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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 |
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Little Winter Feed "Their bodies seems to go into semi-hibernation in winter," he said. "The colder it gets, the less they eat." A heavy coat that keeps the buffalo warm in winter also serves to keep them cool in the hot prairie summers. "Not often will you see them walk out into water simply to cool off, like cattle do, even though they like water and are good swimmers," he said. Their wary, nomadic nature keeps bison moving while they graze, he added. So Ruby tries to accommodate this natural instinct by frequently moving the buffalo to fresh pastures. This rotation also reduces the number of internal parasites that infect bison, because it disrupts the parasites' life cycle, which depends on larvae being passed in manure. The small birth weights of calves is another trait that helps buffalo survive in the wild. Calves of 40 to 50 pounds are born to buffalo cows weighing 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. By comparison, domestic cows of similar weight often have calves weighing 80 to 100 pounds. Trouble-free Calving Buffalo calves are usually born in April and May after a nine-month gestation. "Buffalo ranchers get a good night's sleep during calving," said Ruby. "Very seldom do buffalo have trouble at calving time. It's really best to just let them do their own thing." That's the best strategy for safety's sake, too, he said, because buffalo cows are inclined to protect their own or any other calves. Ruby miraculously survived a full-blown attack by a buffalo cow. He was walking in a large pen of buffalo cows and newborn calves. Trying to keep a safe distance from the buffalo, his attention was diverted by a calf lying on the ground. Moving a little closer to make sure the calf was not sick or injured, he briefly took his eyes off the cows. But it was too late, he was too close, and one of the buffalo cows charged, knocking him down before he could get to safety. "She was dehorned, but she tried to gore me and jumped up and down, stomping on me with all four feet," he recalled. "I was completely helpless. Finally, she rolled me around enough so that I was able to crawl underneath a feed bunk." Though the angry cow could easily have tipped over the bunk and finished her attack, she simply walked away at that point, taking with her the other cows that had gathered around to join in the frenzy. "Amazingly, I had no broken bones," Ruby said. "But my ribs were so sore I couldn't lie on my sides for a month. I don't blame the cow, though, she was just protecting her calf." Outrun a Horse Bulls, too, require extreme caution and must be respected for their speed and endurance. They can outrun a horse, he said, and they have more endurance than a horse. Unlike cattle that are easily moved, buffalo resist doing anything they don't want to do. But there is one time each year when bulls must be handled. It comes at the end of the breeding season when they go off by themselves, away from the main herd.
Ruby has a grazing herd of 425 mature cows, 35 breeding bulls, and 400 calves. The animals graze about 1,000 acres of grassland, much of it farmland seeded to brome-grass and fenced into grazing paddocks of 30 to 60 acres each. The buffalo are dewormed twice a year by adding wormer to the grain cows are fed for a short time just before breeding season in summer and again by injection in the fall when calves are weaned. At that time the animals are herded into a large corral and run through a chute designed especially to restrain buffalo. Calves weigh 400 to 500 pounds at weaning in November and December when they go into a feedlot on the farm. Ruby feeds them to 18 to 20 months of age until they weigh 1,000 to 1,100 pounds and are ready for slaughter. Those raised for meat are fed a purchased pelleted ration containing wheat screenings, a small amount of corn, and a vitamin and mineral supplement. The protein content of the feed is about 12 percent. Ruby follows the standard practice in the buffalo industry of not feeding growth hormones. Unlike some animals, buffalo will not overeat, he added, and this unique trait simplifies their management in a feedlot. Cows and mature bulls are overwintered on hay only. Ruby harvests some hay from his own land and buys the rest. He markets the bison through the North American Bison Cooperative, which runs a processing plant in New Rockford, North Dakota. The cooperative, of which Ruby is a director, markets bison meat to national and international outlets. "Buffalo meat is delicious, tender, and juicy, especially when it comes from a young animal," he said. "It tends to be lean and low in cholesterol." The juiciness and tenderness of the meat are enhanced by slow cooking at low temperatures, he added. Several years ago a buffalo breeding cow could be sold for as much as $4,000. That was when buffalo slaughter animals were selling as high as $2.35 per pound carcass weight. A buffalo carcass averages about 58 percent of live weight. However, a price drop has taken the profitability out of the bison market. In late 2004 the price was down to $1.65 a pound for a top-grade carcass. It had been as low as $1.35. While a lifelong interest in history may have led Ruby to bison, it was bees that brought him to North Dakota. He grew up on a farm in Kansas, and as a young man went to work for a beekeeper who summered hives in North Dakota. On one trip north he decided to remain in North Dakota and bought his own bees in 1966. Soon after, he met and married Donna, and the two built a bee business of 11,000 hives, creating work for 12 full-time employees. Needless to say, pressures came with the business. But Ruby discovered the first young buffalo he bought gave him a great way to relax. "I knew nothing about them at first," he recalled, "but they're such a fascinating animal, whenever I wanted to get away from the pressures of beekeeping, I would simply spend time watching them. I told myself, 'I've got to get more of these.' " While buffalo and honeybees may be worlds apart, Ruby has worked at it with the same dedication and perseverance he had put into his bee business. Raising the legendary animals of the prairie is fascinating work he hopes to do for many years to come.
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