A heartfelt story from Buffalo County, South Dakota, honoring Jim Lutter, his family, and their bison ranch.

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Happy Sunday Friends!

It's a beautiful morning so far.. dark and quiet, and after yesterdays extended workout here at the farm, I am ready to go back to bed after this, it's not gonna happen though, because with our poor lifestyle choices, there are always chores... and stuff we want to do, make, and build. It's self-inflicted, so I really shouldn't whine about it... but im gonna.

Dad stepped up and wrote today's piece on some more fantastic ranchers. Buffalo Country Buffalo Ranch sits on the wide-open plains of Buffalo County. It’s here that the Lutter family has built a life raising bison, with the kind of genuine hospitality that makes you feel right at home.

Thank you so much for coming along with us on this journey. Exploring the stories of so many bison ranches and the ranchers who started them, it has been such a fun adventure for us, and we’re really grateful you’ve been part of it. We hope we haven’t been boring you with all the ranch visits and tales — we’ve just been having a great time learning and sharing them. Appreciate you being here with us.

Hope you enjoy the story today.. and wish you a wonderful day!

Ron & T, and the crew here at the BWC

from Artist Travis Chapman.. they are friends now.

From The Herd Bull (Dad): This one is his..

Where to begin with the story? I’ve known the Lutter family of Gann Valley South Dakota for probably 12 years. Seems like we've known each other much longer .. in the best of ways. I’ve been to their ranch a handful of times, originally to hunt pheasant but the evolution is into a wonderful friendship.

Last few times we have done buffalo chores – working animals, running feed and such. Usually still a bit of time to see the glory that are South Dakota wild pheasant.

This time it was quite a bit different, Jim had been seriously injured by a bottle-raised two year old bull (Billy) that up till that very moment had been no threat. Jim thinks the bull was just doing what bulls do; practice sparing with other bulls for the eventual right to breed the females. This guy had no such practice partners and Jim Lutter became “it”

Late November he was airlifted to Sioux Falls with multiple fractures, punctures in both lungs, a horn up the backside … and a beating that no one should have survived. He did.

But even when Jim is running full tilt, there are never enough hands. Wife Cindy, son Josh, daughters Katie and Becky … son in laws and other neighbors and friends all participate in this relatively large ranching operation.

So I came to work. Well, work is not really the appropriate word; I don’t think of it as anything but part of a great bison-centric life. Put several significant snowfalls over the top of everything else and there we were.

We’d run trailer and loader (and what a loader – a JSB extended boom with double bale grapple) a couple miles to a field where oat bails waited deep in snowdrifts. Jim had to fish them out without getting stuck; 1800 plus pounds; each with 40+/- bushels of whole oats still attached to the stem and leaves. How many hundred bales did he harvest and stack … could ‘t count. Same with the corn silage bales and those of millet. We’d load out and feed 12-18 bales per day to his feed lot and various pastures.

Temperatures ranged from -4 one morning to a high of 30 the Tuesday I left. However, the wind was nill; the sun shown on the snow most days … and it was just gorgeous. It was bison weather, for sure. They love the cold; the snow and the open prairie that Lutters allow them to graze. It might not be for everyone, but I feel very privileged indeed to even be a small part.

Jim had several doctor/hospital visits over these few days, so part of the time Josh or Ty took me to help open gates while they fed; haul the hay trailer, and actually bring the loader back from where the hay was pulled to where we had to drop it off.

Yea, I am sore, but what a great soreness. Best workout one can get. Fresh air, bison, friends and no pheasants were harmed in the making of this adventure. I tried a couple times … but came away a vegetarian (ok, a bad hunter). I so appreciate those folk for letting me participate in their world. Next year it’s going to be longer.

Buffalo County Buffalo; Gann Valley, South Dakota

2025 – it was a different visit. The Jim Lutter clan, Jim, wife Cindy who passed away too young in March of ’24; Josh and wife Kelly; Becky and (mia) husband Shane Teichmeier; Kate and husband Tyrel Long. And the grandkid “herd”; Jim’s true pride and joy. Family …. which includes not just “kin”, but a whole lot of folk bonded by “love” … is Mr. Lutter’s passion.

