When it comes to winters... we are more than happy to see this one go. Here are a series of photos captured this past winter from around the ranch. We hope Jack Frost is in the rear-view mirror!
A view of the prairie on the Cheyenne River Buffalo Ranch on the first day of winter December 21st.
Winters first storm moved in blocking out the sun and dropping the temperature to below zero.
The buffalo move over the bitter cold prairie tundra unaffected with their thick, insulated coats.
Winters crystals cling to vegetation, turning them into ice sculptures...
New snow covers the buffalos coats like powdered sugared donuts.
The bison forage through the snow for food as they have done for thousands of years.
The occasional brilliant blue sky gives the illusion of warmth.
Ferruginous and other hawks soar through the skies in search of their next meal.
The snowflakes catch the light, turning them into a confetti of colors as they fall.
A coyote moves around the edge of the heard unnoticed.
The buffalo move over the winter ground kicking up snow as the go.
The bearded ones... they "herd" it was trendy!
Despite the cold, when the prairie meets the cobalt blue sky it is breathtaking in contrast.
The icy cold Cheyenne River exposes a cold stone heart.
Photo Credit: Jill O'Brien
26 comments
Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures! My husband Erik and I are discussing how much we would love to travel out to South Dakota this year and see your ranch.
Thank you for the photos and commentary. So different from what I know, but awesome and wonderful. Glad spring is here and coming to you all. Take care.
Jill the pictures you took are beautiful.
My grand father who was a farmer in Iowa use to say if you don’t have snow to keep the ground moist and hold the top soil down you won’t have good crops or good grass for the buffalo to eat.He always had the best crops and the best garden around. This winter has been rough no matter where you live but things will improve soonOne last thought, thank you for what you and Dan are doing for the buffalo and for your work to save the monarch butterflies.
Très belles photos de mes animaux préférés que je n ai malheureusement pas pu voir lors de mon séjour à Rapid City au mois de juin 2018 suite à des pluies diluviennes mais ce n ’ est que partie remise !
A bientôt de nouveaux clichés et merci
You have a nice herd. Thanks for the pictures. The Bison are wooly majestic creatures. I am glad they were brought back from the brink extinction.
So very beautiful!!
Thank you so much for sharing your Buffalo and Land Scap Photo’s. So beautiful.
Beautiful pictures! You are our “go to meat”. Expensive but oh so worth it.
Thanks, Jill, for sharing your home, and the bison’s, with us!
GREAT pictures Jill. Thanks for sharing.
I love these pictures, just beautiful. Thank you Jill. Nice to sit in my warm study with a hot coffee and look through them. One of my favorite of the many things I started thinking about upon my first reading of “Buffalo for the Broken Heart” was that Buffalo were, well, buff, that they were able to take the extreme cold, forage in the windswept spaces. We’ve had a long cold winter in New Mexico too, but were very glad of the snow here, which keeps coming, and is glorious on the peaks this morning, and promises a relief in 2019 from a decade of drought.