December 28, 2023

How to Calm a Buffalo
American Prairie, Montana
2023

In November we went to watch American Prairie’s annual bison “handling” (a.k.a. roundup in more cowboy terms), which to my understanding is primarily necessitated because of agreements they have with the State of Montana and the local counties to do testing on a certain percentage of their nearly 1,000 strong bison herd every year. So they round up a certain number (~300) as gently as possible, run them through a series of corrals and chutes where they eventually end up gently confined into this squeeze chute where their blood is drawn, ear tags are attached (when necessary) and hair samples for genetic testing are obtained; all the while trying to keep them as calm as possible even to the point of minimizing the sight of humans. Understandably though, if you put a wild bison into a squeeze chute, they won’t be very calm at all. Surprisingly, one way to help calm them is to put your hands over their eyes, as this guy is doing. It usually settles them right down. Who knew.