Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1905-03-09


over they were fat and in unusually fine
condition owing to the heavy crop of APP
pies on which they had been feeding
for many weeks But the buffaloes de-
pend largely on the food they can get
upon the ground, and besides these ami
mails are now too rare for any chances
! to be taken with the finest herd in the
world. Down in the southeastern part
of the reservation, in an enclosure
known as Central station or No. /,
large yards have been made as winter
quarters for buffaloes, and here, once
the animals are rounded up, it is com
paratively simple matter to feed them.
But "a, 900 acres is a large place, and
buffaloes are not given TO taking orders
from anyone, so 1t is not the easiest
thing in the world to persuade them to
seek a particular part Of the preserve
and allow themselves to be shut up in
buffalo yards. However, it is well
known that buffaloes once started along
q trail which they have been over be-
fore are very apt to stick to that trail
leaving 1t.
So, when one day about the first OF
January, the men who had the work
in hand, surrounded the main buffalo
herd on a plain in the northwestern
part of the park, they gently urged
them towards the entrance to a trail,
and into this the animals turned. Five
miles away the trail reached a point to
which a farm wagon had been driven,
and when the buffaloes arrived they
found a little hay waiting for them
They quickly ate it, and just beyond
there was a little more, and little more
beyond that again. The hungry ami
mails walked along, picking up the hay
as they went, and naturally enough,
after they had Travelled thus for ten
miles, they found themselves at night
fall on the other side of the mountain,
and about five miles from the buffalo
yards Here in some open fields they
halted for the night and the men who
had surrounded them went home. On
returning early the next morning they
found most of the buffaloes picking up
a scanty meal from patches of bare
ground TO be seen here and there. but
two cows with their wellgrown calves
were missing. They were overtaken
five miles away
In the meantime the main herd was
urged and led quietly along to large
Enclosure known as No. 2, whence they
were easily driven into the buffalo yards.
Here they were taken in charge by VIII
liam Morrison, expert in the breeding
and handling of buffaloes, and he d.
vided them into groups according to
their age and sex. In the first yard were
placed all the calves of the previous
spring; in the second, a number Of old
bulls; in the third, young bulls and
heifers, and so on through seven or eight
Enclosures.
Each buffalo shed has loft in which
the hay is stored, and from which it can
be tossed down into racks below. Each
full-grown buffalo eats about three
tons during the winter; each calf con-
sumes about half a ton, and his allow
ance of hay increases about half a ton
a winter with each succeeding year I'M
IN he reaches maturity In this way
the animals will be provided for until
May when the entire herd, including
the COWS with their young calves, will
be turned loose to wander at will over
the great preserve, and to shift for
themselves until the snow storms OF
next December again cut off their
natural supply Of food.