Keeping the Buffalo on Pine Ridge

The following update was written by Bamm Brewer, the director of the Charging Buffalo Meat House and a member of the Oglala Sioux Lakota Tribe.

Thus far, we have raised $3,330 towards our goal. Please help us get to $40,000.

First of all, I would like to greet everyone with a warm smile and a big thank you to all of our supporters.

Since the start of our project, the Charging Buffalo Meat House, we have had a goal to return the buffalo to the people and everyone who wishes to eat healthy. We started out by processing animals for local ranchers, hunters, and customers in general who needed animals processed. In operating that way, we discovered it is hard to keep out of the red. Then, came the Commodity Local Food Purchase grant, where the commodity program was able to buy meat from us. We have basically changed to sales through the commodity program. This is a much better situation, financially. However, this way, we need animals to process.

Each October, the Oglala Lakota Tribe Buffalo Program rounds up the tribal herd. They sell off the yearlings to pay off their leases and operational needs. Recently, they rounded up the tribal pasture and have about 160 head of buffalo for sale. We put in our bid of $1,800 per buffalo, and we were allowed to purchase up to 40. We are short on the amount needed, and we need help to make up the difference.

But first, I would like to explain that this is an awesome window of evolution in getting approved to do this.

It wasn’t easy to talk to the park board about this because they have never done this before. By that I mean, they have never sold to an on-reservation meat processor. They have always rounded up the buffalo and sold them to the highest bidder. That bidder was usually an off-reservation rancher every year because nobody on the reservation could afford to purchase that many buffalo anyway.

This is a really big step because now we are keeping the buffalo home with the people. That circle of the buffalo’s life is now mended; I am grateful. This is a landmark moment in the meat house's story.

So, this is what is next: We purchase these buffalo and process them. They will be directed to the tribal commodity local food purchase program, where they go back to the people in need. We're able to keep the buffalo on tribal land, and they go to tribal members in need here on the reservation.

This purchase also secures a future for the Charging Buffalo Meat House, which provides jobs to 10 people. I have 10 employees who are now depending on this job at the meat house to feed their families. I see the hope in their eyes that we are able to keep rolling in the animals to sustain them and their families.

What we need here now is basically a jumpstart to be able to purchase these buffalo. The proceeds will then be used to take care of our salaries and supplies, and it will even help us to purchase another batch of buffalo once we work through this first purchase of 22 animals.

I want to thank all of our supporters again for getting us this far. With your help, I know we can evolve the House.

—Bamm Brewer