A celebrated tourist attraction of the FSST Buffalo Program
(Story put together by the Lakota Journal)
FLANDREAU – It was quite an exciting day in April of 2006 when news traveled throughout the Flandreau Indian community that one of tribe's buffalo cows had just given birth to a set of twins.
However, Art Schmidt, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe's Buffalo Herd Manager immediately took note that one of the calves was quite a bit smaller than the other and the bigger calf was getting more than his share of nourishment.
"The bigger calf kept pushing the little calf away and wouldn't let her nurse," he said and that in the wild, a buffalo cow could probably produce enough milk to raise twin calves, "if they're both the same size and if one didn't dominate over the other. But that's what was happening here, the bigger one was dominating over the little one."
After three days of keeping a close eye on the little one, Art noticed that she was becoming badly malnourished, so he loaded her up into his pick-up truck and hauled her the vet. After the vet gave her a clean bill of health Art took her home, where she soon became part of the family and affectionately known as "Susie."
A smile came across F.S.S.T. Buffalo Land Management Program Administrative Assistant Kim Brown's face as she shared how Susie came to be part of her life and one of the tribes most celebrated tourist attractions.
Kim said when Art first brought Susie home she wouldn't eat, so she would sing lullabies to her, which soothed the little three day old calf enough for her to take to the bottle.
Susie has become so much a part of the family that one day Kim found her snoozing in the garage like one of their other pets. Susie even recognizes the sound of Art's pick-up truck and has been there to greet him after day's hard work taking care of the tribes Buffalo herd.
Susie, now a "healthy two-year-old," is still not kept with the rest of the tribe's herd, although Art says he may return her next spring to share a pasture with the yearling heifers. For now Susie is kept in a pasture behind Art and Kim's home where she can often be spotted galloping around with Shadow, the family's horse.
"She thinks she's a horse and if they escape they escape together," Kim chuckled.
History of the FSST Buffalo Program
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe first went into business of raising buffalo in the spring of 1990 and started with 12 heifer calves and 1 bull calf that they had acquired from Custer State Park. At that time Tom Allen Sr. was the herd manager and the buffalo were kept in a pasture south of Flandreau.
Since that time the herd has grown to more than 245 head of buffalo which are kept in two separate pastures, one south of Flandreau and another one on the north side of the reservation.
The herd is now managed by Art, who started out as herdsman manager in 1999 and in 2003 he was given the responsibility as the FSST Buffalo Program Director and Director for the FSST Land Management Program.
Kim says herding buffalo comes natural for Art, a third generation farmer and rancher who has worked around livestock all his life.
"It's in his blood," she said.
Also part of the program are the "buffalo punchers;" Jeremiah Rederth and John Crow. Melody Crow and Kim Brown work in the office and take care of the endless paperwork needed to maintain the program.
Support for the program
Support for the tribe's buffalo program comes from several different sources.
A portion of the support needed to sustain the tribe's buffalo program comes from grants provided through the Intertribal Bison Corporation (ITBC) which must be applied for on an annual basis.
A portion also comes directly from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe who provides the acreage needed to not only house the buffalo, but also provides land for growing hay which is cut and baled for feed needed to sustain the herd through the harsh Dakota winters. The tribe also pays salaries for those entrusted with the care of their ever growing herd.
Art said when he started as herd manager, most of the in-kind was provided by the tribe who had to purchase all of the hay and feed needed to sustain the herd as well as provide salaries.
At this point the program has become much more self-sufficient because of the grants provided through ITBC which have been utilized to purchase equipment, a disc mower, a rake, 2 tractors, 2 ATV's, a manure spreader and other equipment and materials needed to help sustain the program.
Currently the program is applying for an $100,000 grant which will help the program become even more self-sufficient.
"Because of their (ITBC) support, the program is where it is today," he said. "I hope to God I never lose that grant."
Benefits of raising buffalo
"The buffalo herd belongs to the membership," Art said and that he noticed a positive change in tribal members who help work the herd.
"They are not just going out and doing their job and collecting a paycheck and going home," Art said. "It becomes part of who they are and gives them a sense pride in their culture knowing that they are taking care of that beautiful magnificent creature."
He said the herdsmen are also developing invaluable leadership skills in that when problems arise they are "able to step up to the plate and take charge." The skills they are acquiring will also be necessary when one of them takes over the responsibility of caring for the herd because Art said, "I won't be here forever."
Taking care of buffalo is not an eight-to-five job and the crew must be ready 24/7 to take care of emergency situations like when the buffalo escape. Art shared an interesting story that proves that Buffalo are wild animals and follow their natural instincts. After the tribe had received several buffalo from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe they broke out and when the crew found them they were headed west down highway 34 toward Ft. Thompson.
Another invaluable benefit and probably the foremost reason any tribe decides to take on the responsibility of maintaining a buffalo herd, is that buffalo meat is one of the most nutrient dense foods that provides significant amounts protein, phosphorus, iron, zinc, niacin, vitamin B6 and selenium.
With diabetes rampant on many Indian reservations across the nation, buffalo meat provides one of the leanest meat sources available today and when eaten does not raise blood sugars. A goal of the FSST Buffalo Program is to provide nutritious buffalo meat to tribal members and tribal programs as a way of promoting a more healthful and traditional lifestyle.
Art credits Wes Hanson for helping initiate a program that provides buffalo meat to elderly and diabetic patients on a regular basis. He hopes to grow the herd to the point where more meat can be distributed to tribal members on an even more regular basis.
"Like for the elderly center, I would like feed the elderly tribal members buffalo at least once a week," he said. But in order for that to happen, the herd would need to grow to at least 500 to 600 head and a larger land base would also be needed.
"The best investment the tribe can make right now, is to purchase more land," he said.
The tribe is currently eligible to apply for a Health Initiative Grant that would allow them to provide meat on a regular basis. The program also provides traditional materials including buffalo robes and buffalo skulls to tribal members, who are also eligible to purchase a whole buffalo which they may process for personal or ceremonial use.
Future of the program
Each year the tribe can opt to accept buffalo that are culled from herds at Custer State Park, Blue Mountain, and from other tribes. In 2006 the Buffalo Program submitted a Surplus Bison Proposal and was awarded 80 head of buffalo that were from the Custer State Park.
They have also seeded additional acreage that will be used to put up more hay and will allow them to feed more buffalo.
Idealistically the program should be self supporting and depend less and less on in-kind from the tribe. Grants through ITBC and other programs like it have brought the FSST Buffalo Program closer to that reality.
The tribe also hopes to take advantage of tourism opportunities. In July of this year, through the efforts of Daphne Richards-Cook, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Tourism Advocates (ATTA) Maureen Murnan from Essex, United Kingdom (England) a group from England came to visit the tribe and toured the reservation, including the buffalo ranches. The visitors went to several South Dakota reservations and gained first hand experience in quillwork, beadwork, shawl making, danced in the arena at Wacipi's, tasted authentic native cuisine and even stayed under the stars in authentic northern plains tipis.
While in Flandreau they were introduced to Susie who became one of the highlights of their visit to South Dakota. One member of the group, Debbie Archer, who has dubbed herself Buffalo Woman, because of the close connection she feels to this spiritual animal, was able to reach through the fence and pet Susie on the nose. She was thrilled when the gesture was returned and Susie licked her hand.
"This is the first place that I've been to – that I didn't want to go home from," Archer who is from East Sussex England said during her visit to Flandreau.
Buffalo Women with Art & Kim's pet buffalo, Susie!
Flandreau Santee Sioux Buffalo calves
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