On June 11th we stayed at a Harvest Host sight at the Wright Centennial Museum in, you guessed it - Wright, Wyoming. Karl's middle name is Wright (a family name), so we thought we might as well learn a little about the town. This small museum has actually only been in existence since July 1990, and the town itself since 1985 (although the Wright community has been homesteaded since 1911). The museum had some amazing artifacts etc...not to mention the retired 170 ton haul truck from one of the local mines that rests outside on the front lawn! The lovely volunteer did an excellent job of helping us to appreciate the ingenuity of the times gone by, and her pride in her townspeople was very heartwarming. However, the biggest gift she gave us was to tell us about the wonderful tour of the nearby Bison Ranch that she had gone on with her granddaughter last year. Given that it was Thursday afternoon and the 2 hr tours only take place on Tuesdays and Friday mornings from June 4th-August 30th, we gobbled up the suggestion and finagled ourselves a reservation for the next morning.
Payton was our tour guide. She's been working on the ranch for about 5 years and now is at community college, so only works on the ranch in the summer. She was adorable and knowledgeable and gave us wonderful insights into the ranching world and life in Wyoming. Durham Bison Ranch is a 55,000 acre ranch (yep - NOT a typo!). They have about 3,000 bison and a LOT of antelope that "play" on their land and enjoy their sagebrush and alphapha that grows throughout.
I got to learn about the bison's ugly outer coat that I had seen at Custer State Park (that had driven me crazy as a dog groomer!) and learned that they roll around on the ground to get it off. Some are brighter than others and are good at it and we had fun discerning between who had their doctorates in coat removal and who would never make it out of elementary school! The bison on the Durham Ranch are used for meat. Consequently, they like their bulls (males) to be meaty and masculine. The fascinating part about this was that the bulls must be very muscular and have masculine features (including their facial features) if they are to be used for breeding. If not, they go to the feeding lot where they are fed until the proper weight/time for slaughter. Males are used for breeding only up to the age of 5 because after that they they get aggressive and are not good for the herd. At that point they either go to the feed lot or the ranch "runs a hunt" where folks pay to hunt for the buffalo on a certain acreage of the ranch. Older bison (male and female) when transported out for slaughter are used for burger (as opposed to steak, roasts etc..). All the bison are tagged by age (no branding is done at Durham) and they do a roundup yearly in November where they weigh them, check their teeth (as they need to be self sufficient for feeding themselves by grazing), give them vaccinations (when necessary) etc. We didn't see the round up in action but got a tour through the facility where they are run. It was really interesting and we learned about the amazing autistic scientist, Temple Grandin, who recognized that the shoots need to be like a big hug and that they need circles, turns, twists, to keep them calm rather than being herded straight in where they were more apt to panic and be stressed or get injured. The Durham ranch totally embraces this compassionate philosophy and it was a wonderful lesson to learn about the little nuances that can make such a BIG difference. (Do yourself a favor and research Temple Grandin...she is AMAZING!)
One difference between bison cows (females) and cow-cows is that if the mother dies during (or soon after) birthing a calf, the calf cannot be fed by another cow. Therefore, these calf, or "bums", get bottle fed and sent to the feed lot. It was interesting to learn about the differences in the species. The most surprising facts about bison are that they not only love to swim, but they can jump a 6ft fence!!! I'm 5'10, so picturing those humongous things easily clearing my head is a wee bit mind boggling! So needless to say the fencing on any ranch needs to have advanced technology! I have included a couple of pictures of some bison poop (because what’s a blog without a picture of poop?!), and also a picture of some of the mineral supplements (which I’m holding in my hand in the pic) that they feed the bison in the feed trucks that go through the area daily. Amazingly enough, the bison KNOW when they need them and munch on them to help their digestive system as needed.
And bonus time - I got to include a video too!!!
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