Yes, Gann Valley is in Buffalo County, South Dakota. So the name came appropriately. There is no telling how many “critters” have passed through Got to meet Jim and Cindy Lutter the way a lot of folks meet him; pheasant hunting all around their place.

Jim’s son Josh shared with us the Lutter family “crest”; a logo Jim designed which includes “J” for Jim; “C” for Cindy … and the three kids – Josh, Becky and Katie

Another of the many, many restoration projects Lutter has joined was this one with the National Forest Foundation and their bison restoration at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie outside Chicago.

In addition to planting and harvesting a close to uncountable number of sections of land, working and tending the bison operation, repairing, rebuilding and building new everything from grain silos, handling facilities, trucks and equipment … and inventing new and better ways to fence, farm and manage this wide ranging operation, Lutter is a spray plane pilot. It’s his escape, his meditative place …. As well as his “think tank”.

“For ever I have looked at the clouds from the ground and saw animals. This is first time on top of the clouds doing the same and it’s not just one buffalo it’s the whole herd… must be time to go home…

And then this: “On my way to work and here comes the sun”

Below is just another one of the many, many not-so-often told stories of Buffalo County Buffalo

S.D. buffalo find new home in Hawaii

Erin Ballard Dakota Media Group April 16, 2019, 4:00 p.m. CT

Home on the range has a whole new meaning for some South Dakota buffalo.

After 1,500 miles of drive time and a five-hour flight halfway across the Pacific Ocean, four young bison recently landed at their new digs — in Hawaii.

On March 8, two females and two bulls from Jim Lutter’s Buffalo County Bison ranch were loaded on a freight plane in Los Angeles and shipped to Hanalei Bison Ranch on Kauai. The island was devastated by flash floods in April 2018, during which a nearby river rose 8 feet and spilled over into the 180-acre ranch, according to a post on Hanalei Bison Ranch’s Facebook page. While most of the bison survived, others were washed out to sea and died. Looking to replenish its herd, the ranch connected with Lutter.

“They were referred to us by an individual, and we just returned the phone call and didn’t know where it was going to go,” he said. “We talked to them and they liked what we had.”

Lutter lives near Gann Valley, which is about a half-hour south of Miller. He has shipped bison to Illinois, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska. But until recently, he didn’t even know the animals lived in Hawaii.

“You’re just not aware that all this stuff goes on. It was really interesting,” he said.

South Dakota to Hawaii is a lengthy trip regardless of the passenger, but Lutter’s ranch, with Wendell Peden’s help, has built up a reputation for good genes. Peden is a veterinarian who’s worked with Lutter in the past.

“They wanted to repopulate and get their numbers going,” Lutter said. “And if they were going to do that, they wanted to try to improve their genetics at the same time.”

While the main objective at the ranch is meat production, Lutter said he has been perfecting his herd since Day 1. He’s worked for years with James Derr, a professor of veterinary pathobiology at Texas A&M, to obtain the most pure lineage possible.

Jim wears many different hats in his world; these are a couple of them:

And once in a while, like while he is frying up his legendary pheasant breast strips for a lunch snack …. No hat at all

The Lutter family is just one wonderful part of the larger bison community …. But they exemplify the grit, dedication, spirit, togetherness …. And yes, love … that are common threads. If you ever get close to Gann Valley, South Dakota, go on by. You will be welcomed…. and very possibly put to work!

Josh Lutter's Pineapple Steak Recipe.

Goes great with a bison steak.

Pineapple steak is one fresh pineapple. Cut up however you like. Chunks works well. Melt one stick of butter, and add brown sugar until it just feels right, soaking up most of the butter. Put the pineapple chunks and the "cold caramel" all together on the blackstone medium heat. Stirring and flipping as often as you like, those massive pancake spatulas work well. Keep the carmel from ending up in the grease tray. Scrape the caramel and pineapple into a bowl, and you can add a little razzle dazzle with some brown box sugar in the raw sprinkled on top to give it a little texture. Once the pineapple runs out, clean out the bowl with dinner rolls.