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00:00:00Oh, yeah.
00:00:14Can you hear that?
00:00:16The prairie winds can play this thing better than I do.
00:00:20They say buffalo like music.
00:00:23It's what everyone I've met has said.
00:00:26You see a stampede.
00:00:28Those people were right.
00:00:33Welcome to the Wild West.
00:00:36We really didn't have a lot of experience.
00:00:39Eastern Colorado does come with a lot of wind.
00:00:42Having the bison has really challenged me in a couple ways that I haven't anticipated.
00:00:47It's like I'm seeing dinosaurs.
00:00:50We feel overwhelmed.
00:00:52With 90 mile an hour winds, this thing doesn't stand a chance unless we beef it up.
00:00:56We got to get to work.
00:00:58Everything just keeps on getting bigger and badder.
00:01:02This is a little bit bigger of a project than we anticipated.
00:01:06A lot of wind.
00:01:07Go slow.
00:01:09Hold.
00:01:09Hold.
00:01:11Hold.
00:01:11Hold.
00:01:17Hold.
00:01:18look out there you know what you're looking at the wild west namely Colorado look at these turbines
00:01:42so do you see a lot growing no it's really dry it's really harsh it's at elevation and it's
00:01:54really windy wind is the invisible predator for every homestead that has it and on that note
00:02:03Colorado bring it on in the expansive prairie lands of eastern Colorado the rainies respond
00:02:12to an SOS from one of their largest homesteads yet a sprawling 265 acre ranch with the increase of
00:02:21railroad lines in the late 1800s this region was once teeming with settlers lured by fertile soil
00:02:28and wide open grazing lands however when the drought hit in 1890 many fled leaving only the most
00:02:37dedicating who adapted farming techniques more suitable for a semi-arid environment today the
00:02:44region experiences extreme shifts in climate conditions from scorching heat to chilling
00:02:51hurricane-force winds making life a struggle for even the most seasoned homesteader and for
00:02:58the inexperienced like the Cooper family big ambition can lead to big problems I'm Melissa Cooper I'm
00:03:09Kevin Cooper and this is our 265 acre homestead in eastern Colorado we've been here four years now we
00:03:20have actually talked about home setting for as long as I can remember in our relationship we love the
00:03:26lifestyle we love being able to walk outside hear birds chirping see a beautiful sunset and then see the
00:03:32buffalo walk across you know the prairie spurred by the pandemic and an unexpected health scare the
00:03:40coopers moved to their homestead and were confronted with some harsh realities we would absolutely love to be
00:03:47able to sustain everything here have our own food in our garden but when we first moved out to the
00:03:52homestead we really didn't have a lot of experience we are the couple of city kids that came out here who
00:03:58don't have any background in agriculture we jumped into something with big dreams and we weren't ready
00:04:07Eastern Colorado does come with a lot of weather as far as wind the wind is killing the garden we have a
00:04:16really hard time starting plants on the homestead we've tried multiple different methods but as you
00:04:22can see we've had very little success with the beds we want to be more self-sustainable and grow
00:04:29vegetables but we don't see it being feasible one of our goals is to have livestock we want pigs but the
00:04:37barn's not a safe living environment right now the panels on the roof have been blown off there's
00:04:43structural beams that are no longer structurally sound we're new to this whole process there's so
00:04:50much that we're still learning and we feel a little overwhelmed right now we have bison and chickens we do
00:04:57process our bison but managing them is starting to be a threat to our livelihood bison are a very
00:05:05dangerous animal if bison do not have food and water they will go find it so all of our fencing we have
00:05:12if they want to go through it they will on the south end of the homestead we have a functioning
00:05:19well but we don't have water out on the pasture for the bison recently we had a new calf and we found
00:05:26the baby dead the cause was the heat and the lack of water and those are hard moments buffalo are number
00:05:34one and putting ourselves number two we've already had those situations where you see kevin and i snap
00:05:42at each other because the stress gets to us you know your dreams slowly turn into nightmares and we're
00:05:47trying to make it work the best that we can we're just failing marty misty matt we need your help
00:06:01hello hello hello
00:06:05well who uh who are we meeting i'm melissa melissa kevin kevin are you husband and wife garrett who's this
00:06:12big guy how does he fit in this brother-in-law your brother-in-law well nice to meet you guys
00:06:18how big is this homestead it's 265 acres and what are you doing with 265 acres we have a small herd of
00:06:25bison how many 16. so you called us here let's talk about some of those reasons
00:06:34we actually met while i was still in high school we have been together for 20 years we've been married
00:06:40for 12 and we have two kids together a boy who is 18 and a girl who is nine we lived in a suburb of
00:06:49denver we just wanted to chase our dream to be more self-sustainable we had been researching different
00:06:56types of livestock that we wanted to potentially raise and have decided on bison bison are native to
00:07:02this area they're literally the main animal that roamed our our prairies and our lands before they were
00:07:09almost extinct being just out on the property there is rolling hills it's definitely big sky country
00:07:16i think it's beautiful but it was more than nature that drew the coopers to this way of life
00:07:23it was kevin's surprise cancer diagnosis anybody who's ever experienced any kind of big health
00:07:32anything can relate to the fact that it just changes your perspective on life his cancer diagnosis
00:07:40made us start thinking about what the values were most important to us and how the time we had we
00:07:46wanted to spend it having the bison it's really challenged me in a couple ways that i haven't
00:07:51anticipated oh got yours up no the bison take about eight nine hours of my day every day
00:08:00all right i got the back the bison are full-time job they don't always have that direct time to
00:08:06fix all the needs on the property
00:08:12i try to repair things and fix things as i can but we haven't installed and updated vital things for the
00:08:18bison like getting that new bison shoot in right now we have to transport our animals every time we
00:08:26need to do something to them so whether that's a sick animal that needs to be vaccinated for something
00:08:32or our yearly roundup the stress of feeling like it could fail we've really invested everything
00:08:40we've left all of our friends and everything you know i may have a big tough facade on the outside but
00:08:46on the inside mentally that's definitely my weak side the thought crossed my mind did i make a mistake
00:08:52it is pretty mentally anguishing you do feel sometimes like quitting and waving the flag
00:09:01but it would absolutely destroy my wife if we had to move out of this situation looking out my window
00:09:07and seeing the herd come in over the hill is something that i never thought i'd experience but
00:09:13it's so peaceful being here for almost four years i can't imagine not living here having to go
00:09:25back to city life just seems
00:09:29i just don't know how we would do that sorry
00:09:32let's talk garden so we started with these six beds we felt really good our first year gardening
00:09:49and what did you grow we grew tomatoes and jalapenos cucumbers we had a nice zucchini crop did you try to
00:09:55plant anything this year we did we tried to plant a few things did anything grow no
00:09:59is this wind pretty relentless yeah i mean this is mild and so how windy does it get i mean on a
00:10:09bad day 90 mile an hour winds it gets bad what when you're dealing with gardening and wind you're
00:10:16dealing with something that is drying out your soil twice as fast it's devastating to your plants
00:10:21whether it's the stem or the leaves and it kills seedlings so you fail before you even start
