The sun., 1902-09-07
BUFFAL0ES BRED ON A RANCH
Mr.. NDi l. Ri'S EXPERIMENTS
NEAR MONTERREY, CAL.
He Now Has a Herd OF FOurt cen Thinks
lie Can Raise BuHalOes In spite OF the
Failures OF Others Experiments In
Gross breeding The HuiTnlO's Ways.

lIR fNli'l'ill''l'~ III II'rtlIlE bu1dlOer arc
beng carried on near Monterey. They
promise TO succeed in spite Of the failure
of similar experiments elsewhere.
About fifteen years ago It became ap-
| parent that tho american bison, or buffalo,
as It Is commonly called, was being rapidly
cxterm!nated. In consequence every State
and Territory where the animals we're in
diScnous passed laws prohibiting the kill
| ing of them. The alarm was sounded q
l,itle late however. a. there were hardly
enough buHalocs left to supply the circuses
and menagcre-.
! For some unknown reason those running
wild on he Government reservations failed
20 mutt ply. Young were born, TO be sure,
but the births did not exceed the deaths
from natural causes
Since that timc Efforts have been made
In diTeroHl parts of the West TO protec the
fow bliifa!oe- left so that they could breed
and perpetuatn the species. In Colorado
J III" experiment has been n failure on ac-
| count 0f the intensely cold winters. and
| in Utah th" result has been rat her dubious,
| although the promoters Of the enterprise
think that they are on the right track.
| II j. likely that the failures so far have
| been due 20 lack Of understanding Of tho
| that the animals are naturally sensitive
| to changes of climate. In their wild state
they used 20 travel south in the winter and
north IN the summer, 50 as To- avoid ex.
, trcnoS Of heat and cold In the experiments
| in Colorado aud Utah this requirement.
was hardly complied with.
If the bu'Ialo-hrcoding experiment Ia
| success IN aliorria, the result will be
largely due to the mild and equable cli-
| mate. The experiment IN this State has
III
| nearly Fix wears of worl, he is more cn-
| Cou"agcd than ever. He has studied tho
buffalo carefully, and in his experiment
he's "rdeavorod 10 keep as close to Nature
a. possible.
| by purchasing magr f1ent bull. He
| had the animal taken to his Point Sur ranch
| in Monterey county and turned loose on
the range The buffalo vas contented
! from the start and soon became fat. Sec
| ing that the winter climate agreed with the
bull, Mr., Moera sent to Nebraska for Q
buffalo COW, and hc turned her also out on
| the range
That was in 1891 In 1892 a fine bull calf
was born that has now grown TO maturity
and is in the best of health. Encouraged
by his success Mr. Molera obtained four
| more COWS. All Of them gave birth to calves
| that are now nearing two years old.
Some Of the cows have given birth to two
| calves.
Including his purchases. Mr.. Mo.era's
| herd now numbers fourteen. He has not
| lost single full-hred calf. and the entire
herd s in the hest of health and spirits II
the buffaloes multiply in the same ratio in
the future IA in the past, the herd will in
| crease to more than one hundred in the
ne xt seven years
In addition TO his experiments with full
blooded buffaoe'. Mr. Molera has also tried
| the effect of crossing the buffalo with
| Galloway cows. The result al first was not so
encouraging as that with the full breeds.
In the first season four calves were born,
| but three Of them died
| The fourth, however, grew up in good
health, and Mr.. Molera thinks that the loss
of the others was due to careessnees on
the part Of the men who cared for them.
Since then other calves have been born
and all appear to be in good health.
| All Of the half-breed calves were females.
Some Of these calves are now nearly three
years old, and an effort has been made
10 cross them again and it promises to
succeed To avoid inbreeding, Mr.. Molera
has put the first buffalo bull purchased
| out In Golden Gate Park and substituted
| for him on his ranch a famous buffalo bull
known Ms Ben Harrison.
| The crossing with the halfbreed Gallo
| ways will produce animals three-duarters
! buffalo, and II they prove strong and hardy,
| Mr.. Molera will obtain other buffalo bulls
| from different parts OF the country and
conduct his experiments until he has pro-
| duced an animal fifteen-sxteenths buffalo.
| He thinks that when that stage has been
| reached he will have an almost distinct
| breed of cattle
| teresting and important matter than tha
| simple breeding Of the full-booded buffa-
loes, which Is, after all, more n matter OF
| science and sentiment than anything else.
| In the case Of the buffalo only a small part
| Of the animal makes good food and the
1 Iii. l..N cola. e., n.
| other hand. all of the half-breeds' flesh
| makes good meat. The skin makes fine
| leather, and has a finer and thicker growth
| Of hair than the full-bred buffalo. Some
| Of the crossed cattle. in fact, have fur al
most as fine as -ealskin, only the hairs arc
much longer
| Mr. Moera has made a special effort to
| keep all his bufaloes contented. As soon
| as he detects any sign of restlessness, he
has the herd moved To another ranch The
| animals have passed their time between
| Pon, Sur ranch below Monterey and Moro
| Oio ranch near Castroville. All show the
need Of change at the same time. They
| are driven the entire distance between the
two places After they have made the
trip they are quiet and contented for few
months
Par, Of the time they are kept on wild
land and have to get their living of the
| natural vegetation. and then they are kept
| in alfalfa fields for a few days The idea
| has been TO let them do az they please.
| Sheds are erected in different parts OF
| the ranges which they can occupy if they
| choose. but no effort is made 10 house
| them.
II is TO this method that Mr. Molera thinks
| his SUCCESS Is due as much "a 10 any thing
else. because when an animal becomes
rest less II loses its appetite and soon
grows thin.
The obstacles encountered in breeding
and cross breeding buffaloes at the Point
Sur ranch would fll book" said man
| connected with the experiment The
foremost difficulty results from the bull
bufalos disposition. which is ferocious
and vindictivc. The first bull brought
here. was a mountain buffalo, and was
40 docile that he was led around by a rope
tied 10 his horns. The other bull buffalo,
Ben Harrison. is Of different disposition,
though everywhere recognized as the big.
gest and handsomprt buffalo In existence.
NO fence is sufficient to restrain him.
When he arrived he tossed the fence pcrts
about like so many tenpins, and rolled IN
barbed wire with glce, swapping il into
fragments, which he bore around in hi. curly
hair like 80 many bristling payonets. maxi
ing him formidable object to approach.
Don Vicente. another buffalo on the Sur
ranch, has already killed two buffalo bulls,
and * now incarcerated behind another
stout siockadc. Unlike the bulls, the cows
and halers are inoiTensive, and roam their
pastures giving no more trouble than any