Tatanka Bison Ranch Tour

On Friday, after working hard all week to finish homeschool early and with Thomas's labs showing he had decent immune function, I took the kids and our beloved nanny to tour Tatanka Bison Ranch, the only bison ranch in all of South Carolina, where bison were last seen roaming free in 1795.

This is a fantastic tour to take anytime, but especially if you are concerned about COVID or, in our case, have a family member immunocompromised by cancer treatments who needs to avoid crowds. We toured with only our family, but the touring wagon would accommodate perhaps 20 people, and the only person we interacted with was Farmer Fred, all in the great outdoors.

The current cost is: $15 per adult; $7 per child for ages 5 to 15; under 5 tour free! There is a minimum fee of $100 per tour.

The tour started under a pavilion with an exquisite view of Tatanka's 215 acres tucked away in York, South Carolina. Farmer Fred told us about how he hales from South Africa and knew he wanted to farm something in his retirement, but didn't know what, but here he is with an established bison ranch he founded only five years ago on totally unimproved land. It is hard to believe he has built so much in only five years, but it was readily apparent that he researches everything and consults with the top national and local experts to pursue his dream.

 

Some of us wore mud boots, but sneakers would have been fine. We got out of the wagon a couple of times just to look at something up close, but there was no walking around.

John (13) knew a lot of answers about bison until Farmer Fred commented that he was impressed and that few people knew the answers to these questions.

The part of the tour explaining the bison chute was very interesting. This machine had to be purchased and shipped from Canada because bison would "tear apart" a chute made for cattle. Bison are much stronger and Fred even told us they could easily leap over the electrified 6-foot fence on the property and they can, within 10 steps, be running 35 miles an hour, which they can keep up for 20 minutes. Thankfully--we were told as we could see the 'bachelor herd' grazing across the fence fairly nearby--bison are pretty calm when they are fed, watered, and left alone.

Mary and the others went inside the bison squeezer where the animals get their annual wellness exams!

Thomas (5) found a little yellow thing on the ground, which turned out to be the "back of the earring" which each bison is given when he is tagged with his very own number. Thomas got to take it home as his souvenir and he treasures it.

John (13) was selected to be the opener and closer of gates, which the little boys envied.

Farmer Fred said that he doesn't usually get to bring folks in this close, but we were arriving at siesta time, so the herd of Big Boy (the father of all the babies), the "crazy mamas," and the babies were simply relaxing. He said that unless we start yelling and running toward them, they're just going to lay about.

That reassurance did not stop this Crazy Mama from being on High Alert the entire time. 

Where can you get this close to see real, nearly completely wild bison?! Fred said there are only 200 bison ranchers (I think) in the United States.

Nursing baby bison

We learned some interesting info on the tour: Apparently virtually all (like nearly 100%) of the "buffalo" that a healthy-minded person buys in the fancy-dancy health food grocery stores is WATER BUFFALO FROM ASIA, not bison from America. Farmer Fred's bison is entirely pasture-fed, not grain-finished, and he is very holistically minded about how he manages his ranch, which some people would find very desirable. We simply loved looking at these glorious American animals.

Fred sells his bison meat at the Uptown Farmers' Market every Saturday!