Exciting Updates and New Arrivals

The latest news from Ron & T of The Buffalo Wool Co. at RATH Ranch. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Hello and Happy Sunday Friends!

Hope all is well in your part of the world.. we are back home, and I actually had this prewritten and setup to send out yesterday morning, since we were at at a friends wedding down in the Hill Country this weekend. Well, something broke, and it didn't go out, yesterday morning, but It was a great trip, and we got a few good things accomplished.

1. Met up with Ms. @texasbreakfast1 dropped off some eggs for her baking, and was gifted some of the most delicious cookies..."Mess Mix" Chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter chips, 5 types of roasted salted nut. Flipping amazing. Most of them didn't survive the trip. 2. Made it to our best friend's son's wedding. Truly blessed event. Such a good guy and a wonderful woman. Had a lot of fun there. Very excited for their future... 3. Met up with a Lakota elder who is tanning some fun things for us. Had a wonderful visit and he gifted us some bacon wrapped venison burgers we just ate. Such a cool guy, does beautiful works. And the burgers were amazing. 4. Met up with Mike at the Knitting mill in Liberty Hill, got a plan to double up on our production this year and have a few other good things in the works. More on this coming soon. 5. Made it home dodging the storms. The Hill country is beautiful, and seeing it get some much needed rain was great.. just made things a bit slippery.

NGL, the jet lag got us good, took a couple days to recover, and things are going well. The Iditarod restarts today, and we are gonna miss it this year, but will be there in spirit, and in socks... check out the Insider Subscription here, best way to follow your favorite musher, and support the last great race!

The big news here is that our first shipment from Nester/Fox River is in transit, and we will be restocked on a few things by Monday/Tuesday this week. We have had a little design change in our Casual Crew socks, and have gone from a "True Rib" to a "Mock Rib" design... they got me a couple pairs of these back in January, and I have been wearing the same pair for the last 45 days, and I am seriously impressed. These things have held up amazingly well, fit perfectly, stay up and are pretty close to bulletproof. Went the first 30 days without washing, and they performed flawlessly... no stink, no stiffness, and felt just as good on day 30 as day 1. I am really happy with them.

We are also getting restocked on the Sleep Socks in Med and Large, have been out pretty much since November... these things blew up this past season and we are happy to have them back. Been getting 3-10 emails a day asking when!

Have a fair bit going on here, quilted vest project is moving forward finally, can't wait to share that with you. Have a friend who is making some medicine pouches from bison scrotums (yes, we are dedicated to using every part, can't waste anything) and trying to figure out if I can make it to the dedication ceremony in D.C. the end of this month.. would be fun, but still have a trip to Denver for our NBA Directors Strategic Planning meeting coming up right before it, and I am required to be at that one.

So, after all that stuff, we have a couple fun stories, hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful remainder of your weekend!

Ron, T, Cecil, Paula, Piggy Wrangler, and Stacy.. your BWC crew.

Upcoming U.S. postage stamp to feature the bison

An upcoming U.S. postage stamp will pay homage to the bison -- the United States' national mammal and one of the most iconic wildlife species at Yellowstone National Park.

The new stamp features an image of a modern Yellowstone bison taken by wildlife photographer Tom Murphy, superimposed by a historic image of a bison featured in a stamp created in 1923. The stamp was designed by Greg Breeding, who has served as the art director of postage stamp design since 2012, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

Meet the Scientist Analyzing Historic Bison DNA to Understand How the Species Rebounded from the Edge of Extinction

Dr. Sarah Johnson, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, is leading groundbreaking work on historic bison DNA to uncover how the American bison species recovered from near-extinction in the late 19th century. With a background in computational biology and ancient human microbiomes from her PhD at the University of Oklahoma, Johnson shifted her focus to bison genomics after connecting with the museum's collections. Historically, bison populations dwindled from an estimated 35-45 million to just about 1,000 due to westward expansion, overhunting for hides, railroad disruptions, and habitat conversion to farmland.

Her research draws from the Smithsonian's vast collection, including specimens gathered by taxidermist William Temple Hornaday in 1886, who foresaw the species' peril and aimed to preserve them for future generations.Johnson's methods involve extracting DNA primarily from jawbone samples of over 200 historic specimens, many predating the population crash, using techniques like grinding bones into powder and leveraging the museum's supercomputer for analysis. This represents the most comprehensive geographic and temporal study of whole bison genomes to date.

Key findings reveal a significant loss in genetic diversity post-decline, with certain genotypes entirely vanished, underscoring that while conservation efforts have boosted numbers and diversity, some lineages are irrecoverable. The implications extend to modern conservation strategies, helping prevent future declines by informing efforts to maintain genetic health, and highlighting collaborative roles among scientists, ranchers, hunters, and the public in restoring bison as America's national mammal.

Read the full article here.

The wild saga of Charles Goodnight, the trailblazing icon who forever shaped the rugged heart of Texas ranching. As the "Father of the Texas Panhandle," Goodnight didn't just ride the range; he revolutionized the cattle industry, turning dusty trails into booming lifelines for the American West. Imagine the thrill: in 1866, he teamed up with Oliver Loving for a daring cattle drive, herding thousands of longhorns to feed the U.S. Army. Their legendary path? The Goodnight-Loving Trail, a lifeline that became the Southwest's ultimate cattle superhighway, dodging dangers from bandits to blistering deserts.

Goodnight's story gallops far beyond the saddle. After tying the knot with his sweetheart, Mary "Molly" Ann Dyer in 1870, he struck gold by partnering with English aristocrat John G. Adair to launch the JA Ranch in 1877—a colossal empire sprawling over nearly 1,000,000 acres and thundering with 100,000 head of cattle. As bison teetered on the brink of oblivion across the Southern Plains, Goodnight and Mary Ann stepped up as unlikely heroes, kickstarting a bison herd on the ranch in 1878 that helped snatch the species from extinction's jaws. Ever the shrewd negotiator, he brokered a groundbreaking pact with Quanah Parker, the fierce last chief of the Quahada Comanches, trading two beeves every other day for peace and respect on the land. By 1887, Goodnight cashed out of the JA and carved out his own paradise on 102,400 acres in Armstrong County, building a grand two-story home for his family, cattle, and beloved bison, on what would be Goodnight's 190th birthday today, dive deeper into his epic legacy at the Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch State Historic Site—plan your adventure at visitgoodnightranch.com!

: Charles Goodnight (left) and W.D. Reynolds (right) / The Portal to Texas History

From the Herd Bull, (Dad)

It is hard not to talk about all the experiences we had together over the past almost two weeks in Japan. Some may sneak in from time to time. One of the best was simply the uninterrupted time together. Perhaps "uninterrupted" isn't accurate, as both Ron and Theresa (and myself as well) never let pleasure interfere with business. Customers come first... but that is just normal. It is a bit freaky that I could receive and make direct calls just as if I was still in the office. Just had to answer and go. What will they think of next!

Ron and I got to share, in detail, projects he has in the works. Some of them have been started and waiting too long. A couple of those got pulled up and are going to happen. One is the

bison lined outdoor vests. He's had prototypes; fabric samples; cut-and-sew rooms .... but I think we actually made some final decisions. It will be a great product! Ron has already made a couple of those calls since getting back. The prototypes were solid ... and the final tweaks .... keep watching.

Another is a tall "stay up" outdoor sock similar to the "Mil-Top" that I had done ... and would still be selling them if we could have duplicated that bison blend yarn in the foot. Well, Ron has a perfect substitute yarn. Not sure what we'll call it ... but it's coming.