Beef Magazine

The Blizzard Blues & New Daily Quick Beef Facts!

Amanda Nolz April 1st, 2009

Yesterday, a blizzard hit South Dakota, closing the interstate and leaving many travelers stranded. My parents and sisters all stayed home to take care of baby calves. Of course, bad weather seems to correlate with the number of calves dropped on the ground, and my family kept busy yesterday keeping babies warm and out of the wet, cold snow. Even though my day was busy with dreaded tests, labs and homework, I felt pretty guilty that I was in a warm classroom all day while my family battled the weather outside. I had my sister snap a few photos to send me for today’s blog, and it didn’t sound like she was having much fun on her vacation from school!

I recently received a comment from a reader on this blog that said she hated when livestock producers “bragged” about saving baby calves from the cold weather. She insisted that if we REALLY cared about the animals, we would never expose them to below zero temperatures in the first place. To all beef producers, the idea of keeping every expectant cow indoors is laughable. How many times have you discovered a cow that has calved early and has had her calf in the snow or mud? To this woman, the idea of letting them roam outside is outrageous, and everything should be kept indoors. (Ironic? Wouldn’t that be considered the highly criticized management practice of confinement?) Of course, housing an entire herd of cattle out of the elements is financially impossible, and with the care of ranchers, cattle are designed to handle the elements of harsh weather. However, for this woman, if a house can’t be provided for the cattle, it would be much better to let them roam the land, without receiving proper feed, water and shelter as required.



Where is the grip on reality? How do we educate our consumers that ranchers play a vital role in the prosperity of livestock? How can we gain the trust of our consumers once again? What can we do to show this nation that farmers and ranchers are truly good people that dedicate their lives to caring for the land and the animals while efficiently feeding the hungry? How can we convince these individuals that the needs of our livestock ALWAYS come before our own? I’m looking for your thoughts and ideas today. Let me know how the weather is at your operation, as well! Is it raining, snowing or shining? And, how is calving season going?

A reader recently left me this suggestion, and I think I might consider incorporating it into the blog starting today, Amanda, you do a great job with bringing out ideas that are important to the industry. I love talking about agriculture, and it is truly where my heart lies. But none of us have time to keep up on all of the facts! I believe this blog is the toolkit to preparing the readers to bring a positive light to our industry. I have just one more idea for you, though. How about you include an interesting fact about the beef industry? A beef fact of the day…so each of us readers are better equipped to speak to the public in something we are already doing. Maybe just reading one quick fact a day will translate into discussions at lunch! Thanks for a great blog. -Jodi

Great idea, Jodi! Today’s quick beef fact is related to the care of animals, courtesy of Beef From Pasture to Plate. Here is the entire Animal Welfare Fact Sheet for your convenience!

The “Producer Code for Cattle Care,” first developed in 1996, is a comprehensive set of sound production practices, which includes the following recommendations:

-Provide adequate food, water and care to protect cattle health and well-being.

-Provide disease prevention practices to protect herd health.

-Provide facilities that allow safe and humane movement and/or restraint of livestock.

-Provide personnel with training to properly handle and care for cattle.

The Code’s animal welfare focus is clear: Persons who willfully mistreat animals will not be tolerated.

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13 Comments to “The Blizzard Blues & New Daily Quick Beef Facts!”

1. Dallas Dodson Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 8:16 am

   Amanda, you need to open your mind a little bit. Maybe the woman wasn’t talking about putting every cow indoors, maybe she was insinuating that summer calving would be more friendly to the livestock (and people that care for them).

2. tim kelley Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 9:15 am

   Completely agree with Dallas. Imitate nature, calve when the wild ruminants do. More profitable, less winter feed.

3. Kim Clark Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 9:53 am

   Great topic and post Amanda! I’m so grateful that there are folks like you helping to educate the public and producers alike. I don’t understand why folks like your reader and the previous poster always have an answer that seems to meddle in a producer’s or rancher’s business. I would never dream of suggesting that the local Co-op only sell fruits and veggies when they are in season, or the local shoe salesman to only sell shoes when it’s cold outside or the local humane society to only adopt out dogs and cats during the summer when it’s warm outside. I could go on and on. Animals are the livelihood of ranchers, they lose a calf to the elements they lose money…period! Let producers and ranchers run their business the way they see fit!

