Provide Bison Meat to Lakota Elders on Pine Ridge

Dear Supports, 

You are receiving this report because you either donated directly to this project or signed up to receive updates. While we didn't quite raise enough to purchase and process an entire buffallo from a Lakota bison rancher, we did raise enough to purchase a portion of an animal. We are currently waiting until one of our Lakota partners arrange a time to harvest an animal. At that time, a portion of the meat will be distrubted to elders. 

We are currently working with the Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Organization on this. They have around 50 head of bison in a pasture near Porcupine community on the Pine Ridge Reservation. They raise their bison in a natural way, keeping the family structure of the bison in-tact (vs. weaning yearlings away from their mothers). This has a benneficial effect on the lands because the bison stay in close herds to protect the young (which are kept in the middle of the herd) vs. scattered around the pasture. This serves as sort of a natural paddock where the rancher can move the entire herd more easily around the pasture to allow freshly grazed grasses to recover before being grazed again. 

Also, all animals are harvested in the field which is less stressful on the animal and the herd - this also means that the animal spends its entire life in the pasture eating grass vs. spending the last months of it's life in a feed-lot where it is fed corn or other grains. This is healthier for the animal and for humans eating the meat. Because they're not in a feed lot they aren't fed antibiotics to prevent them from catching diseases from other animals contained in close proximity. Furthermore, they maintain all the nutrients from the grasses vs. adding a lot of fat from grains they were never meant to eat in the first place. 

Thanks for your support and we will keep you updated on the harvest (when it happens).