As someone once said, every day is a school day. Since we started ranching in 2019 there have been a lot of lessons, a lot of realizations, and even more school days than anticipated.
I'm always starting a post about these lessons - but I do try to keep these reads between 3-5 minutes, and some of the issues are just so convoluted or the issues are so multi-faceted that keeping it short and to the point is a challenge I've not yet mastered. So, in my draft box sits the waiting and stark reminders that I have a lot to say and not enough time in a day to weed through them...someday I'll get around to it.
But this week's talks with my good friend Brandeon started off another round of realizations that I'm both excited to find he agrees with me about and disheartened that my suspicions are on target. That would be this simple truth (and, isn't the truth always simple?).
Buffalo.
When I started this venture, heck, all my life I've called these animals BUFFALO. From singing "Give Me A Home" when I was a kid riding horses through the mountains till I started doing my 'research' on raising them several years back, I called them BUFFALO. The imagery that was conjured up in my mind was reminiscent of the beautiful pictures and paintings from books and museums, or the scenes from the old westerns I grew up watching. BUFFALO, wild and free. Handsomely rugged, unchanged, and as historical as the prairies they're often depicted on.
I even chose BUFFALO as part of the ranch name. And, for the reason that I knew I wanted to raise wild animals in an environment as parallel as possible to what they lived and thrived in when they were free-ranging the Buffalo Trace where our land is situated before the (first) near extinction.
It wasn't far into this adventure before I was constantly being corrected about my use of the word BUFFALO. Contacts from within the industry, friends that have never laid eyes on a live buff, and even in my Facebook feed when I'd post updates about the things we had going on in preparation or bringing the herd home.
Folks would 'correct' me that the proper term is actually BISON. The internet would automatically pull up 'bison this and that...and too often it pulled up The National BISON Association.
BISON BISON BISON (please apply the Marsha Marsha Marsha whine when reading that).
Well, I spend a lot of time in the fields with these animals that I call buffalo. And with the handy-dandy tools that we all have now called the internet and cell phones, I see a lot of the operations across the country on display on social media.
I've been critical of some, envious of others. Some beautiful ranches out there with lots of land for these animals to roam. I've been critical in previous blogs of the rotational grazing methods in smaller paddocks.
So, back to the conversation from this week.
In my mind, it started when Facebook threw a memory up in my feed from 2009. I had shared a group of memes (were they even called that back then?) that used words like "retard" and several others similar to this. There were numerous LIKES and LOL clicks, and a ton of comments responding to the humor. And, as I looked through the memes I found myself thinking "Ooooh I can't share that today!" Nope. Those words and phrases are not PC. tsk tsk.
As is my ADHD way of thinking, this led me to other words we don't/can't/shouldn't say today. And, just as Facebook does (reads my thoughts) it wasn't long before a post rolled up through my feed about how the word queer used to mean odd or different (it was used in a scientific statement in this post). Today, that word is hurtful and not PC, in any form or manner. I started down a mental checklist of word changes throughout my life.
Indian > American Indian > Native American > Indigenous People
Democrat > Progressive > Liberal Republican > Conservative > Nationalist Fat > Obese> Plump > Full Figured > Curvy Okay, fine, I get it. Those words caused hurt feelings. Nothing wrong with improving ourselves as a society so that we aren't running around causing hurt feelings...nothing wrong with being kinder.
But, then I started thinking about other words and terms that have changed over the years, especially in science, and most specifically in food labeling, nutritional labeling, and education. A little googling and, apparently I'm way behind on what is acceptable and what is considered inappropriate language and terminology these days, at least according to the "Politically Incorrect Terms" e-book I came across.
But then, the ADHD brain went a little more off track. From phrases like "organic" to grass-fed to sugar to corn syrup, etc. The Greenwashing we're experiencing today that I covered in a previous post.
And finally, I landed on BUFFALO. Why did we as a society change history? Why are we now required by society to refer to these iconic creatures as bison?
And, a lightbulb went on over my head. I'm sure if you were standing in sight of me at that moment you would have seen the illumination above my head!
In 1995 the American Buffalo Association (founded in 1966) merged with the American Bison Association (founded in 1975) and birthed today's "National Bison Association" and almost immediately, rebranding launched.
If you read through books and literature on the species before the merger, more often than not you will find the term BUFFALO. Post merger? Bison.
But why?
Well, Bison vs Buffalo, it turns out is pretty dang accurate! Either you raise buffs, as natural and pure as possible - or you raise bison. The difference? Bison are being raised so similarly to cattle that we're changing their instincts, their natural immunity, the parasite risks...everything. And it's what is prescribed and encouraged through the NBA.
Read between the lines of the NBA's mission statement, "The mission of the National Bison Association is to bring together stakeholders to celebrate the heritage of American bison, to educate, and to create a sustainable future for our industry."
You're told you must have corrals, must have parasite control programs, must have grains/minerals/supplements. Everything you find (after you pay to be a member, of course) tells you how to raise BISON as cattle.
So, right there in that moment of epiphany, I drew my proverbial line in the sand. I raise BUFFALO. Staying true to the original love I have carried for these animals throughout my life. And, if I had managed to get several of those 17 Drafts published, there would be a lot of information available to support why I've drawn that line (someday I'll get them all posted).
But primarily, I believe and repeat daily, that we are witnessing the SECOND MASS EXTINCTION of American Buffalo (I will publish that post tomorrow - it's sitting in draft form but be forewarned, it will be a little longer read). The NBA wants us to raise bison, as we would cattle because that will supply the feedlots, and keep the commercial producer's pockets fat and full (while we - the small ranchers - are pushing their product labeling and providing marketing at our own expense), and if and when the curtain is pulled back to reveal the sight of feedlots, the term BISON won't conjure up that pretty picture in our minds of wild and free-roaming buffs. Instead, we'll accept that bison, like cattle, are from feedlots and that is common. And, with a little "education." that becomes acceptable as it is slowly and quietly cultivated among the consumer. Because rules and trends that define politically incorrect language seem to change faster as time goes by and people are more open about what they consider to be offensive to them and what they deem acceptable. We've nearly reached a point where we don't even question why we can't say a former term.
I will not be forced into raising bison, friends. I'm raising BUFFALO. Never do I want my operation to be associated with the feedlot picture above.
I'm telling the NBA to pound sand on their side of the line I've drawn. Make no mistake. That association does not represent ME, my work or operation, and most especially my herd of BUFFALO.
*Data, research, test results, records, I have it all from my operation to answer questions or clear up any confusion.
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