Buffalo Dan's Bison

Our older herd bull (right) eating hay with No. 29 (left) and No. 28 (standing behind 29).  No. 29, one of our younger bulls, exhibited some interesting behavior the other day, which I though was worth mentioning.  The following videos (greatly enlarged and cropped from the originals) were captured with a body camera I was wearing while walking past the bison herd.  Usually, when I walk near the bison, they quickly recognize me and either ignore me or slowly walk over to see what I'm doing.  In this instance I surprised them by approaching from a direction I normally wouldn't approach from and, for at least a short time, they didn't seem sure about who I was.  When they are unsure if the human they've spotted is me, it's not unusual for them to act alarmed, but, as you will see, No. 29's behavior took things to a new level.  In the first video (above) you will see several female bison and calves on the right being chased by No. 29.  Then, at around 0:08

  When bison are corralled in a relatively large pen and under low stress situations the pen can consist of panels with open spaces between panel rails without too many problems.  However, in situations in which bison may experience greater stress, such as in smaller pens, chutes, and alleyways, their ability to reason breaks down and they can easily become overstimulated.  Over-stimulation of the senses results in a fight or flight response which is VERY dangerous for both the bison and people handling the bison.  Consequently, to reduce the a amount of visual stimulation in higher stress areas of the corral, I've added 1/16th inch thick sheets of steel to several of my 24-foot-long corral panels.  The following photographs show these panels. A sheeted panel.  The sheets are welded to the panel with one-inch-long welds every foot or two.  Even though the sheet is only 1/16th inch thick the 96 square feet needed to cover the panel adds around 240lbs to the 320lbs

I'm now in the midst of producing the components of my portable bison handling system and have settled on a relatively efficient construction process that allows me to produce three panels at a time. Before discussing the panel construction process I will first describe the panels themselves.  The basic free-standing panels (visible standing upright in the above photograph) consist of six 24-foot-long horizontal rails, two five-foot-long vertical end pieces, and two six-foot-long vertical legs. A pile of panel legs with "ankles" attached. The legs are made from a heavier gauge steel than the rest of the panel because they bear the weight of the panel when it is standing upright.  Welded to the bottom end of each of these legs is a short length of steel tube that is of a greater diameter than the tube used for the rest of the panel.  I refer to this part of the panel as the "ankle" as, when a panel is stood upright, a six-foot-long piece of steel tu

Vertical (right and center) and base (left) components for 18 more corral panels ready for welding after being cut from 24 foot lengths of steel tube. In preparation for the assembly of the 18 remaining 24 foot long free-standing corral panels I have been cutting and assembling all of the smaller pieces of the panels.  Once the vertical components were cut, caps were welded on the ends of each length of tube. Though I added bases to the panel legs at a later point when I was assembling the two prototype panels, I've opted to add the bases earlier for the remaining panels.  Doing so at an earlier point in the process enables me to more easily ensure good welds on this particular area.  In addition to preparing all of the components of the panels, I've also designed a four-panel rack to assist with assembling, sandblasting, and painting the panels.  The rack, as seen in this initial Google SketchUp model, consists of four separate stands.  The rack, when

While at the ranch, I mostly spend my time working on ranch-related projects.  However, during my downtime I sometimes like to work on projects that make off-grid life a little more enjoyable.  The Hickory King dent corn I planted in the spring has since matured and been harvested.  The volume I was able to harvest was okay for a first year, though, I would have expected more.  Once the cobs were shelled I had enough kernels to fill 5 one gallon containers.  Most of this will be either turned into hominy or ground into grits. The other plants in the garden did less well.  Some of the items, such as the onions and garlic, were over-watered due to my excessive enthusiasm about the drip irrigation system.  The peppers and tomatoes were destroyed by what I eventually determined to be a rabbit.  Hopefully a revised garden plan, which I will blog about some other time, will resolve these problems.  This summer also brought me in contact with a field mouse who tried to make itself a

Running at top speed is now a favorite calf pastime.   All of the calves have now lost their reddish brown fur coat and turned the dark brown of their parents.  Aside from grazing and nursing, the calves number one activity is running as fast as they can.  They seem to derive intense enjoyment from this activity and often chase each other.   Though the calves are still quite small, the herd has once again started the mating rituals in preparation for a new batch of calves next year.  Unlike many species of domestic livestock, bison mating is much more involved with each mating requiring several days of a bulls attention. 

The three beehives are still alive.  A few weeks ago common ragweed ( Ambrosia artemisiifolia ) was in flower.  The tiny flowers, visible in the above photograph, produce an abundance of pollen, which the honeybees collected in large quantities.  I always consider pollen collection to be a good indicator of hive health.  Pollen only seems to be collected when there are bee eggs and larva and bee eggs mean that the queen is alive and healthy. An image of a honeybee returning to the hive with yellow pollen packed into structures on its hind legs called "bee baskets."  When a foraging worker bee returns to the hive with a load of pollen she places it into an empty cell in the wax comb and then returns to foraging.  Cells filled with orange colored beebread are concentrated in the upper right corner of this photograph.  The color of beebread can vary greatly depending on the type of pollen used as well as the specific molds and bacteria that are fermenting the bread. 

After some trial and error, I've finally developed a livestock duster that is able to withstand a bison herd's attentions for more than one season.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, a "duster" is a device that releases a small amount of insecticidal dust whenever it is rubbed against.  It is used for controlling parasitic insects on livestock. A mild dusting of insecticidal powder on this bison bull's head and horns is definite evidence of a recent encounter with a rubber tire duster.  An invasive facefly ( Musca autumnalis ) will have to think twice about attacking this bison. The commercial duster in this photograph has an open bottom and is supposed to be suspended over a narrow passage through which livestock pass.  Trying to get a bison to walk through a narrow passage can be difficult, but getting them to walk through a narrow passage with something suspended overhead is next to impossible.  As a result I decided to try

For those of you who are unfamiliar with agricultural equipment, a cultipacker is an implement used to compress soil.  There are several reasons a farmer may use a cultipacker, but, for me, the primary purpose for the cultipacker is to pack down soil that has just been planted with grass seed.  This should greatly improve seed germination in newly planted bison pasture. Five truck tire rims welded together form the shape of the cultipacker.  Technically this is really more of a cultipacker-roller hybrid as the ridged portions on the roller should be more closely spaced on a true cultipacker.  A thick piece of steel tube runs through the center of the rims, which I'll explain later in this post. For added weight each tire rim was filled with concrete after it was welded in place.  A photograph of the roller portion of the cultipacker completed and waiting for the concrete to cure.  The length of steel tube that runs through the center of the roller is welded to the

Last week I picked up an order of steel I had placed with a nearby distributor.  This should be enough steel to produced 18 more of the 24 foot long portable corral panels .  The same steel after being unloaded.