4. Mike Kreson Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 10:59 am

   What really amazes me about people who support PETA, HSUS, or claim to be vegetarians do not really understand the role of a rancher or farmer. These people raise livestock for the LOVE of animals, not to get rich. They truly care about the welfare of the animals. Food, water, and shelter is provided to the animals in ALL types of weather, day or night, to protect and care for the livestock. They just really want to continue doing what they love without mindless legislature forcing practices on something that PETA and HSUS don’t have a reality grasp on.

   I think they would be shocked to realize the by-products that come for livestock. Do they wear leather goods, use makeup, take insulin for diabetics, or drive on asphalt roads? This is just a small sample of items made from by-products.

   I have the utmost respect for the dedicated farmes and ranchers who take care of the livestock that feeds the world, helps to protect the environment, and supplies by-products that are essential for our every day lives.

   Thank you BEEF and Amanda for providing a sounding board and a big THANKS to the farmers and ranchers! God Bless each of you!!!

5. Kevin Fulton Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 11:20 am

   How do we educate consumers and show them WE have “a grip on reality” when we “manage” a cow herd so that they calve during a time of year when the weather is at it’s absolute worst? Mother nature knows better and so do many of the so called “misinformed consumers”. When I tell them we calve in May and June outside on green grass they are completely comfortable with that. When others question the humane aspects of winter and early spring calving, I have to agree that we are not thinking about the welfare of the animals and can’t defend this practice.

   Kevin Fulton

6. Brad Young Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 11:34 am

   This is a repost as apparently my first post did not go through, it has not shown up as acomment yet.

   Amanda,

   The reader is absolutely correct! Too many ranchers put their cows in a bad situation, by calving in the winter. They then act like they are saviors and heroes for “rescuing” cows and calves from peril. I know of several ranchers, including myself, who consider winter calving inhumane. Defending winter calving is nothing but playing into the animal rights crowd hand.
   Spring calving, as nature intended it, is much easier on cattle and humans alike.
   We used to start calving April 1st, but learned our lesson. For our location, in NE Nebraska, switching to May 1st calving has made a huge difference. By planning the start of calving to coincide with at least some green grass, people and animals benefit.
   Not only is Spring calving the ethical and humane thing to do, it is probably also the economical way. I do not believe cow/calf producers can continue in their attempt to overpower Mother Nature with fossil fuel, massive quantities of harvested feed and increased labor as winter calving dictates.
   My views are probably not very popular with the status quo. They have everything, including their pride, invested in a system based on winter calving.

   Respectfully,

   Brad Young
   54564 877th Road
   Wausa NE 68786
   402-373-4612
   prairie@gpcom.net

7. Wendi Lankister Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am

   You ask:
   Is it raining, snowing or shining?
   It’s snowing, again.

   You ask:
   How is calving season going?
   It’s not. Calving season, I mean. Our calves are snug and warm in their momma’s bellies. They will calve in May and June on a warm day with green grass.

   This is part of what we do to meet the “Producer Guidlines for Cattle Care.”
   And as others have pointed out, it provides care for the humans, too.

8. Sam Smith Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm

   I understand the pros and cons of winter calving. As a purebred producer who sells many bulls, my clients want bulls born in January and February. So, I have heated my barn, check every two hours, and keep the cows in the closest pasture possible. I feel what I do to combat the cold is just as humane as calving in April and May and battling the mud. I cannot abandon my winter calving practices, I would lose my customers and have to start over.

   I will say that the poster Amanda is talking about was a PeTA member, so anything animal agriculture the poster would be against. I follow the actions of PeTA and the HSUS. I have learned that PeTA and other Animal Rights groups lump beef production with the dairy industry. These people think that like the dairy industry, beef producers milk the cows, wean as early, sell calves as veal, and house the cows in similar buildings. When PeTA and AR’s try and educate consumers on the beef industry, they use these misconceptions. Also, I have found that PeTA and AR groups want the total extinction of domesticated animals: dogs, cats, cattle, etc. They are not the groups they lead the public to believe. If the beef industry could educate consumers on what we actually do, we would have a better chance at fighting ARs.

