Teaching the Buffalo way to heal the next generation
Bamm Brewer’s herd on the Pine Ridge Reservation
Tanka Fund continues its work reconnecting Native youth to Buffalo through cultural education, traditional harvest practices, and food sovereignty efforts. Rancher Charles “Bamm” Brewer of Charging Buffalo Ranch plays a central role in this movement, hosting students for hands-on experiences that include Buffalo harvests, ceremony, and teachings rooted in Indigenous lifeways. Through his leadership, and alongside partners like Ron Brownotter, a new generation is being guided back to the Buffalo — not just as food, but as a relative and way of life. Despite obstacles like processed food dependency and colonization’s lasting impact, this work focuses on reviving traditions, restoring health, and reshaping the future.
5 Key Points:
Buffalo to School Conference Launch
Tanka Fund helped host the first-ever Buffalo to School Conference, bringing together schools and producers to integrate Buffalo into student meals and revive Indigenous food practices.Cultural Harvest Teachings for Youth
Rancher Charles “Bamm” Brewer leads youth in ceremonial Buffalo harvests, including purification in the sweat lodge, teachings on approaching the Buffalo with intention, and consuming liver and bile in a sacred and nutritional practice.Spiritual Foundations of the Harvest
Bamm emphasizes the sacredness of the moment when the Buffalo passes — describing it as a doorway to the Spirit World and teaching youth to honor the animal with prayer and gratitude.Reclaiming Health and Food Sovereignty
Through the Charging Buffalo Meat Processing Facility, Bamm helps feed his community while combating the health consequences of processed foods, offering Buffalo jerky and traditional meats as alternatives rooted in ancestral diets.Wider Community Efforts
Ranchers like Ron Brownotter on the Standing Rock Reservation are also leading student education efforts, reflecting a broader movement to return Buffalo to daily life, restore land relationships, and strengthen Native food systems.
Read full story below.
The idea of reconnecting classrooms with Buffalo may seem new to some, but for many of our rancher partners, it’s a mission rooted in tradition.
Last month, in alignment with our commitment to returning Buffalo to the lands, lives, and economies of Native communities, we partnered with like-minded organizations to host the first-ever Buffalo to School Conference. The gathering supported schools and producers working to restore Buffalo to student meals and revive Indigenous food traditions.
Tanka Fund rancher Charles "Bamm" Brewer of Charging Buffalo Ranch on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, partners with nearby schools to help Native youth reconnect with their Buffalo relatives through hands-on harvest lessons, prayer, and traditional food practices. Students visit his ranch to experience traditional hunts and receive hands-on lessons in this honored practice.
“It ends up being instinct, and that’s how we teach it to the schools,” Bamm shared. “That it’s inside every one of them — that the Buffalo is a relative of ours, and we say a blessing to thank them. It’s a way of life.”
Before the fall season shifts, a young person is chosen to carry out the honored responsibility of the Buffalo harvest, which is an offering made with prayer, purpose, and deep respect.
Prior to participating, youth are advised to go into a sweat lodge to purify themselves — a practice rooted in the spiritual significance of what they are about to do. They learn how to approach the Buffalo with care and intention and begin to understand the deep responsibility that comes with this ceremony.
“We let them have their own vision,” Bamm explained. “We tell them, once that animal breathes their last breath, a doorway is going to open — a passage to the Spirit World. Before he goes through it, he will look back and see you. Not just with his eyes, but through your heart. That’s why you purify before. Then there is a ‘thank you’ prayer. You want him to see you as a brother, as someone who came in a good way. We ask him to follow the hunter. We ask him to protect that hunter.”
An integral part of the harvest includes consuming a piece of the liver and bile, which is done in a respectful, ceremonial way that acknowledges both the spiritual and nutritional power of the Buffalo. Bamm shared that the liver is especially nutrient-rich, packed with essential vitamins like B12 and iron. The bile, he explained, is traditionally recognized as a powerful purifying substance. From meat to medicine, every part of the Buffalo contributes to its reputation as one of the heartiest and most sustaining animals for Native communities.
By ingesting these elements, it’s said that hunters and participants are purified with the very thing that purifies the Buffalo itself.
“We always say for a long time after you do that, you don't get sick. It really helps your system,” Bamm said. “Then you say, ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye.’ That’s how we teach it. That’s the way that came to us after 30 years of being in the tribal Tiospaye [family] — living with the Buffalo.”
Wanting to share what has been culturally lost over generations, Bamm built the Charging Buffalo Meat Processing Facility, which now processes Buffalo and other local meats. This effort helps feed and sustain his Lakota community while also supporting the local economy. Among the most popular items with youth? The Buffalo jerky he gives them. But despite that growing interest, Bamm acknowledges it’s still a challenge to convince the next generation to put down processed foods and reconnect with the Buffalo way of life.
“The benefit is basically saving the next generation’s health, and the generations after that, by living and working with the Buffalo. Being the first meathouse on the Rez, we saw the waves of colonization,” he said. “We saw the depths of colonization through how many people don't even have an appetite for it anymore.”
Fortunately, Bamm isn’t alone in educating youth about cultural harvests. Ron Brownotter of Brownotter Ranch on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota also opens his ranch to students for hands-on learning. Most recently, he welcomed students and faculty from North Dakota State University for a full day of Buffalo harvest education and cultural teachings.
NDSU faculty and staff at Brownotter Ranch
For Bamm, the urgency of returning Buffalo to daily life — especially for youth — deepened after years of processing beef.
He’s seen tumors, excess fat, and pus pockets in beef that he’s never encountered in Buffalo. That stark contrast keeps him focused on helping the next generation return to the foods their ancestors once ate — foods that live in their DNA. Still, the challenge remains: getting youth to not just try Buffalo but crave it.
“We got to feel what our ancestors must have felt whenever the government sent them to the reservation and gave them commodities, because they never saw those kinds of things in a Buffalo. So, we got to look into that window,”he said.“That’s why it’s important to get this information out. We must show our Native people this is not the way. That’s why we are really focusing on youth and trying to affect that generation. We haven’t brought the Buffalo back into diets enough to see that happy ending yet.”
