12 Days of Bison Day 8: "Wild Idea"

Hello and Good Morning to you fine folks,

I hope all is well in your world, that winter isn't too harsh yet, and that you are staying warm and comfortable. It got a bit chilly here, and I guess our endless summer has finally ended.

We did a really crappy thing yesterday. I mentioned in the closing that we had a big business decision to make, and about ten minutes after hitting send, we made it. In 15 years of us doing events all across the world, for the second time in BWC history, we canceled an event. We should have been setting up at the NFR Cowboy Christmas yesterday and opening up today. We booked this a while back and T and I were fully prepared to go sit in a booth for 10 days and meet people, sell stuff and do the things we are best at. (it really is easier to shop our stuff in person... trying on hats, feeling socks and gloves, actually getting to examine the bags and belts) We are doing whatever we can to keep this business going and growing. We have seen too many of our producer friends closing their doors, and we feel that if we can keep selling things, we can keep American workers working and we are committed to doing whatever we can to do our little part. I hate that we did this. We really were looking forward to it, I spent hours unburying our show carts and getting them cleaned up and stocked, We probably burned a big bridge by not going, and I truly feel bad for not giving them more notice, but right now responsibility to family, the ranch, and ya'll is more important. I just wanted to come clean and let you all know.

I hope you enjoy the tidbits today, I think we have some good stuff.

Ron & T
The Buffalo Wool Co

Best of Bison: "Wild Idea"

Today's feature really isn't something you can purchase, but you can spend 30 minutes watching one of the best videos on bison around. I know it might not be a convenient time to watch this on a Thursday morning, but it is really worth the time, might want to bookmark it and enjoy it later.

Thank you to Ms. Cindy for suggesting we share this. :)

A little bit of background on WIld Idea and it's founder Dan O'brian

If anyone ever asks me "What is the best book on raising bison?" I always recommend the Bison Producers handbook from the National Bison Association... and then in the same breath I recommend "Buffalo for the Broken Heart" By Dan O'Brian. The NBA book because it is full of facts, and Dan's book because it is full of heart.

The video isn't for sale,but the book is on sale now at WildIdeaBuffalo.com for $12. Click on the image above to order.

Dan is a modern pioneer who has committed his life and his land to preserving bison and helping them find a place in modern ranching.

From "Wild Idea Buffalo" website:

Dan O’Brien is an owner of the Cheyenne River Ranch just west of the Badlands National Park and North of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He lives and shares his life on the ranch with his wife Jill, and their old friend Erney Hersman.

Dan has been a wildlife biologist and rancher for more than thirty years. He is also one of the most celebrated falconers in America today, and was a prime mover in the restoration of peregrine falcons in the Rocky Mountains in the 1970s and 80s.

Dan is one of the most powerful literary voices on the Plains. Described by the New York Times as “a writer with a keen and poetic eye…”, his novels include, The Spirit of the Hills, In the Center of the Nation, Brendan Prairie, The Contract Surgeon, The Indian Agent and Stolen Horses. Dan’s memoirs on falconry, The Rites of Autumn and Equinox, are intimate and revealing explorations of his life-long search for wildness on the Great Plains. Dan’s other non-fiction book, Buffalo for the Broken Heart explores the history of his ranch and the conversion from beef to buffalo, was chosen for One Book South Dakota in 2009. Dan’s latest non-fiction book, Wild Idea – Buffalo & Family in a Difficult Land is a sequel to Buffalo for the Broken Heart.

Dan is a two-time winner of the National Endowment for the Arts’ individual artist’s grant, a two-time winner of the Western Heritage Award, and a 2001 recipient of the Bush Creative Arts Fellowship.

In addition to writing, Dan divides his time between working on the ranch, teaching ecology, and writing and serving on the Black Hills branch of The Nature Conservancy.