Buffalo Dan's Bison

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.