Moses, Our Very Own Gentle Giant

• Male Bison
• 2010 – 2019
• 2,000 pounds or 1 ton
• 6 feet tall
• National Mammal of the United States
• Raised on the Lone Branch Farm

As told by Moses himself.

Let’s get the facts straight: I am a bison, not a buffalo. Yeah, my owners boasted about the buffaloes at the Lone Branch Farm. They were wrong. Well meaning, but wrong.

Bison and buffalo are two different animals. We bison are native to North America and Europe, while buffalo are native to Africa and Asia. Bison have larger heads, humps, and are bigger overall than buffalo. Bison also have beards, as well as thick coats which they shed in the spring and early summer.

So how did this bison wind up in Linton, Georgia?

Owner bought me and a sibling from a huge bison farm in Strawberry Plains, East Tennessee, in 2010. We were both four months old, and about 350 pounds.

Leaving Rocky Top

My owner decided he would make the 356-mile trip from Tennessee to Georgia with two bison in a horse trailer through three of the busiest interstates in the South: I 40, I 75 and I 20. And I 20 is where it all went sour.

Traffic started to crawl on Interstate 20 in busy Atlanta. It was 4:30 pm. Too much noise and horns for my sibling! His anxiety peaked and he cracked! In a freak accident, he leaped from the trailer onto the busy interstate, breaking two legs. And stalling traffic for over three hours before being shot by the animal warden then hauled off for future dinners for inmates. And making national news.

Strangely, Owner’s face was never seen, and his name was never used. But two buddies, Ron and Milton, knew Owner was making the trip. When they heard the news on CNN, they laughed and simply said, typical Owner!

I was not laughing! It was tragic! No more pal!

By, son.

Family Matters

Since one is the loneliest number, Owner decided I needed a mate. In an ill-fated purchase, he obtained two young bison. The blind one was thrown in to seal the deal. He died because he couldn’t see his food. Loser! The second one missed the prairie, I guess. He didn’t last. By, son.

Finally, Owner was smart enough to buy Jill, a bison from Milledgeville. She became popular with the public, too. I was glad to see Jill. One of my kind! I was tired of the Angus heifers on the farm. All tease and no action. I would break down fences for them – but the owner always worried about Samson, that bully of a bull. A huge Angus monster with papers and an attitude. I wanted to turn his leather hide into Samsonite! Did he really need that many heifers? I was trying to help a brother out. So to speak.

Jill had her first calf, a male, which the owner later sold. Bison males will fight for leadership – even a father and son – so junior had to go.

Jill did not survive the second birth. Oh well, back to harassing the heifers. They really do play hard to get.

There’s been talk among the farm animals that my days may be numbered here on the Lone Branch Farm. Don’t understand why. I’ve been the farm mascot since Day One. Everybody talked about Moses, the Lone Branch Buffalo (bison! Fault my owners). I have had loads of visitors. Adults were as excited as the kids to see an actual bison, this icon of American culture. I was so gentle; Owner could feed me from a plate.

Epilogue

After destroying several fences and challenging Samson just one time too many, Moses was professionally euthanized. We expect to use his leathery coat as a wall hanging in Owner’s man cave. Otherwise, Moses was delicious.