Plant crew, ready to go!
…two weeks ago. For the last six years we have been harvesting buffalo about once a week in the pastures with the Sustainable Harvest Alliance crew and taking the hanging carcasses to an established processing plant in Rapid City. We have worked well with that plant but the Sustainable Harvest crew has been employed only part-time, somehow finding a way to take time off their day jobs to do a job that they believe is important. Those guys took great pride in the new plant because it was the next step in our drive to give the buffalo industry an alternative to the feedlot/cattle model of meat production. It made a lot more sense to put the Sustainable Harvest guys to work full-time in our own plant where we could have better control of the product from the pastures to your plates.
But we found out that building a meat processing plant was a huge undertaking. There is no question that we would never have gotten it done without the dedication of the harvest crew, the guidance of the South Dakota meat inspectors, lots of 16 hour days put in by Jill and Jilian, and the support of a group of environmentally conscious entrepreneurs based in Boston. The entire effort was a collaboration of diverse folks with a shared vision: finding a way to produce delicious red meat that is honestly sustainable, beneficial to the Great Plains biome, and a delight to all the people who are nourished by it.
It was a joy to work with all those people and I was encouraged that everyone was anxious to bring their skills to an undertaking that is more than simply another business. As I travel around and talk to people interested in healthy food, the environment, and the associated problems of integrating those interests with the crush of the 21st century, one theme is consistent. Everyone who is aware of more than simply their immediate existence wants to be part of the solution to this old world’s problems. The team that assembled itself to tackle Wild Idea Buffalo Company’s goals was made up of biologists, land managers, business people, mechanics, butchers – college students, Harvard MBAs, ex-Marines, and Native Americans. You have never seen a harder working bunch!
There was a lot of underpaid over time in the weeks running up to the first completely in-house-processed Wild Idea Buffalo meat. The day before the first carcasses were to be rolled in we received two five-pound lobsters from Boston. A celebration was put into place and we all gathered on the shipping dock for a Surf & Turf feast.
The day of the party, the guys worked for Sustainable Harvest Alliance. They harvested four buffalo at the Cheyenne River Ranch and had them in the cooler trailer, plugged into the three-phase power from the new building in time to go home for a quick shower about quitting time. They weren’t gone long and by the time I got back from Talley’s (a local restaurant that prepared the lobster, and buffalo roast) and picked up the beer, wine, bucket of cold slaw, and bread they were all back on the freight dock of the new plant. They were clowning around, smugly modeling the brand new, ultra white, laboratory smocks that they would be wearing the next morning when they rolled the first carcasses in.
The next day we would see if everything worked. The Wild Idea crew would back the semi-truck up to the carcass loading dock and see if the plant rail lined up with the rail in the cooler trailer. They had measured, and cut, and welded, and ground the rails, but no one knew for sure if the 450 pound carcasses could make the turn and roll neatly into the plant. Dr. Fischer, the meat inspector, would be there to make sure that everything was done according to our HACCP plan. There would be a lot of tension the next morning, and many more stressful tomorrows would follow as we feel our way to full utilization of our new facility.
But the night before the first carcasses rolled flawlessly into our nifty little meat plant, and we officially became a full-fledged meat plant, we put the stress on hold. It was a time for enjoying ourselves, the fellowship of co-workers, and the pride associated with coming to the end of the new beginning – an important stage in the life of Wild Idea. We spent most of the evening sitting on the freight dock at one of the packing tables, joking now and then, laughing at the boys from the Cheyenne River Reservation tackle the “giant crawfish”, and watching the sun set over the Black Hills. We couldn’t help smiling at what we were doing – happy as hell to be part of it.
Congratulations, one and all!
Congratulations to you all! I am very happy for you. Guess it’s time to order some more of those 2″ ribeyes. BTW, how’s the grass these days? JK
Congratulations! You’ve come a long way.
I’ve enjoyed reading about your progress and admire your dedication.
Truly wonderful, and beautiful also in the telling.
Long may you wave, and eat, and teach, and love…!
Love hearing about all your progress! And my visual ears love the telling of it as well. Congratulations!
congratulations to all of you ! when do you sell over to France ???
your buffalo meat only is a dream for us around here…
My hope is ever that major newspapers, magazines, and radio shows will begin to showcase your benefits to the plains and local tribes as well as the buffalo as well as point out the inappropriate treatment of buffalo which most folks are buying. Thank you for your persistence as well as knowledge and zest.
Absolutely fantastic!
Great! Just great! An exciting beginning that will no doubt just continue to make the Wild Idea better & better.You guys work to hard..so much heart & dedication to a beautiful thing. Thank you. We love your buffalo & the whole WILD idea! Love the stories AND Love you.
Congratualtions from your fan on Buffalo Creek, in the shadow of Buffalo Mountain, Milligan College in the far NE corner of Tennessee
Congrats to all! Dan, I am personally excited to see your “dream” come true! Good luck with the plant, I am sure it will be a success!
Mother Earths smiles, moonbeams dance, stars flutter, hearts expand, joy knocks, and fireflies brighten….
That Wild Idea is now set in stone! Hat’s off to you!
Iwas by the plant a week ago with Doc Woerner. He took pictures of the sustainable allience truk and the outside of the plant. The last time I was in Rapid you guys and gals were just getting all the plans in order for the new plant Congrats to all great job
Hi Dan,Hi Jill .
I can see that things are going well for you. You probably are even busier than when I met you first in early 2000 when the wild idea was just born.
I wish you good luck for your business venture and hope to see you in near future. Nicolas from New Zealand.ps : there is a little heard of buffalo here somewhere in the south island…
Wow. Can’t wait to see it. Last meat plant I visited was a Sandinista showplace packing plant in Nicaragua (with Curt and and Cynthia in 1988. A hard trip for the Witness for Peace crew.) Hope I can get a tour some time.
Congratulations on the big step. And thanks for taking a couple of days to share with us in the middle of it all. Red calves; green grass and a break of sunshine between the squalls. Take care, everybody.
B&J
YAY!
Hi! so i’m wondering, the buffalo are still shot in the pasture right? Then the carcass is taken to the new plant?
Dan and company
Frisch gewagt ist halb gewonnen! I am so impressed how you all just keep moving forward in a wonderful way. It takes a lot of courage and determination
Hats off to all of you!
Angela
Congratulations to all of you for a great new step in your upwardly moving dream. I admire your ability to forge on and grow. All my wishes to your future!
Heard about you on NPR this morning. Congratulations!