Raising Trooper: The story of a mother and her buffalo child

When most empty nesters feel it’s time for some companionship, they often start looking for pets like dogs and cats. But not the Perkins family. Robert & Jenny went in a completely different direction, buffaloes.

Starting with nine about five years ago, the couple now has 36 on their McCammon property.

Trooper is one of them. Born on Memorial Day, the couple noticed something was wrong with his mother while she was giving birth. She died shortly after Trooper arrived, presumably from complications related to Trooper’s size.

But in a rare move, the herd pushed Trooper in the Perkins’ direction. Something Jenny felt was part of them realizing the couple was his best chance at survival.

Since that time, nearly two and a half months ago, Jenny has been acting as Troopers mother. Feeding him every two hours at first, Jenny said that he was just like a newborn baby.

In the time since she’s taken over this role, she’s developed a real bond with the buffalo. Telling me she knows when something is wrong. Trooper also enjoys rubbing up against her when she feeds him (now every six hours). The two even have grunting contests.

With a feeding schedule like his, Trooper is often on the road with the Perkins family. Robert even calls him, “a city buffalo,” though Jenny says he’s not. But, “he has been on a field trip to the city.”

As Trooper continues to grow, the Perkins’ know that he will have to rejoin the herd. Once he is weaned off the bottle, the couple plans to slowly phase him back into normal life with animals the same age as him.

“He’s still gonna think he’s got a mom that’s on the outside of the fence,” Robert joked. And the couple believes that there will still be a part of him that comes up to the fence to say hello.

Sometime in November, when the rest of the newborn buffaloes are also weaned off, Trooper will begin that “lavish” ranch life of his counterparts.