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hangin tuff

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I might have gotten alittle over board on my last post. Wasn't one of my better nights last night and when I seen those pictures it just made it worse.
I know that some people do try to take real good care for their animals, but all it takes for some of these stupid PETA groups is to see something like that and then lump all cattlemen in the same group. Now maybe those long horns are feed everyday and look good just not during a blizzard. You cant tell everying from looking at a picture.
I mentioned our neighor across the road not doing anything for his cattle during that blizzard, now maybe we feed our cattle to much, but I cant stand seeing a cow stand out in the blowing snow trying to fight off the wind and snow, and losing energy when all you had to do was put some feed out for her to help her get throught the night. Or put up some kind of protection for them, usually you know a good day and a half or longer before the storm is coming to be able to make some kind of protection for those animals.
 
I don't think you need to apologize, tenbach79.
When we can no longer have an opinion here, then it's time to move on.
I'm not used to seeing cattle like that, maybe in Texas it's more normal. :shock:

If you call whoever to report them, it doesn't mean anything will
happen to the owners. What it does mean is that someone will
go check and if there is a problem, then the owners will have to deal
with it, as they should.
 
I wouldn't be making calls to any authority unless it's absolutely necessary because something does happen-last winter we had a neighbor turned in for dumping a load a tree trimmings in his cows-a passerby saw the cows rooting around in them and assumed that was all they were getting to eat. Every complaint no matter how unwarranted goes o a persons record-the SPCA in Sask. is becoming more a vehicle for vindictive neighbors to harass each other than an actual animal care organization. We lost a cow in that bad blizzard last year and because were along a road we got a visit-nothing came of it but I lost all respect for the organization-trust me the arrogant little p....k they sent out here considered us guilty. The Mountie he brought with him actually drove out and apologized the next day for harrassing us. When you start asking around there are alot of frivolous complaints checked out-but they missed the starving of a few hundred head by Outlook completely-the only way that was found out was when a neighbor called the coyote control officer. The SPCA has to find a way to legitimize complaints and maybe make the complaintant accountable to some extent.
 
NR - you on the money here. I agree we need to take care of our animals, that is part of the responsibility we assume as part of ranching. That said, taking care of cows does not neccessarily keeping them in a barn or a corral with 2 feet of straw, or even feeding them grain. We are moving towards all truckers being required to take a handling course, and I am sure cowboys are next.
I know when we take care of our animals they take care of us, but it is going to be a huge challenge to educate the public what taking care really means. I don't think the crowd that buys clothes for their dogs are going to easily accept that cows can live outdoors and eat grass.
 
RSL said:
NR - you on the money here. I agree we need to take care of our animals, that is part of the responsibility we assume as part of ranching. That said, taking care of cows does not neccessarily keeping them in a barn or a corral with 2 feet of straw, or even feeding them grain. We are moving towards all truckers being required to take a handling course, and I am sure cowboys are next.
I know when we take care of our animals they take care of us, but it is going to be a huge challenge to educate the public what taking care really means. I don't think the crowd that buys clothes for their dogs are going to easily accept that cows can live outdoors and eat grass.
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It's funny you say that,just saw this on craiglist,some bleeding heart kook.These darn people really piss me off!!
Tired of cattle grazing on your property? (Fernley)
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Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-03-31, 9:26PM PDT


If you are tired of ranchers treating your property like open range and letting their cattle graze on your land, please come to the Fernley City Council meeting tomorrow night. The meeting starts at 4:00p.m. and I expect it will take awhile to get to this particular matter. The council is considering caving into one rancher, Dellis Bone, and repealing the city ordinance that prevents cattle from grazing in the city limits. Councilman Don Parsons is the new councilman for Ward 2 and he needs to hear from us. His cell phone is 745-8060. Let him know that repealing this law would allow us to let our livestock and horses graze in his and the rest of the city council's yards. It would also be very helpful to send an email to Mrs. Hayden at the city manager's office expressing your concerns about this. Her email is: [email protected]. She will forward your emails to the members of the city council. Also, call animal control and the city attorney's office. They have taken many reports about property damage from free-roaming cows. I see no one wanting to repeal dog licensing laws, leash laws and the like. We are expected to keep our animals on our own property so as not to annoy and endanger our neighbors and destroy their property. We expect to have the same laws applied to everyone. No more special treatment for ranchers.
 
I understand what you are saying, nr. However, I can assure you that the Humane Society is very hard to get involved in the midwest/northwest--except maybe in Washington--I don't know about that. Usually the person that goes and checks is the sheriff, and believe me, he doesn't want a confrontation with a rancher unless it is absolutely necessary. I can give
you incidence after incidence where this has happened. Now, I admit, I don't know how the ASPCA works in New Mexico. But I do know you can just have animals checked without filing a complaint.