00:10:27you need twice the amount of water when you're trying to garden in the wind right do you have
00:10:34water uh we do have water but it's also the same water that our house runs on we only have one well
00:10:41that produces water so when something goes wrong with the water we're out and it just goes to the
00:10:46bison yeah okay we have a well over here but it's dry okay can you show me yes okay melissa is
00:10:54successfully growing weeds and if that weren't bad enough there's no water growing food here is not
00:11:01going to be an easy thing cool yeah so this is our stables corrals is this a huge barn it's a big big barn
00:11:19and they're not using it for anything right now not right now storage how old is it about 1950s
00:11:28we're a good 70 80 years old it definitely looks like the water's leaking
00:11:36you know down into the rafters yes when we look at you know just the integrity of the building
00:11:41open wires birds nests feces just the holes in the ceiling i mean we're just trying to make sure that
00:11:50this building is going to be secure enough for housing animals properly they're talking about
00:11:57bringing pigs in and you know pigs a horse you know eventually and utilize some of the the stables in here
00:12:03these homesteaders want to expand their livestock so they can have another source of protein and make
00:12:09more money correct because they probably need it correct got a lot of potential getting that barn
00:12:14whipped into shape and ready for livestock could be the ultimate game changer for this homestead
00:12:20it'll give a chance outside of those bison to be self-sustainable
00:12:24so now we're heading out to our uh windmill for the water oh right there yep that's not functioning
00:12:37we've never had time to get to it right now they're walking all the way in for water to the corral
00:12:45earlier this year we had a hot spell coming through and one of the calves died about 100 yards from the
00:12:51water tank no way from the corral no dehydration is kind of what we assumed happened how hot did it
00:12:57get 104 105 was the max i feel privileged to be able to see buffalo or bison seeing this side is how
00:13:08it's supposed to be this is the way it was meant to be the people in alaska that raise bison will tell
00:13:15you that animal can go through any fence if it wants to fences are suggestions
00:13:21buffalo also known as bison are the largest mammal in the united states prior to european settlers
00:13:30millions of bison roamed north america nearly hunted to extinction in the late 1800s ranchers first
00:13:38nations communities and conservationists have worked to rebuild bison populations since the early 20th
00:13:46century commercial bison farming and ranching began in the mid-1980s but the animals can be unpredictable
00:13:55and dangerous with charging speeds up to 35 miles per hour they've caused serious injuries and at least
00:14:03one death in recent years you've been here four years you've never seen any water come out of here
00:14:11nope do you know any history on this well we looked it up through the county to know that this
00:14:16was operational one point in time once upon a time there were homesteaders here before kevin and melissa
00:14:25word is they raised cattle and maybe those cattle relied on the water produced by the windmill which now
00:14:33doesn't work and produces zero water it's a matter of life or death on a place like this we got to get it fixed
00:14:46all right guys this is what i really appreciate about these homesteaders they want to step back in
00:14:52time and help replenish the plains with buffalo so how are we going to help them their mission and
00:15:01their dream it was amazing but homesteading isn't just a one faceted thing how are they bringing in a
00:15:09garden here and keeping it alive how are they bringing other livestock what's that bigger picture
00:15:13plan look like i have ideas but is there going to be enough time in the day after they've tended to
00:15:19the bison and what did the three of us combined know about buffalo not that much we're going to
00:15:27have to get real creative because we're a little bit out of our league all right folks let's just start
00:15:39with what you guys are doing here is cool that said there's a lot to do here when it comes to having
00:15:47a successful garden here the biggest challenge is the wind i have a lot of ideas i'm ready to get
00:15:54to work in the morning sounds great garrett showed me the barn and the real money is in the barn itself
00:16:02and putting livestock in there whether it's trying to figure out what's happening with the well out there
00:16:08resurrect and make functional a barn or try to grow anything if you will that's what we do that's all
00:16:16called homesteading but we're not buffalo whisperers well i've got a proposition for you there is a
00:16:24neighbor ranch that we have a good relationship with i say we go take a look at their place tomorrow
00:16:29and get you guys more familiar with the bison the buffalo how's that sound that sounds like a blast
00:16:35crash course it's crash course we'll meet you there let's do it see you in the morning get some sleep
00:16:40guys see you guys thank you see you later thank you wow there's a big one over here where where what
00:16:50dad here comes the big guy oh
00:16:54the big guy oh here we go here we go as a new day dawns in eastern colorado this is the land where
00:17:09the buffalo roam you the rainies travel for their crash course on one of america's most legendary animals
00:17:19hello how are you guys good how are you doing well this is quite a spread this is 2700 right on here
00:17:302700 acres yeah is it all buffalo all buffalo i'm sean bennett i run prairie ridge buffalo ranch and i met
00:17:40kevin and melissa cooper about five years ago they had a dream they wanted to come out and raise bison
00:17:46and it's like any business it doesn't happen overnight it's a very steep learning curve and
00:17:51we're happy to help them as much as we can so we're so excited to be here because being from alaska
00:17:58we are not bison experts so we're here to like see your operation kind of see what's been working
00:18:03for you and what hasn't been working for you the coopers are so overwhelmed on their homestead
00:18:09because of the bison they take up so much time so much energy we need to figure out how they can
00:18:15grow their herd so that there's time left for homesteading is there anything we should know
00:18:21before we go out uh first thing i learned in the buffalo business sometimes it's best just let buffalo
00:18:25be buffalo it's kind of like raising kids very similar we're going to jump in my truck we're going
00:18:29to go out we're going to go look at some buffalo let's load up when you show up on a buffalo ranch
00:18:35and the owner of the ranch says jump in the truck let's go for a drive you get a little glimpse
00:18:41into history as you stand in awe of a herd of america's national animal oh my gosh
00:18:56you know you're dealing with some dangerous livestock when you can't approach them on foot
00:19:01and have to make sure you're in a truck so you don't get caught in a stampede oh yeah buffalo dust wow look at
00:19:09these guys buffalo treats what a beautiful animal visiting sean's ranch is really amazing it's like i'm
00:19:22seeing dinosaurs it's like a triceratops look at this guy wow there's a big one over here where where
00:19:29what dad here comes the big guy i'm back
00:19:42that is the most incredible thing i've ever seen sean what is that buffalo away about 2300 2300 pounds
00:19:50right there this is like an incredible amount of water like how much water does it typically typically a
00:19:55bison will drink about 16 gallons a day with 265 acres is that enough room to rotational graze
00:20:02you know i look at kevin and melissa where they're at right now where's your water sources they need
00:20:07that windmill up and operating for this homestead having water is really important when it comes to 16
00:20:16gallons a day per bison but man i'll tell you right now they just don't have that set up at all
00:20:22we're wanting to mainstream it as much as we can so there's room for other things so you have to
