The four bison basics are food, family, water and common sense. The fourth basic, common sense,clothing label is a human element and bison-basic that can be regionally deficient. I have been diagnosing, documenting and attempting to treat such deficiencies for the last 15 years and can tell you, without hesitation, that when estray bison occur, deficiencies of the fourth bison basic is most likely the rest of the story. One theory that fits very nicely with the myth that bison are not containable, is that of a migratory behavior assumption. This would work well, were it not for the observations of conservation pioneers and ranchers like Charles Goodnight, who observed the documented that the migratory behaviors ceased after the southern herd was reduced to a shadow of its former self. Could it be that with their reduced herd size three bison-basics became plentiful and left the fourth bison-basic to make sense of it all? Out of 618 bison farms reported in Texas by the USDA Census, there have been virtually no estray bison. When it has occurred, it made the news,key storagewhile farm animals of every kind went estray, every day, as a matter of rural normality. Another common cause for estray bison, and the most prevalent among fence damage occurrences in bison models would include drunk drivers and vehicular damage, washouts and fallen trees. Additionally, in the north, snowdrifts can be the cause of estray bison, as well as estray pigs, chickens, cattle, etc. So it seems on closer examination that fences which are no longer there cause the few bison escapes that actually occur, but because they are not Longhorns, Herefords, or Brangus, they make the news and are indicted for fence damage and escape. It's very common for people to assume that bison leap tall buildings with a single bound, and behave as a destructive and uncontrollable force of nature. They can possess those qualities and behaviors, but don't when their basic needs are met. My original career choice was cattle. I have seen cattle do more jumping attacking and perform more uncontrollable force of nature behaviors than bison. Plus, in my experience, cattle have demonstrated far greater tendencies to go estray and damage fences. Let's look at a fence like a buffalo might, literally! Can I see it? Does it look like a barrier? Can I crawl through it? Can I crawl under it? Can I step or hop over it? Finally and representing all four basic bison needs,Lace parting wigs why would I? The answer to the last question is the most important part of bison fencing and the reason for the strict protocol when introducing bison to a new property. Protocol includes a control pasture, or small 1-2 acre trap pasture for the purpose of getting the newly recruited bison home and accustomed to ranch operations. The trap pasture most often features additional precautions like field fence/net wire and possibly additional stays.
