Monday 27th September 2010
BUFFALO ROUNDUP DAY!
We had been warned that the round-up punters like to get there early for a good seat and that the sunrise was worth watching. The car parks opened at 06:15 so we decided to get up at 5am and make our way down.
Still being without cooking utensils we had discussed the previous day if you could cook bacon in a microwave. Well if you didn't know it, you can. So I made us a round of bacon sandwiches on Candy bread to start the day, (We nicknamed the bread candy bread, as American bread such as this loaf tends to have quite a bit of sugar in. I forgot to mention in the first post that the yoghurts at the Holiday Inn had sugar as the second highest ingredient.
The trip to the corrals in the dark was nice and we hit the traffic around a mile from the car park. It wasn't going anywhere as the car parks didn't open till 6.15 so we abandoned the car and climbed a nearby steep hill to catch the sunrise and film the queues of traffic.
Once we were happy with that we made our way to the camp abusing “Media” or “Me-gee-a” as we called it, privileges to skip that last bit of traffic and park right where we had been allocated space.
By now hundreds of people had begun to line the hill and fence all with camping chairs and picnics. There was a big tent with that conveyor belt serving pancakes and coffee which went down well.
The media bit was interesting. The public were kept behind a fence, but the media were allowed to stand out in the field a bit. I knew from the briefing yesterday that the Buffalo have been known to bolt in any old direction, so we were hoping it wasn't in ours. We also found out yesterday that a buffalo can out run a horse.
The pen was full of journos and camera people from all over the world which gave us a great opportunity to chat to them all. They all knew the “BBC” was there which was a big thing for a lot of local people. You forget how well known the BBC Brand is.
Just before the start we have one more job, we went back to the stables to find a cowboy to wear the new office toy.
We have a tiny camera called a go-pro that can be fitted to a helmet. We wanted to find a cowboy to wear it so we could have a riders eye view.
Almost as soon as we arrived we saw our friend Dave Bolton from Bolton as he was now known. He was delighted to be asked and really keen to do it so we gave him the instructions and left him to it.
Back in the pen all we could do was wait, until suddenly on top of the hill I saw the Buffalo come over the top. It was still a distance away, but it was quite amazing that out of the whole pack of media it was the first time londoner that spotted them first.
It took about 10 minutes to gather them together. They took regular breaks as the weather was scorching hot and they didn't want the buffalo or horses to overheat. The final part is to gather the whole herd (about 1500) behind the last hill, and then they charge the horses with cowboys whipping and shouting, and the Buffalo stampede the last bit into the pen. This is the bit the crowd have been waiting for, a giant roar went up as the appeared, and even more of a roar when a group of buffalo tried to charge away, but some swift riding by a 4x4 driver and cowboy on horseback had them back on track and safely in the pen to a massive round of applause and some whooping and cheering.
After the even we went back to the corrals to chat to the cowboys and ask Chad how it all went. We then had the amazing opportunity to be taken right into the pen to see how they sorted the animals.
They had a network of runs that led to a big weighing machine. Here they were identified to a sex and age. Some were then immunised with an injection and/or pregnancy tested. This next big is a bit graphic, don't read over dinner...
They do the pregnancy test by a hand up the rear, and the vet actually feels the foetus, if they are pregnant they will usually be about 2 months in.
The final step is for Chad to decide if they keep the stock or sell it on. The auction is the big part of the year for the stables and where all their money comes from.
The final thing we got to see was the branding of the calves. We were very close for this, it's fascinating to watch and hard to believe that it doesn’t hurt them, but they don't seem in any pain. But that smell of burning leather is very strong.
We drove a different way home as we could drive in a loop and saw some amazing rolling Black Hills of South Dakota (Insert the song here from Calamity Jane if you know it).
On the way back we passed a stables we had read about in our hotel brochure, so we stopped off and asked if they had any places on their guided horseback tour. The did, so Maria and I booked up and we have a really relaxing ride though the most beautiful national park.
I've never been on a horse in my life, but i've always wanted to do it in America away from the ponsy posh stables in the UK.
I was quite nervous just before getting on. I was given a beautiful grey horse called “Confusion”. Four simple instructions, Hold the reigns in one hand, pull left to go left, right to go right and back to stop. A small kick in the stomach to go. There was nothing to it, although I think the horse had done the trail so much it knew what to do.
We went through water, up hills and across rocks. I even got it to trot two times which was quite exciting. I think i'm ready for some faster riding now......
That night we drove into the nearest town as we had enough of the lake restaurant. So went back to the restaurant from a few nights ago although this time we had a fantastic waitress who gave us a real lesson in service and how to earn a good tip. We still didn't manage to leave before the hoovering started though.
We did however go to the place that almost everybody recommended, The Purple Pie Place. Most places are proud of their pies, but this place was very popular with the locals so we stopped off to share a rhubarb & strawberry and a cherry pie with some peanut butter ice cream. It was amazing, and the fact that a whole crew of fire fighters came in at the same time seemed to lighten the girls evening as well.....
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