00:20:29expand what you do on a ranch in order to make the ranch viable in order to make it functional
00:20:35so let's talk what is it that you and your wife want to do so right now we're doing meat sales so we
00:20:43are in that meat market but that's where we've got a guy to get creative and bringing more money in to
00:20:48the homestead to kind of keep us moving forward and being successful copy all right well that was
00:20:55fascinating thank you guys very much for coming out that is the buffalo magic so cool
00:21:07all right see if you can pry that sucker out of there later that day matt and the cooper's brother-in-law
00:21:13garrett returned to the faltering barn hoping to restore it to safely house necessary sources of
00:21:20protein like pigs all right i figured we start on the worst one and put a full length stud in here
00:21:32right now we are replacing studs we already got two in and the reason is it's because of this look at all
00:21:39this i mean this wood is not it's not rotten you know it's this is not termites this is not water
00:21:47damage this right here is livestock rubbage scratchage and chewage to prepare the cooper's barn for future
00:21:58livestock matt and garrett will fortify the existing structure with new support beams replace dangerous
00:22:06exposed wiring and seal the roof by replacing deteriorated fiberglass panels turning this once
00:22:14vacant barn into a full-bore source of food and eventually income
00:22:24working with matt it's a great experience we work well together we have the same
00:22:28mind goal for this barn and that makes the process so much easier when we're thinking alike how's it
00:22:34fit perfect one of the really cool parts about garrett is he is just as invested into this whole bison ranch
00:22:43as the people that live on this ranch that's a brother-in-law you want to keep and he's tall
00:22:51you got a big scrapping guy that can really put the studs in you got a stud working with the stud putting
00:22:57the studs in
00:23:10it seems windier it is crazier today definitely just outside the barn misty and melissa are ready to
00:23:18defend the garden from colorado's elements
00:23:21no plant is going to survive in this crazy yeah i don't want to tear down the existing fence
00:23:29okay i just want to add wind protection so i'm thinking literally just like a wood wall a wood fence
00:23:36that the wind can't penetrate yeah i think that sounds amazing today's the day where we actually
00:23:41get to start homesteading clearly the bison have taken top priority with melissa and kevin but guess
00:23:47what my top priority is it's feeding this family we'll try this guy off listen kevin they're successful
00:23:54ranchers but moving to a place where they can actually grow food and setting them up for the
00:23:59spring is what i plan on doing okay we know where the posts go easy enough right yep let's grab the auger
00:24:07the post and get him in sounds good to protect the garden from eastern colorado's intense winds
00:24:14misty will drill holes to install a protective wooden fence complete with four by four posts solidified
00:24:21in concrete so the coopers can finally grow their own fresh food source on the homestead
00:24:27we're still overwhelmed with all we need to get done so misty working on the garden is a relief
00:24:45and with the wind barrier i think that we're gonna hopefully be able to be much more successful in the
00:24:49future we're gonna call that good four by four post in it's set in concrete because with 90 mile an
00:24:58hour winds this thing doesn't stand a chance unless we beef it up so we get the wind barrier in we get
00:25:04it nice and sturdy that way melissa can actually guard it i believe that's wayne i like this guy
00:25:20already over at the windmill marty and kevin meet with a local expert who can hopefully get it in
00:25:27working order and provide a desperately needed water source to help the bison and the cooper's
00:25:33homesteading dream from dying wayne wayne marty rainey kevin we moved here about three four years ago
00:25:42and uh never seen this thing up and running so wondering if you wouldn't have a little bit of
00:25:47knowledge on this won't know until we get it out of the cold okay i'm holding you up i like this guy
00:25:55he's a man of action these homesteaders have a house on the other side of the property with a well
00:26:02but out here on this back pasture it's dry so we have to fix the windmill to produce all the water
00:26:11than 16 buffalo can drink relying on the expertise of wayne marty and kevin will first take the windmill
00:26:19well apart from the ground up then establish at what depth the water is resting and rebuild the well
00:26:26accordingly they'll also remove any obstructions and fix any broken parts including the powering fan at
00:26:34the top this will allow the coopers to not only water their herd of 16 but to add enough
00:26:41bison to make the ranch sustainable
00:26:48i just met wayne and guess what i've heard he's smart he's talented and he's a jack of all trades
00:26:57we might just fix this windmill like your style
00:27:11it's day three on the cooper family's 265 acre colorado bison stead
00:27:25fire in the hole and with the windmill well disassembled and cleaned marty and wayne make
00:27:32final preparations to provide a life-saving water source for the grazing bison
00:27:41so 1336 minus 1227. 109 feet all deeper this is to the bottom of the well yes
00:27:50okay we're going to pull this out until we hit water on the rope
00:27:52the reason that they go with a lot of windmills instead of electric pumps because this can't pump
00:27:59that fast this will only pump about two three gallons a minute now that's perfect a lot of times you get
00:28:05in with an electric pump pump or dry yep the first recorded evidence of windmills being used for pumping
00:28:13water and grinding grain was in persia between 500 and 900 a.d in the 14th century the dutch took
00:28:22windmills to a whole new level with their taller and more efficient tower mills by the late 1800s and
00:28:30early 1900s windmills were sprinkled all over the american landscape becoming very useful in the great plains
00:28:38when a windmill's fan spins on a shaft it drives a geared mechanism in an up and down motion that
00:28:47motion pushes a long pump rod inside of a pipe in the well while a sealed plunger at the end of the rod
00:28:54forces the water up the pipe with sufficient wind an average windmill will produce up to 1500 gallons of
00:29:02water a day right there's static water level 23 feet it sounds like we're going to put this thing
00:29:10back together and we're going to see what this well can do in real life yeah
00:29:17wrenches don't cross thread it marty
00:29:23moment of truth
00:29:24well you just rebuilt it now what now see if it works
00:29:38i think i can fit through that hole let's go oh once you get the shoulders to now the real test
00:29:44is the love handles let's see while matt begins the barn roof repair
00:29:49okay so here's the deal misty enlists garrett for his expertise i've heard that you have a little
00:29:57bit of a plumbing background that's correct to revitalize a long dormant water source let's take a
00:30:03look
00:30:06what is this that's a drywall that used to be a old pump inside of there
00:30:13old breaker box black widows do you think it's a power issue or a water issue because the shutoff
00:30:19valves off well we can jump in and just to see if the shutoff is active and see if we get any kind
00:30:26of uh fluid i'm a little scared then somebody said black widow i can see some i'm going down in
00:30:34so unfortunately i have to jump down into a well full of black widows but we could have a secondary
00:30:42water supply that's huge oh my god it's gonna get on me it's gonna get on me
00:30:49and we've got water we got water we got water okay coming out because it's too scary there's water
00:30:58coming out of a pipe that's 70 years old this is super exciting can you just check my back oh yeah no
00:31:05you're good like you just brush my whole body oh yeah it's we're good just get in there yep you're good
00:31:09i did not expect water to come out of that pipe at all there's a secondary water source on the
