong with us and why we gave some one money to help them with their chores – but it was fun! When we got back to their ranch and headed to town to do some shopping, I made a comment to Mom that now she can say that she fed buffalo. And she just nodded her head and said, ‘Yup’. I think she was secretly thinking that with 6 kids in the family, that it was a good thing that maybe only one of them would make her hang out with buffalo 🙂
Mom and I after chores
That looks like a really fun day. I have always thought buffalo are really cool to observe, or, hand feed if you get the chance to do that! So nice you and your mother had a great day!
Thanks Sherry it was really fun!