Goodbye Tonka

Nine year old Tonka moved on today, not to the "big pasture in the sky", but to a new pasture in western Kansas to be with 55 other buffalo.

He moved to our pasture on January 16, 2005 and spent three seasons with our cow herd. Since his daughters will be old enough to breed this year, Tonka is moving out, and three year old Takoda takes over as herd bull.

Verne called the herd in from the pasture this afternoon, and sorted Tonka into a pen by himself to wait for the trailer that would move him.

The cows wandered past the Visitors Center to go back out to our pasture, but then Esther our head cow, couldn't find Tonka. She and the rest of the herd headed back to the holding pens looking for him.

As a 2000 lb. mass of muscle and hair, he's been a congenial bull whose picture has been taken by people from around the world.

His big claim to fame is his relish for pumpkins. He LOVES them, and inhales one whenever given as a treat. Visitors who took the tram out to the buffalo herd during our maze weekends watched him charge and devour any orange pumpkins thrown into the pasture.

I had one frozen pumpkin left in the shop, waiting for the perfect time to give it to Tonka. This morning I took the frozen mass out to thaw for his last treat.

When he was loaded and in the trailer, I pushed the thawed soggy pumpkin in the trailer for him. At the moment he was mad about being confined and not in the mood to thank me, but hopefully he’ll enjoy it as a snack down the road.

Esther and the herd stood by the fence to watch him leave, then headed back to the pasture without him.

Goodbye Tonka...