9. Beth Walker Says:
   

   April 1st, 2009 at 6:12 pm

   I think ya’ll are all sort of correct on your comments regarding when to calve. I don’t think there is a correct answer or a cookie cutter answer as to what is being debated here. There are multiple factors that go into when a livestock producer chooses to calve, kid, lamb, etc. Options to consider are not only the weather conditions, but also marketing, forage availability (cool and warm seasons), parasites, predators, time (when you and your family can be home to care for the newborns). So, just because a person calves in February, doesn’t mean they are being cruel, it may mean that the best grass for that calf/lactating cow will be in April/May before the cool season grasses go vegetative. Calve mid to middle February and hit peak lactation when the cool seasons are at their highest quality. It may be that the producer needs to calve in March because of spring break and their chore help/kids can be home to help take care of the critters. Fall may be best for some due to potential marketing options (sheep and goats will market best in the early spring). Parasites are most prevalent in the spring and summer so perhaps fall and winter calving/kidding/lambing, etc is best. I don’t think we can judge a farmer based only upon when they chose to calve, etc. There are often circumstances that a simple quick, knee jerk reaction do not take into account. Don’t judge until you have walked a mile in persons shoes sort of thing. What we do need to do is become more unified with each other and listen to each other so that we are better able to defend our friends in agriculture, hence why I included the small ruminants but throw in any sort of livestock and I personally feel the same way. Face it, with less than 2% involved in production agriculture, we must stand together or else fall in pieces due to the wrecking ball forces of groups such as PETA, HSUS, and the others.

10. Maxine Jones Says:
    

    April 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    It’s pretty difficult to ‘educate’ consumers about cattle production when we have producers who do things differently than some criticizing those who calve in winter or spring as committing harmful practices on their cattle.

    There are marketing advantages very necessary for many producers which necessitate having calves at proper age to go into feedlots in early fall, which means early calving is mandatory for those people.

    Getting in sync with nature also means exposing cows to brutal heat during labor….not always with good results!

    Producing beef is a year round endeavor, not just seasonal as it was formerly practiced.

    Cattle producers, for the most part, do the best they can with the environment in which they happen to live. That means northerners have vastly different problems to overcome than do those who live in the sunny south……and vice versa. Those who need to be successful must tailor cattle to environment and manage the natural conditions they have to best care for the animals or there is no hope for a profit (the item that allows caring for the animals and the family living!).

    Even in a climate with the extremes of western SD, cattle can be very comfortable in pastures in every month of the years. Natural shelter in form of deep ravines, carefully managed native grass pastures with lots of natural brush and small shrubby trees, even soapweeds and dense stockpiled bluestem grasses make a very cozy bed for new calves and adult cattle alike. Adequate feed supplementation in pastures needing it, frequent checking (once or twice daily will catch all but extremly rare problems if you have right sized cows and low birthweight bulls) during prime calving season, and most cattle can cope with all but the most severe (and unusual) storms.

    Deer and other critters manage to live without mans assistance, and cattle can do so quite well, too…..excepting that we producers can’t afford the natural death loss that would take place among our domesticated animals.

    M.Jones

11. Ray Bittner Says:
    

    April 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    Good work on the winter calving story.
    My neighbors and I farm right in the center of Canada, and almost every farm chooses to calve cows in late winter and early spring. The reason?
    If calves are born in may-july the mosquitos, horse flys, and sand flies bite the calves,and the cows udders, and survival rates are lower than if we calf in freezing temperatures.
    We can protect calves from the cold, but there is no way to protect from insects.
    take care.

12. Karen Howland Says:
    

    April 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am

    City people need to leave the farming/livestock industry to the professionals…. (the farmers/ranchers). Enough said!

13. Amanda Nolz Says:
    

    April 7th, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    I never expected to have so many different opinions on a post about winter calving. I think it is sad that we in the industry fight over the various production practices of other producers. Some great points were made about when cattlemen choose to have calving season. Like many, we choose to breed our cows to calve in late winter/early spring. With both seasons, there are challenges with snow and mud. Summer calving battles heat and bugs and fall calving runs into harvest. As purebred producers, our customers want older, mature bulls, so we calve earlier. Also, I’m able to get home more often in the spring with spring break and easter break. It’s convenient for my family, and we take the best precautions possible. We provide shelter for the cow/calf pairs, and we keep the cows close in a dry lot. I think it’s time we stop fighting amongst each other, and start focusing on the bigger issues.

    Thanks for weighing in, everybody! I appreciate your insights. The beef industry is a never-ending process of learning, and you all present such interesting angles to look at this business. I truly appreciate it!

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