The timing could not have been worse. The farmer's savings were already almost gone. When the old farmer called around looking for more hay, most suppliers told him they were sold out. The few that still had some wanted prices he could barely afford. His remaining feed kept shrinking day by day.
Then another letter arrived from the bank, warning him that his next mortgage payment was coming due. Now the pressure was coming from both sides. If he used his money to pay the bank, he might not have enough left to feed the herd. If he spent the money saving the bison, he could put his farm at risk. He finally understood that this was no longer just a fight to keep 43 bison alive; it was also a fight to keep his land, his home, and the future he had spent his whole life building.
Not long after that, the bank president personally drove out to the farm. He stepped out of his car with complete confidence, carrying a folder of papers. He told the old farmer there was still one way out of his trouble: the bank was willing to buy the entire farm, erase the remaining mortgage debt, and take the bison off his hands. All the farmer had to do was sign the property over and walk away from the land he had worked for so many years.
The offer was far below market value, but the bank president believed the old man was desperate enough to have no other choice. But the farmer immediately understood that the bank was not there to help him. His farm sat directly beside the large property the bank had recently seized from the former owner of the bison. If the bank could buy his land too, it could combine both properties into one large piece of land, making the new development project much easier and far more valuable. The total value of the property could rise sharply. The bison were only part of the situation; what the bank truly wanted was his land, and his financial problems were being used as leverage to force him to sell it for far less than it was worth.
The old farmer refused to sign. Instead of giving up, he went back to work and searched for every possible way to reduce the amount of hay he had to buy. He began using native grass in areas he had rarely touched before, leftover pasture from the previous growing season, and sections of land that had been resting. Then he divided the farm into smaller grazing areas and moved the bison from one section to another. Each area was used only for a short time before the herd was moved again; that gave the remaining grass time to recover instead of being eaten down to nothing.
Many people in the area said he was only delaying an unavoidable failure, but the bison responded better than anyone expected. They used their heads and hooves to break through the snow and reach the grass underneath. They naturally moved toward areas protected from the wind and quickly learned where food could still be found. By rotating the herd from one pasture to another, the farmer kept them from destroying any single section of land. That greatly reduced the amount of hay he had to buy from outside suppliers. With each passing day, he cut his costs a little more, while the bison slowly adapted to their new home.
Week after week passed, and the bank president's prediction still did not come true. The bison that had once looked like nothing but skin and bones began putting on weight. Their coats grew thicker and cleaner, and their steps became stronger. Hope continued to improve and often led the herd as they moved between grazing areas.
By the time winter finally ended, the result silenced many of the people who had laughed at the farmer. Of the 43 bison he had bought for only $1,200, just one older animal died from natural causes. The other 42 survived the brutal winter.
The veterinarian returned to examine the entire herd and could hardly believe how much they had changed. Animals that could barely stand at the auction were now running across the pasture. Most had regained weight much faster than expected. Their muscles had returned, and their overall health was stable. But one discovery caught the veterinarian's attention more than anything else: at least 19 of the females were pregnant. The herd had not only survived, it was preparing for a major calving season, and that could completely change what these animals were worth.
One day, while examining Hope as she began shedding her thick winter coat, the old farmer noticed something on her hip. Hidden beneath the heavy fur was an old brand that had been almost impossible to see before. It looked like a crown with three clear points.
Curious, he began checking the other bison more carefully. After hours of looking, he found the same mark on several more animals. The brands had faded with age, but the shape was still clear enough for the veterinarian to realize that this was not an ordinary ranch mark. The veterinarian remembered that a three-point crown had once been used to identify a conservation bloodline known as Red Crown. Years earlier, Red Crown bison had been highly respected among breeders because they handled cold weather extremely well, reproduced successfully, and could survive on poor quality grassland. They also needed less supplemental feed than many commercial herds.