Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-06-26
RAISING THE BUFFALO.
EXPERIMENTS IN DoMESTlcATlNc A
NEARLY EXTINCT ANIMAL.

Success In Cross Breeding wild Bunaloes
with Common Cattle-Great Increase
of Value in Buffalo Hides Domcsti-
Gated BufyaIocs IA Hardy ns wild.
While the buff,loes have become
nearly extinct on the Western ranges,
there are quite Il number of domesti-
Gated herds in this country, and eX-
periments in cross breeding them with
common cattle are being pursued with
fair success. The first attempts to
cross breed the butfaloes were made mt
Lexington, Kentucky, i'll 1878; but
the existence of enormous herds of the
wild animals on the plains at that time
acted as a damper upon the enthusiasm
Of the early pioneers, and the work
was soon abandoned. At that early
cate buffalo robe commanded very
little money, and, in fact, up to 1875
bull robe was worth only 81. In
1888 robes had advanced so that n
good one would net the hunter $3,
while to-day the hide of a buffalo is
worth 500, and the mounted head of
bull anywhere from 5000 to $500.
The incentive to raise and domesti-
cate the buffalo is thus much greater
than in 1915, and the few herds that
are in existence are highly valued by
their owners. There is small herd
in the Texas Pan Handle, numbering
less than seventy-tive, and larger
one at Ravalli, Montana, owned by Mr..
Charles Allard, numbering nearly two
hundred. This latter herd is the
largest owned by any private indi-
vidual. In 1898 the Jones herd, of
Omaha, was purchased by Mr.. Allard
for SIS, 900, and the thirty-one animals
in it were transferred to the Montana
ranch and joined with the others.
Besides breeding the pure buffaloes
for museums and other stock farms,
Mr.. Allard has carried on extensive
experiments in crossing the wild ami
mails with the polled Angus stock. The
cross breeds produced are magnificent
animals, with fur that is finer and clos
er than that of the buffalo, and with
meat that is very sweet and whole
some. Nearly all of the cross-bred
animals retain much of the instinct of
their wild progenitors. They are
hardy and easily reared, and are able to
stand storms that kill ordinary cattle.
Nature adapted the buffalo to the
cold Northwestern plains, and they
rarely succumbed to the blizzards that
to-day destroy our domesticated cattle
by the thousands. When the snow
lies deep upon the ground in the dead
of winter, the sseers cannot paw
through it to get at the natural hay of
the plains, and they consequently die
of starvation and cold. The buffaloes,
accustomed to the fearful blizzards.
bunch together in storm and form
wedge, facing the wind and snow,
with the bulls outside and the cows
and calves protected inside Of the
formidable line of shaggy heads. Thus
herd survives the widest storm, and
when the snow has ceased to fall they
paw through the snow and ice and
get at their favorite buffalo grass.
The cattle, on the contrary, are
driven before the storm, and often
wander from sixty to one hundred
miles from their accustomed range,
aud, unless shelter IS provided, they
soon sink down exhausted. The horses.
turn their backs to the storm and like
wise soon yield to the cold. The new
cross breeds, possessing many of the
hardy instincts of their wild progeni-
tors, face the cold storms, and seem to
survive the coolest blizzard without
great injury to their health. They
have been found to be almost a. we'll
adapted to occupy the vast plains as
their wild ancestors, and if they do
not degenerate under too close in
breeding, they may yet roam in as
countless numbers as the buffaloes did
before the ruthless slaughter of the
hunters decimated their numbers. -
Scientific American.