Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1878 — Half-Breed Buffaloes. [ARTICLE]

Half-Breed Buffaloes.

The apprehensions hitherto entertained regarding tbe untamable nature of the buffalo, and that the characteristics of this branch of the bovine family would be certain to’crop out through indefinite crossings, appears to be totally groundless. The buffalo, or more properly the American bison, is being used extensively in portions of the State of Nebraska, bordering on the wild plains of the far West, for stock purposes, and half and quarter-bred females of the bison family yield an abundant supply of rich milk. A remarkable feature connected with this cross of the bison with domestic cattle is the fact that the color of the bison, and the majority of its distinguishing characteristics, disappear after successive crossings. Its outward conformation is also, in process of time, in a great degree lost sight of. The hunch or lump of flesh covering the long spinous process of the dorsal vertebrae becomes diminished with each successive cross, and will, doubtless, disappear entirely as the original type becomes merged in the domestic animal.— Turf, Field and Farm.