Big THANKS to all RANCHERS

[feeder]

Just got back from a 2-day cattle buying trip in North Dakota. We met some wonderful ranchers. My hat is off to all the cow/calf operators, the love and knowledge they exhibited about their cattle and the industry was deeply respected. It is so refreshing to see deep values, commonsense, and appreciation of life. Thanks for all your hard work. If it wasn't for you we couldn't enjoy the life we have of feeding cattle.

 

[Mike]

Good to hear some positive about the cattle industry. What is your opinion of the major problems in fed cattle? Carcass? Muscling? Growth? Health?

 

[feeder]

Mike, I'm no expert on cattle. I'm a farm wife that works close with the hubby in the business. In the past years our cattle have had high yields, We sold on the grid this past 2 weeks for the first time, had a few heavy carcasses but picked up a nice premium on the grade. We were happy. One problem we have encountered is the health of animals that come from very isolated ranches straight to our feedlot. They seem to need extra vaccinations to keep them healthy when exposed to our farm germs. We will pay extra for cattle that have had a good vaccination program on the ranch. I feel that the calves are coming to us with better genetic makeup to produce a great tasting and tender steak. I owe that to the ranchers and their knowlege of perfecting their breeding programs. It is a great life working with the cattle and meeting such nice folks.

 

[Faster horses]

Thanks for your positive remarks!

Here is a little tip that might make a difference: check to see if the ranchers you buy from feed a good mineral to their calves. That can help your health situation as much or more than anything. Really helps the vaccines work much better as well.

You might find the following information helpful (shortened somewhat by me):

Texas Ranch to Rail program was established to show cattlemen insight as to how their cattle are affected by sickness and subsequently perform in the feedlot. Since 1991, almost 20,000 head of cattle from 1600 ranches in Texas and 13 other states have participated in this program. They have found that approximately $90 per head is lost when cattle become sick. Their research showed a correlation between calves fed a mineral program on the cow and the health of those calves in the feedlot. The calves from cows on a mineral program showed significantly fewer 'pulls' for treatment and average medical costs as compared with calves from cows that were not on a mineral program. This demonstrates that feeding a quality mineral program preweaning can postively impact the health of calves postweaning right through the feedlot.

 

[feeder]

Thanks for the info. Will talk to hubby when he gets home.