Thursday, November 6, 2008

Rawhide

On Monday, we went to the Custer State Park buffalo roundup. This is an event where they bring about 1500 animals into pens over a period of 4 or 5 days. Once inside, the buffalo are vaccinated and branded and some young ones culled out of the herd to be sold to breeders and to keep the herd at about 1000 head.
The cowboys and cowgirls who want to wrangle the buffalo put their names into a lottery. They have to prove they have the experience to herd the bison, including being able to use a bullwhip.
We watched them bring about 400 head to the pens. Close to the gate, about 40 head broke free,
lead by a huge bull who wanted no part of the action. We had been told that buffalo can run about 35 mph and now we believe it. It was exciting to watch the buffalo run at top speed and the cowboys chasing them as fast as their horse could go. They finally got them under control.

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