As the state’s official animal, there are few images more representative of Kansas than the bison or buffalo.
If you look closely at the Kansas state flag, you can even spot Native American hunters in pursuit of a herd of buffalo, which speaks to the fact that not only are buffalo connected to the history of white settlements in Kansas in the mid 1800s, but to an indigenous history and prehistory stretching back for millenia.
Buffalo once numbered in the millions across prairie grasslands regions, but during the second half of the nineteenth century, they were nearly hunted to extinction.
Thanks to conservation efforts, there are about a half a million buffalo in the U.S. today, though long-gone are the days when one could stand atop a high bluff and survey herds containing near-countless numbers below, save outside of somewhere like Yellowstone National Park.
… Or in Allen County.
For just south of Moran sits Siefker Farms, Inc., where along with its 2,000 head of cattle are also around 100 buffalo.
It all began in 1973, when E.J. Siefker and his wife Barb journeyed to Yellowstone and were so thrilled by the buffalo that they decided to buy three of their own.
“That’s how it all got started,” said E.J. “It was a novelty.”
Named after the physicians who mended E.J.’s broken arm in 1970, they were christened Piper, Pearl and Garner.
The rest is living history, and so for the 69 years that E.J. had been farming, almost 50 of those years involved raising and caring for buffalo — including serving on the board of the National Buffalo Association.
Up until harvest time, that is. For as E.J. explained with a subtle grin, buffalo are “good eatin’.”
Not that they involve too much attention beyond some fattening up, said E.J., since buffalo are “kinda like women. You leave ‘em alone and they do their thing.”
“They never get sick,” he added. “Cool weather don’t bother ‘em. … Never [had to] vaccinate ‘em or nothin’.”
As for why he’s continued to farm buffalo for so many years, E.J. explained that “we gotta preserve the Old West out here.”
ALTHOUGH the buffalo haven’t required an excess of work on Siefker’s part, they’ve been the source of several entertaining and uncanny stories.