00:31:16homestead like this what the fact that we have water the fact that we have water is huge is huge
00:31:24huge yes let's deal with the black widows let's get to a place where we can be down there safe and
00:31:29working and and we know what our materials list is so let's just go get it let's do it
00:31:44family come on over here come on kids with misty finding a possible water source for the garden
00:31:50to see if they can strike life-changing water for both the bison and the homestead we may have water
00:32:04if it's dry we got to go back to the drawing board wayne what's the next thing that has to happen we
00:32:09got to put oil in the tranny we can check it and see if there is any in there if you can reach it but i
00:32:14don't know if you're going to reach out from the platform clint kid clint can do anything clint get
00:32:18up here please it would mean the world to have water on the homestead not only just for us but what
00:32:32it means for the bison is huge there's times out here on the homestead where you feel in a bit over
00:32:38your head having the capability of having water out on pasture for our bison is a crucial step for us
00:32:44to get this going we got wayne hooked the brake back up we got clint ready to cut the chain and
00:32:51the wire i think we're ready okay so as soon as you let it go clint it's going to want to start
00:32:55spinning when you let go it's good it's going to spin it's going to spin and knock you clint that's a lot of
00:33:01it's going to win there she goes it's going up look how fast it's going look how fast it's pumping
00:33:22oh look at that dude come on water what is there water come on water come on baby okay i still don't
00:33:29see water okay hold on i mean she's moving
00:33:35come on come on where is it okay now i'm getting nervous
00:33:42you guys we have to talk no bs what if water doesn't come out
00:33:46i'm thinking you guys are screwed if this thing doesn't work
00:34:02on the cooper family's 265 acre bison stead i'm thinking you guys are screwed if this thing doesn't
00:34:09work the pivotal windmill has failed to strike water wayne what do you think we're gonna have to pull it
00:34:16out see why it's what's wrong with it okay so we're we're gonna pull it all back apart and see
00:34:21what's going on you want to stay and work on it yep okay the rest of you guys go back to work i'm
00:34:26really sorry let's go we're going to start all over i'm sorry everyone kind of kind of a bummer
00:34:34you know we we were excited we were you know all of us the rainies ourselves we we got excited for the
00:34:39water and well it never came all right let's get an excavator i'll take you down there let's grab the
00:34:45excavator never hear someone say failure is not an option what a ridiculous statement we did a lot
00:34:54of work we were 100 confident and no water came out so now we'll learn from those mistakes and make
00:35:03a better stronger well cool just hold it right there oh yeah we're trying to get this windmill back
00:35:10up and run it um so we've got the excavator up there stop the blade from spinning we're chaining
00:35:14up the blade right now as soon as he gets done chaining up that blade we're gonna rot back down
00:35:20and pull the pipe back out and see if we get water out of this
00:35:30yep see this right here is broke off oh so the brake broke yep
00:35:33that arm up there is supposed to hook into there it sits right there it usually sits right there when
00:35:40it's on are we going to be able to get a new one yep well a used one use one okay okay new to me so
00:35:48the first issue is there's no brake system on this window the next step we got to figure out what's going
00:35:55on down below all right get in here grab a pipe rinse we're going back in can't hurt me
00:36:15that tears are a problem what what and uh it's full of mud badly full of mud so we dropped it down too far
00:36:22yeah this is our filter right look underneath here we stabbed it that far this far into the mud
00:36:35the five or six inches of screen that draws the water in we sealed off any chance of getting water out
00:36:42we're convinced now that this thing's going to generate and pump water however we do need some
00:36:47critical parts so that this thing can operate safely with a brake system so until we can fix the brake
00:36:54we're sitting high and dry
00:37:07the next morning while the windmill team sources parts for the break let's start with the worst one
00:37:14first matt and garrett begin in the barn reinforcing the post beams that support the roof
00:37:21okay i think we're through it's the first project on a daunting list of important repairs
00:37:26to make the barn safe for livestock the biggest reason why these posts failed was because they were
00:37:33just sitting on the dirt there's no way we're going to fix this post by putting a post back on dirt
00:37:40we got to put that post on concrete i say we fill the whole set of posts on here then we'll just move
00:37:46on to the next one let's do it man but before that i have kind of a surprise got a hold of some people
00:37:54they're locals and they're going to help us with electrical steve dryland electric garrett thank you so
00:37:59much for coming yeah we plan to light it up in here awesome that's awesome i want to get in your way let's
00:38:03just work around each other because we just got to keep going we got a lot of stuff to do and i'm sure
00:38:07you're busy as heck all right let's get to work let's do it guys
00:38:15hold this out okay that worked really well matt and i are working in the barn we're getting posts
00:38:22secured we're pouring concrete in the ground to give integrity to the building the electric guys are
00:38:27here they're working fast they're doing the updates and upgrades that this barn needs to make it safe and
00:38:32sound you know about yet this thing's going to be bomb proof man that's what we want
00:38:45we got plenty of wind but no windmill i mean look at this this is pathetic with work on the windmill
00:38:51still stalled until wayne acquires a new brake part marty brings up something else that has been troubling
00:38:58him about the bison setup on the homestead i've learned more about buffalo in the last couple
00:39:04days than i've learned my entire life after that tour something was said that i picked up on we can
00:39:11rotate through so i can push a pasture during the summer time while it's growing and then pull animals
00:39:17off of it and allow it to grow so like their winter pasture hasn't seen a buffalo in six months
00:39:22the herd is on one side feeding while the other half of that pasture is allowed to grow to replenish to
00:39:32get healthy i sense that a fence straight across here would give you at least a start on rotational
00:39:41grazing yep that would be a good start i brought some string i've got about 75 t posts so we just get
00:39:46started let's just start putting boats in the ground identifying a lack of sufficient grass for
00:39:53bison due to over grazing marty proposes a reinforced fence that covers one square mile to create
00:40:00rotational grazing this will allow the bison to feed on one side of the fence while the other side regrows
00:40:09and then rotate every few months in this crash course of how to raise a buffalo herd successfully
00:40:24i've learned this it would behoove us to put in a fence straight across the property dividing that 265
00:40:32acres into two parcels the cool thing is the windmills right about in the center
00:40:39if we could get it fixed they'll have access to life sustaining water thank you so much
00:40:50push okay me and marty started doing fencing today for our rotational grazing
00:40:56we're essentially building a box around the water tank itself with an entry and exit point to the new
00:41:03pastures so this is going to give them lots of room and it's just going to really help with our soil
00:41:08and our grass so that way we can get more livestock that produce more income off to a good start
00:41:15across the homestead all right garrett garrett arrives with news that could set back the garden well project
00:41:31so this well is labeled as a canceled well with the state oh we are not able to get this
00:41:39well activated again unless we get the state involved why would they cancel a well the reservoir
00:41:48underground is empty we're going to be pulling dirt so that water was coming from the pre-existing
00:41:54well from the existing well existing lines in the property well you're a real buzzkill
00:42:00i'm sorry super bad news from garrett yesterday there was the old windmill that's a total bust we
00:42:09have the canceled dry hole in the ground with my well thanks for all the information anytime i appreciate
00:42:14it absolutely as far as the big home setting dream there's not enough water here to sustain it
00:42:30we're getting closer with two days remaining on the cooper's colorado homestead critical projects
00:42:43hang in the balance okay that's pretty good as matt begins work on a door for potential livestock at the
00:42:52barn you got cracked egg shells to make omelette misty goes back to square one after the failed garden
00:43:00well plan do me a favor pick this one out right here please and while the windmill is still in need
00:43:07of parts thank you marty and clint repurpose building materials for the rotational grazing build
00:43:15anytime you see a bunch of telephone poles on a property and you're about to put in some fencing
00:43:22for buffalo kind of cool to use them as the main races if you will because we've got to build not
00:43:28one but two gates in this rotational grazing program let's go all right melissa here we go
00:43:46later that morning misty and melissa pivot to the fence build that will protect the garden from
00:43:52colorado's vicious wind storms so i was trying to find one by of any kind i found this these are
00:43:59beautiful i love them okay they're great so we'll use these as pickets okay on the front side it's
00:44:03gonna look good right but we care about blocking the wind so you're able to guard it yes and you'll be
00:44:08able to do that when we get these on so let's cut the straps okay today's the wittiest day on the
00:44:14homestead by far it's time we put in the wind barrier okay timber first things first we've got
00:44:24a four by four post and concrete so that this thing doesn't blow down oh i like it i love it i think it's
00:44:32fantastic are you excited that you're actually going to be able to garden yes i'm very excited i think that
00:44:38the wood with the exposed bark looks amazing i think it's going to function really well and i was
00:44:44excited about the project even the first time she explained it to me but now with the new planks that
00:44:50she has found i'm even more excited about it i think it's going to work really well perfect how far
00:44:56apart are your kiddos about nine years so i had conard when i was 19 so we were pretty young
00:45:02and then kevin was diagnosed with vesicular cancer shoot how long ago it's about 11 years
00:45:10now since his diagnosis kevin was barely into his 30s at that young age you you don't expect
00:45:18to hear the c word and so it's just a shock to the system he was pretty fortunate in the fact that
00:45:26he had the less aggressive types and went and did the surgery and he was about a week out of
00:45:31recovery and i had been feeling kind of sick for a week or so and of course because we had just got
00:45:37a cancer diagnosis he was like oh my god you're dying and so he made me go to the doctor and i went
00:45:44to the doctor and i found out i was pregnant with lily oh my goodness so she's sort of our miracle baby
00:45:49we both have lost people to cancer
00:45:57it's so
00:46:00it just has a big impact it changes your perspective on everything
00:46:08oh yeah yeah oh that's so cool oh it looks so good i love it i think it's great
00:46:13i'm so happy that melissa opened up to me about kevin and his battle with cancer i think for me
00:46:19it's just motivating me right this is their make it or break it moment they know how fragile life is
00:46:24this is their dream and no matter what we have to make it work i love the fact that there's a wind
00:46:31barricade i love the fact that there's ventilation i love the fact that we didn't create a wind catch
00:46:35right we don't want a solid wall yeah it's gonna protect the plants but allow air to go through yeah
00:46:40done okay so that's one two three four five we just literally have a million 100 to go should we keep
00:46:46moving yep let's do it
00:46:53all right pin it
00:46:57okay that ain't going anywhere man not staying there later that day with the barn repair well at hand
00:47:04i'll follow you all right right over here melissa peels off the fence project to task
00:47:10matt and garrett with another homestead need so i wanted to bring you over here because i was going
00:47:15to see if you guys could help us with our bison shoot okay this is a cattle shoot it was here when
00:47:20we moved onto the property it's too small for bison yeah right so we got a bison shoot that we just need
00:47:27to swap the two shoots so that we can start working bison on our property instead of having to load them
00:47:33all up and take them over to sean's property to vaccinate them or check them for pregnancy or any
00:47:39of those kind of things okay well heck let's take a look at the bison shoot all right yeah once upon a
00:47:46time on this homestead there was cattle here the coopers have an old cattle shoot which is perfect if
00:47:53you want to put a cow in there but the bison are substantially bigger they're a lot more agile and
00:48:01they need a bison sized alley and shoot so this is a bison shoot so this is a bison shoot wow this thing
00:48:10is massive heavy duty for a heavy duty animal oh my gosh i mean it's just a solid steel contraption
00:48:17so basically with this one it works the same way as the other one does the bison come running through
00:48:22the chute and they hit their heads on the crash gate on that black wall that'll cause them to back
00:48:28up and then we can squeeze them into the chute you've done this before yes once a year yeah all 15
00:48:34females get on a trailer and spend the night at sean's ranch so that we can work them that does
00:48:39sound stressful well and we've lost a cow before during the process they get really stressed out in the
00:48:44pen and we woke up the next morning and she was deceased so that's really unfortunate yeah so this
00:48:49is a necessity yeah this is a necessity absolutely not only is it stressing out the buffalo but it seems
00:48:54like it's stressed out the homestead quite a bit yes okay well out with the old and with the new love it
00:49:01to safely allow bison to move to and from the property and receive life-saving medications
00:49:08matt will install a bison chute first he and garrett will lay a thick cement slab where they will anchor
00:49:15the three-ton bison squeeze chute then they will make the alley bison ready by raising the walls finally
00:49:24they will build a runway along the side of the alley from which the handlers can coax the bison once inside
00:49:30bring in the tractor come on in this is a bison ranch obviously the cattle chute's not going to work for
00:49:40us here so we have made a game plan and we went and grabbed kevin so he could give us a little assistance
00:49:45getting that old cattle chute out of there i think that's going to work all right stay clear
00:49:51oh it's going oh it's going that's perfect easy easier than i thought that's perfect all right should
00:50:01we unhook it yeah awesome man well hey thanks a lot kevin glad i could help boy
00:50:09cool that came out awesome yeah it really did so let's measure the new chute figure out how big of a
00:50:17footprint we need to put here and then once we know that we'll start forming up our forms for the concrete slab let's do it
00:50:40okay kids first of all good morning just 48 hours remain until the rainies leave the
00:50:47coopers 265 acre homestead let's talk a little bit as they push to finish their multitasking master
00:50:55class the rainies meet to enact a plan to juggle their many projects the rain falls mainly on the
00:51:04plains is definitely false i've not seen one drop of rain since we've been out here it's been hot it's
00:51:10been dry and everything we're doing needs water we've completely rebuilt the windmill from the top
00:51:18to the bottom and we still have no water in the meantime we've moved on to the next aspect which is
00:51:27rotational grazing so right now if we can pull this off we've hopefully got water rotational grazing and
00:51:33we're well on our way to helping these guys be buffalo ranchers i have a backup plan i hope for
00:51:41the canceled well but slowly but surely we're getting there when it comes to wind protection for the garden
00:51:48and i want to spend these next couple days shifting my focus to the bison i'd love to be able to take a
00:51:55little section of that barn to be able to create a shop and a space where people can come support the
00:52:01ranch and create this learning facility i want to focus on kids that's a really good idea so garrett and
00:52:09i have talked to melissa and kevin and there is a surprise project that i think is going to help the
00:52:15buffalo immensely and it has to do with being able to work the buffalo in the proper chute with the
00:52:25proper alley going in but it's no small project my biggest contribution for the bison is this alleyway
00:52:33and the chute and we will literally save lives all right let's hit it
00:52:37kevin thanks for joining us yeah what we got i wanted to show you this awesome slab near the barn
00:52:51matt and garrett bring in kevin for some advice on their ambitious bison chute project
00:52:57what do you think of this that's a slab you think this is gonna hold the big old buffalo chute i think
00:53:04so i'm jacked about it man this is a huge value to us the new bison chute is going to be critical
00:53:11for us to work our animals here on our property and give them vaccinations and take care of them
00:53:15one for the time that we're not going to waste hauling our animals to get them work somewhere else
00:53:20and number two it's going to keep the stress low on them working them here we got to talk about
00:53:25this little runway here yeah so just like the old chute was made for cows i think this area was also
00:53:31made for cows yeah not bison approved yeah bison are pretty big do you think that this is too small
00:53:37yeah they'll jump over these so it's too short yeah for sure and then the other thing is a lot of the
00:53:44working facilities they actually have a walkway about three feet off the ground you just need to have
00:53:49access in to see them okay to get them to move forward it's got to remember this is a stressful
00:53:54process for them so you want to make it quick and painless as possible get them in get them out
00:54:00this is all great info we got a lot of work to do over here this is a little bit bigger of a project
00:54:05than we anticipated there was a little more bit off than matt and i thought we were chewing
00:54:09i mean these are big animals we need to make sure that this chute is going to work properly for these
00:54:14animals
00:54:26okay
00:54:28matt and i are putting up the side panels we got to make it the right height about seven feet
00:54:46okie doke i think we've definitely raised the fencing high enough but i think we need to make it so that
00:54:53these animals can't see through it yeah we do need to block this up they get scared of us just as
00:54:59much as we can be scared of them okay so next step is let's wall off our fencing let's make it happen
00:55:08we're going to get the blinders put up it's really exciting stuff because we're going to
00:55:11be able to work these animals properly less stress on the animals less stress on the ranchers we're good
00:55:16to go one two three perfect height dude yeah just kick it down yeah there you go
00:55:37all right was it sturdy oh yeah it's jump around up here i can get in here yeah i can work animals
00:55:49keep them moving forward and i'll be safe everything just keeps on getting bigger and badder like those
00:55:56bison it looks so good with the new garden taking shape misty asks melissa to show her the business
00:56:09end of the homestead what is this space so this space currently we use it as our makeshift shop for
00:56:19the ranch so when we have visitors they come in here first and this is also where we store all the
00:56:24meat to sell okay nice is it this yes so show me you got you have your different cuts so we have our
00:56:31cuts and our price sheet and then right now yeah this is our meat selection certified yeah like ready
00:56:38to go ready to go in business right now yep man this is amazing so you're just you're already a small
00:56:44scale operation yes would you like to do something pretty official when it comes to what you're doing
00:56:51already yes i'd i'd love to have a place that customers can come in and they feel like it's an
00:56:55actual store okay i would love to be able to do that now that we have sort of got the garden almost
00:57:04finished misty called me over to talk about our storefront for the ranch misty wants us to work
00:57:10together on giving that shop a facelift so it's a little bit more presentable when we have customers
00:57:15come and visit the ranch so i feel like we take this country store we add to it and possibly turn
00:57:20it into something else as well if there's time and we just make it happen let's go let's do it
00:57:31over at the windmill the project to make it functional is at a standstill the moment of truth
00:57:39with the clock ticking to bring vital water to the herd marty and kevin need wayne to come through
00:57:46with the break part good news or bad news
00:57:53good news for real i have the parts you have the parts i gotta be honest i wasn't the least bit surprised
00:58:00were you no i knew wayne would fall through tell us what to do please please
00:58:11we're ready to go up with it it's gonna get western
00:58:20getting a little crazy out here the wind's howling
00:58:23the fans are designed to move in the wind bring it on over trust me those galvanized fins are sharp
00:58:34and yet wayne clint and i we're trying to keep it stable so we can remount it and go for our second
00:58:42test to produce water it coming loose regardless of that wind we don't have time to spare we're going to
00:58:49go for it if you can just hold it right there away from the tower right there okay you got it going up
00:58:58a lot of wind a lot of wind wayne
00:59:00we're trying to keep it stable that's heavy dude
00:59:30while wayne at the top's hanging on to the tower with one hand and with the other hand he's trying
00:59:35to guide the mass of the windmill and motor onto a little shaft and those galvanized fins are sharp
00:59:48careful there okay
00:59:50there you go
01:00:02she's set you're amazing
01:00:04we're good okay
01:00:16should work
01:00:18i hope it works well you got plenty of wind for it today
01:00:24we're about 10 seconds from having water everybody get up here
01:00:32okay come on over here this morning we kind of woke up we were a little bummed because of the
01:00:44water situation there was a lot of anticipation and build up for there to be no water uh so today we
01:00:50were kind of waiting with faded breath i'm hoping that this is the one it was deja vu all over again same
01:01:02people same place no water and i'm telling them it's coming this time it's coming i hope that's true
01:01:09what do you think wayne give us an update well i hope it works this time
01:01:23it's coming
01:01:38having that water up and running out on the windmill out on pasture is a major major
01:01:43game changer for us we can start doing rotational grazing and that's just going to help the buffalo
01:01:49and the grass and the soil i'll be healthy oh honey just a little dirty just a little dirty give it a
01:01:59chance to clear up it's going to be crystal clear in 15 minutes you think after seeing water come out of
01:02:06the ground out of a pipe that it would become mundane but every time you see water coming from
01:02:13where it wasn't before you know that you've just changed the lives of the homesteaders
01:02:24okay so 10 000 gallons a week is coming out of there 10 000 gallons a week we need it we need it
01:02:32so thank you wayne thank you having wayne come out and help us like that and having a neighbor so
01:02:39close just kind of confirms what we've learned so far with rural living and how great our community is
01:02:44about circling around their neighbors and helping where they can we've got work to do we're going to
01:02:49leave you with your new well thanks a lot wayne appreciate it don't blow away sir
01:03:09i think we got the muscle to pick it up but let's see later that day matt and garrett enact the final
01:03:26step in completing the bison shoot project the alleyway is beefed up for bison now we've got the excavator in
01:03:34here and see if we can lift up that new bison shoot and put it into place you're good just come
01:03:40straight down let's go and over at the windmill right there marty and clint launch back into the
01:03:49fencing for the rotational grazing project let go today we're bouncing around projects so back to
01:03:57business here we're going to put a fence right down the center of this property right where the windmill is
01:04:03there's going to be a gate here and then the gate on the opposite to create rotational grazing for
01:04:08these buffalo while concrete is laid in the shop
01:04:23can you help me with something yeah misty and melissa borrow clint with an idea for a simple
01:04:29yet potentially game-changing solution to the cancelled well we have the dry cancelled well
01:04:36right but we have water yes from the main water supply at the house which has gone dry my dream
01:04:42come true would be to have a self-contained watering system for this garden a holding tank sitting right
01:04:48here separate from everything else and i think literally it's just a liner in the dry cancelled well
01:04:53perfect we should plumb up move everything outside this dry well and put the shutoff valve in a place
01:04:59where you can reach it oh great let's start digging okay here we go right now i'm working on the well
01:05:07with misty obviously more water in the garden is going to be super beneficial so that our crops have
01:05:14water all the time regardless of what happens to our other water source what do you think should i dig
01:05:20with the shovel i didn't want you to hit the pipe we'll dig the rest out by hand run some new plumbing
01:05:27get the shutoff valve and let's pick it out here done okay water's off water's off
01:05:35turning this decommissioned well into a reliable water source for the garden is a necessity cut those
01:05:42flush once this is a complete system and the bison are complete system doesn't matter what's happening
01:05:49the homesteaders are completely set up for success okay go ahead and attach that i want you to do the
01:05:55honors okay first time hopefully that water's in the garden
01:06:06yeah i'm so hot it's gonna be so helpful we have water for the first time which to me i'm looking at
01:06:13guaranteed food right no matter what happens your goal we'll just get a lid on this thing done yep
01:06:22water in the garden
01:06:32it's the final day at the cooper family's 265 acre bison stead here we go over by the garden crucial
01:06:48deliveries arrive for misty first a truckload of topsoil through the garden beds all of these beds
01:06:56melissa is finally going to be a successful gardener
01:07:02and later new pine trees to reinforce a wind barrier
01:07:08somebody over some trees hi the plan is to kind of create this wind barricade across the front of the
01:07:14house okay right here thank you so much for coming and helping we'll get these trees in thanks to you
01:07:29and we really appreciate it like what a generous thing
01:07:32okay here we go at the barn matt and garrett survey the newly restored facility before livestock
01:07:46finally arrives you can see every improvement we made to this entire barn just in this one corner
01:07:53that we made for the pigs we beefed up some fencing just by using some two by sixes upcycled old gates
01:08:00we have new posts actually safe wiring not just for outlets but for lights absolutely it's incredible
01:08:09in here the barn is spectacular it is not just a leaky building for storage we can put animals in
01:08:16this building now and that was what kevin and melissa needed for this homestead we didn't beat
01:08:21this barn up for nothing yeah wait till you get a load of this i got a pig surprise for you all right
01:08:29how you doing sir how are you what's your name brad brad you're the man with the pigs i am pigs are
01:08:35probably ready to get out of here right all right move them in starting with the barn and getting it
01:08:43ready for livestock was important to the homestead because you can't just really run a bison ranch
01:08:49on the bison alone you have to diversify and that is really where the barn is going to come into play
01:08:56big time i want to see the pigs hey we beefed up the barn yes for bacon oh they're so cute
01:09:08i love them the ultimate goal is to diversify the homestead right this is definitely a big step in
01:09:14that direction these four little pigs they're just the beginning you could raise anything in here hey look
01:09:21they look so happy yeah it was wagons thank you so much this is amazing i'm so excited that's music
01:09:28to my ears see you later all right let's go check out that buffalo squeeze let's do it
01:09:36so the bison are going to walk down through here and then you corral them that is correct they'll be
01:09:41coming down the alley now yeah into the squeeze bashing through here and then go bam now squeeze them in
01:09:50there okay now let me out we come right out here and then go back to being a buffalo these animals
01:10:04stay on the property and working them right here and that's going to make it as stress-free as possible
01:10:10i agree i agree we want stress-free animals it's going to keep stress-free homesteaders and that's key
01:10:16words can't explain the transformation for the rainies and the locals and the community just
01:10:21coming together it's a blessing everything revolves around the bison on this homestead and i think that
01:10:27we have helped the bison the best way that we could i agree this is great seven days ago the cooper family
01:10:36had a leaky unstable barn that was unsafe for additional livestock and they had no way to contain
01:10:44their bison for vital care and handling today they have a completely renovated barn with new roofing
01:10:52support beams and electrical wiring now ready to house sources of protein and profit they also have
01:10:59a new bison shoot where they can work animals safely on the homestead allowing for a stress-free environment
01:11:06and helping to make this a viable ranching operation i feel really good leaving this homestead because
01:11:14i know that this is going to come in real handy and it's going to save buffalo lives absolutely
01:11:18i think our work here is done let's go
01:11:28here we go in the pasture marty kevin sean and the rest of the team race to finish the fence line that
01:11:37will allow rotational grazing for the bison these last couple of hours have gotten a little hectic it has
01:11:44literally come down to the wire i can sense the buffalo are kind of tired of me being here they're
01:11:50getting closer and closer every day so we gotta get this done quickly we got a crew down there with some
01:12:05barbed wire but from that corner to that far corner uh it's about a thousand feet
01:12:14so if we do five strands we've got a mile of barbed wire to stretch now
01:12:27they're here
01:12:30now these guys have decided wait a second there's a whole group of people up there they're going to
01:12:34move up a little closer to protect these buffalo that they basically sent up here to investigate us
01:12:38there's water over here so at some point we might have to wrestle them if they want water
01:12:43either that or we got to move through we want to drift through nice and slow nice and calm
01:12:49no pressure they you're all you're doing is activating these new fence lines we've put up
01:12:53what you don't want them is running if they run they don't see that fence they run right into it
01:12:57they tear it all down they're like oh that's how easy it is to tear it down i'll do that next time too
01:13:02she's gonna go check all this out decide if she likes it or not whenever they start shaking their
01:13:07head you start paying attention now you're if they shake their head they're basically getting
01:13:10themselves just like you would in a bar fight she is shaking her head she doesn't like it we're
01:13:15just gonna back up and give them space oh my gosh what you're really watching is they go
01:13:22from the head shake to their tails a tail goes up we need to get in the truck
01:13:37congratulations on picking the windiest day of the year took fall trees that are leaning towards
01:13:42your house melissa wanted us to take out a few trees and then pull the stumps sure we did it
01:13:47but when we pulled the stumps out i thought man that stump looks like we could carve it into something
01:13:54maybe that could be buffalo
01:13:59this horn starts out as a tree branch and then we set it at the store
01:14:06the buffalo's talking
01:14:17but i'll guarantee you this out of all the people with a buffalo store in colorado
01:14:22there's only one that is a buffalo head carved out of a stump this big around you'll be the first photo of
01:14:31mini
01:14:40so we've got work to do but the problem you run into is sometimes you just gotta let buffalo be buffalo
01:14:47find out how good you put those in the ground now won't you
01:14:52oh my lord
01:14:53he just bent the post oh yeah look no he bent it what do we well i mean what we have to fix it
01:15:02stop stop stop clint clint's on the skid steer yeah that okay yeah she's not wanting clint
01:15:10she just wants a drink of water
01:15:13i gotta tell you this makes me really happy we spent a better part or two two and a half days trying to get
01:15:18that thing to produce water and there you go see how calm this is i have no more head shaking
01:15:25everybody now is looking at oh we got a hole i got water when's it my turn oh this is amazing
01:15:32this is it done this is why you do what you do and you know you don't think about it but they didn't
01:15:37really need to do this at this time of day this is almost them coming over telling you thank you
01:15:41so what we just witnessed correct me if i'm wrong was the herd getting familiar with all these changes
01:15:48absolutely coming out here and checking out the changes seeing what the changes do what they affect
01:15:53i tell you that's one of the coolest things i've ever witnessed oh it's it's amazing
01:16:02now that the buffalo are gone we got to get to work time is way too precious on this homestead to stand
01:16:09around
01:16:28i love this thing so much it's so beautiful and it's protecting one of the most important things
01:16:32on the homestead the garden i love it it's amazing we're missing one thing plants yes i think that
01:16:42letting the soil sit and getting it ready in the spring is perfect yeah obviously doing more than
01:16:48just bison ranching was the point yeah i think it's going to be way more successful because of your help
01:16:54we called the rainies out here because we needed help on the property and in the last week they've really
01:17:01been able to transform it all of the changes are going to make such a difference as far as being
01:17:07more self-sustainable having water storage is so important it's huge the idea was to take that cancel
01:17:14dry well and turn it into a reliable water source for the garden you are going to be a successful gardener
01:17:20i hope i don't disappoint no you won't you won't should we go check out the shop yeah let's do that
01:17:26come on in your new shop oh my gosh this is amazing i absolutely love it it's so cool i wanted to do
01:17:40something different and i was thinking why not be geared for kids let's have them learn about bison
01:17:47maybe become bison ranchers themselves that's what this space is i think that's so cool we just
01:17:53couldn't say how thankful we are for them coming out and helping us would you be willing to be the
01:18:00first person to sign the guest book i would love that it's just overall been a mind-blowing experience
01:18:06it's been great seven days ago the cooper family had a garden wasted away by heavy windstorms and a
01:18:14lack of water from a dry well today they have brand new garden beds with fresh topsoil
01:18:22a wooden fence barrier with extra trees for wind resistance and a nearby water storage cistern for
01:18:29the garden to ensure their homestead business will thrive they also have a restored bison shop
01:18:37complete with an educational area to make it accessible to kids and adults alike
01:18:43that makes me so happy to see this reaction you guys have worked really hard to get to this place
01:18:52yeah definitely and when you look around are you like oh my gosh we're gonna be able to pull it off
01:18:56yeah we're actually going to be able to do things that we've talked about and dreamed about and
01:19:01it's amazing so thank you you're welcome
01:19:11windmill's blowing what's that sound that is the sound of h2o that's the sound of success that's the
01:19:20sound of hope that's the sound of the future and it can come true if you got enough water to keep it
01:19:27alive yes sir this whole water fence rotational grazing i just can't even put into words how this
01:19:38is going to help us and the buffalo in the short amount of time that we've had that water up and
01:19:44running the bison actually have been going out there more than they've been coming into the corral
01:19:49which is just a good indicator to me that the work that the rainies have done here is really going to
01:19:54help us and not just today tomorrow for years to come one week ago the cooper family had a dry
01:20:01windmill well on a sparse pasture causing bison mortality and preventing the expansion of the herd
01:20:09today they have a working windmill well capable of producing 300 to 400 gallons of water it's the
01:20:17central piece in a rotational grazing fence system that will allow the bison to feed on a portion
01:20:23of the pasture while the other side recovers making for a healthy productive herd it actually gives us
01:20:32hope for the future that we can continue taking care of these great animals out here it's a good moment
01:20:38it's a fantastic moment
01:20:39you know it's a good day on a homestead when you've done your best and you've worked till the sun's set
01:20:53yeah we totally whipped that barn into such good shape there's pigs in there now the rainies are
01:21:00examples of what homesteading is and doing the unheard of for the coopers it's official you guys went
01:21:07from ranchers to homesteaders we showed up you were very focused on the bison and we've shifted
01:21:13gears and now there's so much going on well thank you guys so much we want to give you this it's photo
01:21:20i took as a thank you guys that's so sweet thank you so awesome thank you from the bottom of my heart
01:21:28her heart and garrett's heart we absolutely appreciate what you guys have come out and done
01:21:32for us you've accelerated us you've given us hope so thank you i don't know what else to say but thank
01:21:40you a lot of the things that i took away from marty is how to stay mentally tough i know how to do a lot
01:21:46of things but there's something with experience and mental toughness that comes through this this
01:21:53style of life of homesteading rural living i'm extremely joyful for the things that the rainies
01:21:58have done for us thank you it means a lot to me personally coming to their homestead was like
01:22:06a dream come true for me to actually see wild buffalo roaming across the plains of colorado
01:22:15thank you again is an experience i'll never forget go help somebody else
01:22:29since the rainies left things have been going great we did have a big snowstorm and so having
01:22:36the barn complete with a new roof and stuff was super helpful here's the pig pigs they're doing great
01:22:43love coming out there a little outdoor area as well the water tank that's working awesome still got
01:22:50water flowing the buffalo we're drinking out of it it's a big stress reliever and one thing i'm really
01:22:55happy with on the garden is the windbreak when the wind's kicking up it really works i'm just very
01:23:02excited for spring the shop is absolutely amazing the great thing with garrett is he actually fell in love
01:23:10with the bison and him and my sister and their kids are actually planning on moving out here we're
01:23:15going to try to get them on the property with us
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