I don't agree with the ASCPA many times and I wouldn't ever call them first. I would let the local law enforcement handle it.

Sorry you ran into problems with Canada's SPCA. But, you explained what happened and that was the end of it, even with the SPCA.

Guess I'm now done with this subject.
 
FH, as far as I now ASPCA or the Humane society might do some work around the urban areas of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces and so far have just concerned themselves with small animals and horses.

New Mexico IS lucky that we have a state agency that deals with livestock and looks into any abuse claims dealing with cattle, horses or any animal that is considered livestock and not a companion animal. Our livestock inspectors are very good at taking care of abuse claims and investigating and if necessary filling charges. I quess I should also say that the New Mexico Livestock Board is overseen by a appointed board that represent livestock producers and industry.
 
That sounds sane and practical to me. Good for New Mexico.
Sometimes we have a terrible time getting things moving because, like you said, they concern themselves with more urban areas.

There was a case in Wyoming that we called and called about. While we were calling, animals were dying. We finally had to call Cheyenne to get the local guys out there to take a look. When they did, they made the guy get rid of most of his thin and dying animals. Would have been better if
they had gone sooner, but at any rate, he now can't have more than 3 animals on his place. His wife left him because of how he took care of his horses, she just could not stand it any longer and he wouldn't change.
 
per said:
I think many will think twice about posting pics of cattle.
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It's not peer perception we should be concerned about, it's the public's perception. Right or wrong, what they perceive matters most since they're the ones buying our product and voting on regulations affecting our industry... just ask California's swine and poultry producers. I don't believe most of the public would be accepting of images of thin cattle, regardless of why. And if they happen to drive by something like that, it affects the entire industry's image. Consumers are becoming more informed and involved in their food, and they're trending towards wanting to know where it comes from, and how it got there. I welcome that trend.

I think our industry is in for more regulations. When Obama appointed a regulatory czar who's authored a paper on animal rights http://www.law.uchicago.edu/academics/publiclaw/resources/30.crs.animals.pdf ... I'm assuming more "change" is heading our way. I'd rather try to proactively push from the inside to help address neglected animals in our industry, than wait for big government to regulate this for us... which I believe is coming.

Maybe it's not a viable movement, but I feel it's necessary to try and insure that Ty, Kosmo Kid, Miss Idaho, Cattle Army's children, MYTFarms, Leanin' H's kids, ... and the rest of the next generation of potential cattle producers, have a good image and a fighting chance in an industry that I believe will be much different globally in the future. FWIW :D.
 
Blizzards do tend to make cattle look their worst. My thoughts on this particular subject are that it is probably none of my business how a neighbor chooses to run their cattle. They are his property, not mine. If they all die and he goes broke, it leaves opportunity for better operators to eventually acquire his land. I don't want anyone snooping into the way I ranch, and from my perspective, I owe my neighbors the same courtesy, even if they live thousands of miles away.

Waitingforachinook.jpg

As you recall, this cow was featured in the pictures from last week's blizzard. If she had been standing by the highway in this condition, someone would probably have turned me in to the Humane Society.
TheLoneRangerhasblackeyesIhaveablac.jpg

Her number is yellow tag 542.
Samecowaweeklater.jpg

Same cow a week later
Hercalfisntdoingtoobadly.jpg

Her calf isn't doing too badly.

That government that governs least, governs best. We have enough rules; we don't need any more.
 
Thank you Soapweed. I was so hoping you would address this topic as you are the most prolific picture poster here. I thought right away about 542 in the blizzard and my wife a I speculated that she looked fine when the sun came out. A picture conjures up a thousand words but the whole story is not always in view.
 
kolanuraven said:
Honestly, to me, #542 looks a little too thin herself!!!
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So, are you going to turn me in for animal abuse? :???: :roll:

#542 is too thin. I won't deny it. On the other hand she is in a bunch with 170 other cows. If she can't hold her own, that is her problem. I don't plan to spoon feed her so she will look like the top end.

You can't "starve the profit" out of a cow, but you can feed them too much to be able to make any profit, also. We go on the averages on this outfit. They either keep up or go down the road. My guess is that when this too thin of a cow hits green grass in another month, she will do alright. If she weans a decent sort of calf, is bred in the fall, and has all her teeth, she gets a free pass to spend another year on the ranch.
 
It's been my own unfortunate observation that humans are one of the few animals that can look fatter in the spring after a hard winter than they do in the fall. Soapweed lives in some strong grass country I'm sure that cow will have every opportunity to slick up and breed back.
 

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