Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch
For twenty years Dan O€Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O€Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, €œshort-necked, golden balls of wool,€ O€Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half.
Buffalo for the Broken Heart is at once a tender account of the buffaloes€ first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he€s describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O€Brien combines a novelist€s eye for detail with a naturalist€s understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative.