What do you think?
Rate this book
Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land
For more than forty years the prairies of South Dakota have been Dan O’Brien’s home. Working as a writer and an endangered-species biologist, he became convinced that returning grass-fed, free-roaming buffalo to the grasslands of the northern plains would return natural balance to the region and reestablish the undulating prairie lost through poor land management and overzealous farming. In 1998 he bought his first buffalo and began the task of converting a little cattle ranch into an ethically run buffalo ranch.
Wild Idea is a book about how good food choices can influence federal policies and the integrity of our food system, and about the dignity and strength of a legendary American animal. It is also a book about the daughter coming to womanhood in a hard landscape, the friend and ranch hand who suffers great tragedy, the venture capitalist who sees hope and opportunity in a struggling buffalo business, and the husband and wife behind the ranch who struggle daily, wondering if what they are doing will ever be enough to make a difference. At its center, Wild Idea is about a family and the people and animals that surround them—all trying to build a healthy life in a big, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous land.
Wild Idea is a book about how good food choices can influence federal policies and the integrity of our food system, and about the dignity and strength of a legendary American animal. It is also a book about the daughter coming to womanhood in a hard landscape, the friend and ranch hand who suffers great tragedy, the venture capitalist who sees hope and opportunity in a struggling buffalo business, and the husband and wife behind the ranch who struggle daily, wondering if what they are doing will ever be enough to make a difference. At its center, Wild Idea is about a family and the people and animals that surround them—all trying to build a healthy life in a big, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous land.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2014
22 people are currently reading
264 people want to read
About the author
Dan O'Brien
18 books58 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Dan O'Brien was born Daniel Hosler O'Brien in Findlay Ohio on November 23, 1947. He attended Findlay High School and graduated in 1966. He went to Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from Findlay College in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the University of South Dakota in 1973 where he studied under Frederick Manfred. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green University (of Ohio) in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at Denver University. When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s he began to change his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001 he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass fed and field harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the American Great Plains. He now raises buffalo and lives on the Cheyenne River Ranch in western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, FYI. New York Times Book Review.
Dan O'Brien was born Daniel Hosler O'Brien in Findlay Ohio on November 23, 1947. He attended Findlay High School and graduated in 1966. He went to Michigan Technological University to play football and graduated with a BS degree in Math and Business from Findlay College in 1970 where he was the chairman of the first campus Earth Day. He earned an MA in English Literature from the University of South Dakota in 1973 where he studied under Frederick Manfred. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green University (of Ohio) in 1974, worked as a biologist and wrote for a few years before entering the PhD program at Denver University. When he won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction in 1986 he gave up academics except for occasional short term teaching jobs. O'Brien continued to write and work as an endangered species biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks and later the Peregrine Fund. In the late 1990s he began to change his small cattle ranch in South Dakota to a buffalo ranch. In 2001 he founded Wild Idea Buffalo Company and Sustainable Harvest Alliance to produce large landscape, grass fed and field harvest buffalo to supply high quality and sustainable buffalo meat to people interested in human health and the health of the American Great Plains. He now raises buffalo and lives on the Cheyenne River Ranch in western South Dakota with his wife Jill. Dan O'Brien is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Grants for fiction, A Bush Foundation Award for writing, a Spur Award, two Wrangler Awards from the National cowboy Hall of Fame, and an honorary PhD from the University of South Dakota. His books have been translated into seven foreign languages and his essays, reviews, and short stories have been published in many periodicals including, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, FYI. New York Times Book Review.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 17, 2022
As always, O’Brien’s writing captivates me and fills me with a need to be out on the open prairie. He’s one of a couple of authors (Kathleen Norris being the other I can think of right now) who’ve helped to turn me into a South Dakotan by choice, not be happenstance. This book is about so much more than bison, it’s about living in a world that we can’t control, about the complicatedness of relationship with other human, about the agony of trying to do the right thing in a world where there are sometimes no right options. And it’s all so beautiful.
January 2, 2020
Although another interesting and important read, a review is not forthcoming. At least not a critical review, or a story examining how the book related to my own life, or even a few remarks generated by saved highlights and wondrous quotations lifted from the pages. Not that kind of book. The first one in this series, yes, but this memoir was mostly a follow-up and included more personal family details, marriages, and injuries. The day after Christmas I ordered a little over a hundred bucks worth of bison meat from his company. I am guessing that was the idea for O'Brien getting his words and book cover out there in the public eye. At least it worked for me. Long live the plains.
February 20, 2017
So, if you're only going to read one book about a buffalo ranch in South Dakota…it should actually be O'Brien's transcendent Buffalo For The Broken Heart.
But I am here to tell you that this writer and this subject matter are worth two books of your time, minimum.
O'Brien is a careful writer, but his care never hides his passion. And if Buffalo For the Broken Heart is for stirring the deep stuff: Land. Work. Self and soul, then Wild Idea is about what builds on that: Marriage. Parenthood. Friendship. Business. Neighbors. Compromise.
But I am here to tell you that this writer and this subject matter are worth two books of your time, minimum.
O'Brien is a careful writer, but his care never hides his passion. And if Buffalo For the Broken Heart is for stirring the deep stuff: Land. Work. Self and soul, then Wild Idea is about what builds on that: Marriage. Parenthood. Friendship. Business. Neighbors. Compromise.
May 3, 2019
Such a great book! Dan O’Brien does such a good job writing in such a way that you feel like a fly on the wall of many great and heartbreaking moments of his life. Tactful and tasteful. Also addresses the importance of restoring a native species back to its native land and the win/win situation that it provides.
July 27, 2018
O'Brien has written a second compelling account of how he ventured into the bison meat business. Not what you'd necessarily expect to be a gripping or warm read. You'd be wrong.
March 8, 2022
I loved O'Brien's Buffalo For the Broken Heart, which led me to the Wild Idea Buffalo Co., and their wonderful bison meat. My whole problem with meat, esp. red meat, is how it is raised and esp. how it is slaughtered. Inhumane does not begin to describe those two sides of industrial meat farming.
But Dan O'Brien had a better idea - healthful, prairie-raised and range-killed bison meat. So I tried it and wow! But anyway, that's a different review (but if you're a meat eater, you should try it). But again I digress.
This book is sort of a sequel to the first, a memoir of Mr. O'Brien's later life and the building of his company, too. It's got a lot more about the business, which is fine, and a lot more about his family (great), but sadly, too little about how running bison actually helps restore the Great Plains' ecosystems, benefiting not only waterways but other species of plants and animals, and helping with global warming. Native grass prairies are an enormous carbon sink, maybe not as good as the Amazon rainforest or the taiga of the far north, but vast and incredibly important for all of us. So I as an individual wanted more about that, which isn't a fair way to judge the book, which is highly readable, poignant, and humane. So hurrah to Dan O'Brien for showing us all one way to lead an ethical life that actually helps others - and for writing an interesting book, too.
But Dan O'Brien had a better idea - healthful, prairie-raised and range-killed bison meat. So I tried it and wow! But anyway, that's a different review (but if you're a meat eater, you should try it). But again I digress.
This book is sort of a sequel to the first, a memoir of Mr. O'Brien's later life and the building of his company, too. It's got a lot more about the business, which is fine, and a lot more about his family (great), but sadly, too little about how running bison actually helps restore the Great Plains' ecosystems, benefiting not only waterways but other species of plants and animals, and helping with global warming. Native grass prairies are an enormous carbon sink, maybe not as good as the Amazon rainforest or the taiga of the far north, but vast and incredibly important for all of us. So I as an individual wanted more about that, which isn't a fair way to judge the book, which is highly readable, poignant, and humane. So hurrah to Dan O'Brien for showing us all one way to lead an ethical life that actually helps others - and for writing an interesting book, too.
March 3, 2023
This is an honest, open book about a life lived on the land. It neither glorifies the life nor is overly bleak, though there is a repeated theme of what can one ranch really do in the grand scheme of things? At times the writing can be choppy and there's not much flow from one vignette to the next. But the overall picture it paints of work, family, friends, and ecology is intriguing. You come to like and care for the characters and think more deeply about the interconnections of bison and native grasslands.
September 7, 2018
Dan O'Brien s'engage et défend l'écosystème fragile des grandes plaines, sans entrer dans les détails végé/vegan. Il écrit son roman comme un argumentaire en sa faveur. L'ensemble du roman montre aussi le développement d'un vaste projet qui n'intéresse que peu de monde, mais qui se crée à la force de la volonté. Un très bon roman de nature writing
Chronique complète:
https://defilenmots.blogspot.com/2018...
Chronique complète:
https://defilenmots.blogspot.com/2018...
May 23, 2020
Dan O'Brien makes me long to head out west to visit his ranch, and to enjoy the plains, and Cheyenne River view. Wild Idea chronicles the expansion of Dan's family, his buffalo herd, and Wild Idea, the family business. I cried three times within the last two chapters. Dan O'Brien has a great heart, and it shows up in the writing once again. (I think I said that about Buffalo For the Broken Heart too, and I just can't think of better way to say it, so sayin' it again.)
September 4, 2015
Summary: Dan O'Brien continues the story begun in Buffalo for the Broken Heart, describing the growth of the Wild Idea Buffalo Company, the move to a new ranch, and the challenges of a maturing daughter, an aging friend, and the struggle to build an ethical and ecologically sound business on the ever-challenging Great Plains.
In Buffalo for the Broken Heart (reviewed here), Dan O'Brien chronicles the challenges of cattle ranching on the Great Plains and his conversion to raising buffalo, which he argues are better adapted to the harsh environment, better for the grasses of the Great Plains, and better for people. That book ended with the beginnings of his relationship with Jill, and the launch of the Wild Idea Buffalo Company.
This book develops the story from those beginnings. It interweaves the story of his partnership in love and business with Jill and the concerns many parents will identify with as Jill's daughter Jillian comes of age, makes and later regrets some choices in love as she figures out her own life.
Central to the story is the growth of Wild Idea. First they take on the challenge of purchasing a much bigger ranch (with much bigger debt) adjacent to federal lands where they can also graze buffalo, allowing them to acquire a much larger herd to meet the demand. This in turn requires the acquisition of a mobile slaughtering setup since on-site harvesting could sometimes be more than two hours distant from meat packing plants.
A crucial turning point comes when a socially conscious investor who has purchased their products and loves what they stand for comes on board for a stake in the company. Suddenly the subsistence rancher and his wife, who was running the business side of Wild Idea out of a closet based on her restaurant experience, confront spreadsheets, production goals, and the need to further expand their business capacity--building a production and storage facility, hiring additional personnel, and finding sources of buffalo beyond their own ranch. O'Brien is honest about the struggle between his lofty goal of transforming ranching and the ecology of the Great Plains, and the realities of growing the business operation that must succeed with the workforce at hand in a difficult physical environment.
Life happens in all kinds of challenging and wonderful ways in the middle of this. Jillian, struggling with depression after a breakup adopts a rescue dog who rescues her, and she meets Colton, another dog owner and student, who she eventually marries in a beautifully narrated scene at the end of the book. Erney, Dan's friend for forty years, has a stroke, and both struggle to adapt to Erney's physical limitations and yet real place in the family, as he returns to the ranch. The two of them had spent their lives training falcons, including Oscar, who Erney took care of. But it was several years since they had last gone out for grouse, what with Erney's stroke, and the growing business. The account of what happened when they did was a highlight of the book:
"There was a tiny flicker of silver far above and the chuckle of flushing grouse below. It was all I could do to keep my eyes pointed upward. Another few flicks of light and the anchor shape consolidated, accelerated, and began twisting in freefall. The sizzle of wings came to my ears. Then Oscar was coming right at me and I heard the grouse whirr overhead.
"There was a puff of feathers and Oscar shot skyward as the grouse tumbled to the ground. He reached his zenith and flipped to spin downward and settle on the grouse halfway between my position and where Erney sat in the ATV....Then I turned to call the dogs to me. They came at a sprint and we tumbled into the grass in a pile of laughter and wagging tails.
"When we got to Oscar, Erney had driven the ATV to within a few feet. He sat down looking at Oscar as the falcon ceremoniously plucked grouse feathers. Hank and Tootsie [the dogs] lay down, waiting for their cut of the spoils, and I smiled at Erney. 'So what did you think of that?'
"He didn't answer right away, and when I looked, I noticed he that he was choking up. 'Probably the last really good flight I will ever see,' he said." (pp. 255-256)
This book seemed less evocative of the atmosphere of the Great Plains and the challenges of sustainable ranching than Buffalo for the Broken Heart. That book was more caught up with a vision, and this one with the nitty-gritty of turning that vision into reality. The circle of people closes in more around family and close friends--Gervase, Shane, and their investors. Yet what made this book stand out from just an article in Businessweek, was tough love and affection, between Dan and Jill, as parents for their daughter, and with their circle of friends, all trying to eke out a decent life on these Great Plains. And there is the almost mystical relationship with the buffalo for whom they care, and who care for them in turn, as Native American stories would say.
In Buffalo for the Broken Heart (reviewed here), Dan O'Brien chronicles the challenges of cattle ranching on the Great Plains and his conversion to raising buffalo, which he argues are better adapted to the harsh environment, better for the grasses of the Great Plains, and better for people. That book ended with the beginnings of his relationship with Jill, and the launch of the Wild Idea Buffalo Company.
This book develops the story from those beginnings. It interweaves the story of his partnership in love and business with Jill and the concerns many parents will identify with as Jill's daughter Jillian comes of age, makes and later regrets some choices in love as she figures out her own life.
Central to the story is the growth of Wild Idea. First they take on the challenge of purchasing a much bigger ranch (with much bigger debt) adjacent to federal lands where they can also graze buffalo, allowing them to acquire a much larger herd to meet the demand. This in turn requires the acquisition of a mobile slaughtering setup since on-site harvesting could sometimes be more than two hours distant from meat packing plants.
A crucial turning point comes when a socially conscious investor who has purchased their products and loves what they stand for comes on board for a stake in the company. Suddenly the subsistence rancher and his wife, who was running the business side of Wild Idea out of a closet based on her restaurant experience, confront spreadsheets, production goals, and the need to further expand their business capacity--building a production and storage facility, hiring additional personnel, and finding sources of buffalo beyond their own ranch. O'Brien is honest about the struggle between his lofty goal of transforming ranching and the ecology of the Great Plains, and the realities of growing the business operation that must succeed with the workforce at hand in a difficult physical environment.
Life happens in all kinds of challenging and wonderful ways in the middle of this. Jillian, struggling with depression after a breakup adopts a rescue dog who rescues her, and she meets Colton, another dog owner and student, who she eventually marries in a beautifully narrated scene at the end of the book. Erney, Dan's friend for forty years, has a stroke, and both struggle to adapt to Erney's physical limitations and yet real place in the family, as he returns to the ranch. The two of them had spent their lives training falcons, including Oscar, who Erney took care of. But it was several years since they had last gone out for grouse, what with Erney's stroke, and the growing business. The account of what happened when they did was a highlight of the book:
"There was a tiny flicker of silver far above and the chuckle of flushing grouse below. It was all I could do to keep my eyes pointed upward. Another few flicks of light and the anchor shape consolidated, accelerated, and began twisting in freefall. The sizzle of wings came to my ears. Then Oscar was coming right at me and I heard the grouse whirr overhead.
"There was a puff of feathers and Oscar shot skyward as the grouse tumbled to the ground. He reached his zenith and flipped to spin downward and settle on the grouse halfway between my position and where Erney sat in the ATV....Then I turned to call the dogs to me. They came at a sprint and we tumbled into the grass in a pile of laughter and wagging tails.
"When we got to Oscar, Erney had driven the ATV to within a few feet. He sat down looking at Oscar as the falcon ceremoniously plucked grouse feathers. Hank and Tootsie [the dogs] lay down, waiting for their cut of the spoils, and I smiled at Erney. 'So what did you think of that?'
"He didn't answer right away, and when I looked, I noticed he that he was choking up. 'Probably the last really good flight I will ever see,' he said." (pp. 255-256)
This book seemed less evocative of the atmosphere of the Great Plains and the challenges of sustainable ranching than Buffalo for the Broken Heart. That book was more caught up with a vision, and this one with the nitty-gritty of turning that vision into reality. The circle of people closes in more around family and close friends--Gervase, Shane, and their investors. Yet what made this book stand out from just an article in Businessweek, was tough love and affection, between Dan and Jill, as parents for their daughter, and with their circle of friends, all trying to eke out a decent life on these Great Plains. And there is the almost mystical relationship with the buffalo for whom they care, and who care for them in turn, as Native American stories would say.
July 5, 2022
Another winner by Dan O’Brien. My favorite is still Buffalo For The Broken Heart but I loved reading this one and learning more about the details of how he and Jill actually started the business. He’s just a great writer and story teller.
September 22, 2024
Dan Obrien writes in a way that makes us care about his goal of restoring the prairie and the buffalo. We also care about his wife and family, which includes his friend with a disability and friends of many years. Maybe the tourists who want to pet wild buffalo shouldn't read this.
August 16, 2017
Fascinating true story of nurturing eco-systems in modern times - and well written.
April 8, 2022
Great book on the northern plains. Buffalo should return.
October 22, 2023
4.25/5 stars.
November 27, 2016
Dan O'Brien's followup to Buffalo For The Broken Heart, completes (at least for now) a hopeful cycle of his revelation that the Northern Plains can be healed if we understand its constraints of aridity and its unbounded potential as a nursery of life—the interplay of its natural systems, especially the dance of the grazer and grazed. The older book leaves us in suspense as to the how. The newer book introduces the means, in a capitalist economy, of making practical (and risky) choices that convert restoration sentiment to successful enterprise to ecological restoration. I have ridden Dan's ranch, dined and drank as the setting sun splashed the buttes and coulees of the nearby Badlands, laughed with his family, ranch hands and neighbors. Those privileges, which I admit not every reader can experience, informed me as to why this story is such a compelling one. It offers us not just hope for the environment on paper, but also hope that our experience in the world can make a difference. Dan and his family's experience—so vividly portrayed through both books—brightens the prospects of all our experiences, whether we live on the arid edge of the Badlands or the moist edge of the Pacific Ocean.
October 21, 2016
This personal account of trying to run an ethical, ecological business on the Great Plains is some of the best writing I have encountered in awhile. The interweaving of family, nature, characters, Native American world views and the environment of the American Midwest makes for gripping reading. The author is also capable of a fine turn of phase that at times had me laughing out loud, i.e. "he was a reluctant as a scalded badger" comes to mind. I am going to seek out other books by this author.
November 27, 2015
This is the sequel to "Buffalo For the Broken Heart" & I loved it even more than the first book, which was fantastic! The writing is so strong, but I especially loved the story about how the business grew & the risks that they took to grow the company. Of course, the 4-legged critters in the book are the star of the show. What a wonderful series this is turning into...another installment, please!
January 18, 2017
Excellent! I was a big fan of O'Brien's Buffalo for the Broken Hearted and this follow up was equally as good. I'm not sure how I missed it when it was first published. Anything about life on or the ecology of the prairie catches my attention. Now I just have to be patient til I can head west again.
December 30, 2014
Excellent book detailing the on going saga of O'Brien and the buffalo. Don't have to have read Buffalo for the Broken Heart first but it helps. O'Brien writes eloquently about the South Dakota plains, buffalo and the environment. Good book.
December 9, 2016
Throughout this exploration of a life and family, Mr. O'Brien retains the clarity of respect and love he expressed for the Great Plains in Buffalo For The Broken Heart. It was in parts bleakly depressing and steadily joyful, and gave me a new perspective on my home.
November 13, 2014
Withholding judgement and/or criticism until further thought. I don't want to judgemental based on a past encounter with the author. I believe in what he is doing but...
November 18, 2014
Dan writes beautifully and honestly about himself, his family and friends (2- and 4-legged), and the land. Great continuation of the Buffalo for the Broken Heart story, one of my favorite books ever.
January 2, 2017
I loved Buffalo for the Broken Heart, and this continues the story. Reading this makes me want to go be a buffalo rancher in Dakotas
January 21, 2017
A great read about the ranching of Buffalo.in an area that I used go to a lot .learning about buffalo and their genetics is interesting.
Read
September 21, 2018Outstanding.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews