Before saddling a Beefalo, players must feed it Vegetables or Fruit (typically Light Bulbs, Cut Grass, or Twigs) to raise its obedience to the desired level (10% per item, max 100%). In it's a good idea to also bond with the beefalo using a Beefalo Bell before saddling. If the Beefalo's obedience is below 10%, it will reject any attempt to saddle it and attack the player. Below 40% obedience it will quickly shake the saddle off. Obedience must be at least 50% to allow riding.
Saddles only lose durability when a Beefalo's obedience drops below 40% and it shakes the saddle off. A Saddlehorn is the only way to manually remove a saddle and it does so without losing saddle durability.
The War Saddle is a variant of the normal Saddle that can be shaken off by a disobedient beefalo 8 times instead of 5. It has a 25% speed increase instead of 40%, and adds 16 bonus damage to melee attacks made while riding the Beefalo. It requires 4 live Rabbits, 10 Logs, and 4 Steel Wool to craft, and an Alchemy Engine to prototype. In Don't Starve: Reign of Giants the bonus damage from the War Saddle will only be effective if the player either has nothing equipped in the hand slot, or has one of a limited number of items equipped, such as a Lantern or Umbrella. For a complete list of items that will deal increased damage while riding a War Saddle, see the main article on Beefalo.
The Glossamer Saddle is a variant of the normal Saddle that can be crafted using 2 Living Logs, 4 Silk and 68 Butterfly Wings. It requires an Alchemy Engine to prototype. This saddle allows a 55% riding speed above the base speed of the Beefalo (vs. 40% for a regular Saddle).
Tips
A War Saddle brings Ornery Beefalo attack damage to a whopping 66 points, almost equaling the 68 damage of the Dark Sword without having to worry about sanity drain or durability. However, a Glossamer Saddle offsets the slowness, making it easier to kite with.
The 25 damage delivered by a Rider or 20 by a Pudgy Beefalo may not be enough to kill the Ewecus to obtain steel wool to make a War Saddle. Plan accordingly.
Obtaining the Butterfly Wings for a Glossamer Saddle can be a lengthy process complicated by spoilage.
A Construction Amulet is recommended (if available) to cut the cost of the Glossamer Saddle in half. Using a Construction Amulet and Deconstruction Staff on a Glossamer Saddle is a way to multiply Butterfly Wings for food and health.
Seven or eight Bug Nets are needed to catch more than 68 Butterflies. The extra are required since butterflies have a one in a fifty chance to drop Butter instead of wings.
If keeping the butterflies alive, make sure to have a few Berries on hand to feed them until it is time to kill them. Murdering them all at once in inventory will give the player enough Naughtiness to immediately summon Krampus. Do this carefully and away from base.
Killing the butterflies as you catch them allows Naughtiness to decrease between murders, but care should still be taken if summoning Krampus is not your goal. An Ice Box will double the spoilage time of the wings and Bundling Wrap or Gift Wrap will prevent spoilage altogether.