Doing things the right way

It’s rapidly approaching that time of year when we have a chance to see how our breeding choices worked, in person. I have started cow herd checks twice a day and moved our first one into the calving pen last night. As of this morning, there hadn’t been any action, but it is imminent. The cow, 26A, or Rosie as she is commonly called is one of our best cows and several of you have had the opportunity to meet her. She frequently serves as our ranch ambassador because she has the temperament of a big black lab. If saw our Christmas picture two years ago, with the cow in a Santa hat, you’ve seen a picture of Rosie. She's a great cow and her calves have played a big role in our herd. Rosie's 2005 calf was a new momma last fall, she gave birth to an exceptional heifer calf. Rosie's 2006 bull calf is pictured below, he sold into a Kansas herd as a sire last spring and Rosie's 2007 heifer calf is our banner photo on the blog. As you can tell, she is very important to us, and I am excited to see what this year will bring.

Rosie's 2006 calf, CCA Fairplay Lad 6263, at the Lazy H Bull Sale in Hays, KS, last spring

She isn’t officially due for another week, along with another of our heifers which was artificially inseminated on the same date, but I have a hunch neither will last that long and I have a feeling there are some long nights ahead for me over the course of the next month. Ordinarily, the cows, particularly the older ones will take care of things on their own, but we have quite a few younger cows calving over the next six weeks who are in need of watching. Temperatures have been below normal for this time of year, so it’s important to make certain the calves are dried off as quickly as possible and up and nursing within an hour or two.

That’s where I come in. I generally try hard to stay out of the calving pen unless there is a problem and it has been a pretty rare occasion when I have been needed. We have one cow who is reluctant to allow her calf to nurse at first, so she will need watching, and there are always the odd situations where I have been able to help, particularly when it’s cold and there is a danger of frozen ears or tails such as we had two years ago when the cows picked the only stretch of -20 weather we have seen as their calving period. But for the most part, my job is to dip the newborn calves’ navels with iodine, give them a vaccination and get a weight and leave them be. In fact, despite the fact that we have had a couple of handfuls of calves born on the ranch, I have yet to see one delivered. I’m pretty certain the cows don’t really want me a round for it and wait until I leave the barn to do their thing, but with a dozen calves due this year, I think this might be the year that I get to see it firsthand.

Anyway, calving season (which I optimistically refer to as spring) is here and we should have new calf pictures up on the blog within a week or so, but I’ll let you know when we get them posted.

Spring is also bull sale season in our business and it keeps me very busy at work since the first quarter of the year is when we do probably 50 percent of our business. So there’s always lots for me to do in the spring. Soon I’ll be heading to Hays, KS, for the annual Lazy H Ranch spring bull sale. This will be the first year we won’t have calves in the sale, so I am simply going as a spectator. However, it’s always good to see friends, meet new people and catch up on the news in the field. I may cover the cow business on a daily basis, but mine is mostly a desk job and there is a gap in knowledge for us between what ranchers are experiencing and what we hear in the office. My trip to Hays fills some of those gaps and I look forward to it every year.

One of the big topics of discussion in the cow business recently is the video that was filmed by the Humane Society of the United States at a cow processing plant late last year. I’ve seen the footage and it’s awful. If you have a weak stomach, don’t go looking for it, nonetheless, I am sure some of you probably saw it on the news over the last few weeks and I wanted to address it. The video was a big topic at the NCBA convention in Reno last week and I have to tell you that not only was I personally appalled by the footage, so were all the other cattlemen I spoke with.

It’s simply not the way animals are treated on 99.9 percent of operations. That said, it only takes one to give the entire industry a black eye and frankly I, and many others I know are tired of it. I am hopeful that the plant will be decertified and shut down. Harvest of animals is never a pretty business, but it’s part of the deal that we make when we get involved with animal agriculture and I, along with almost everyone else in the business go to great lengths to make sure it’s done humanely. We take pride in our herd and know those animals work for us, we also know we owe it to them to take care of them as best we can. Those that don’t, don’t belong in the business.

I guess what I am saying is that, if you saw the video, please know that it’s not representative of the way the industry works. If you still have concerns, feel free to give me a call some time and we can discuss it one-on-one. There are ways to ensure that animals are handled properly and I believe it is a growing niche that we intend to be a part of.

The result has been that our natural beef business has doubled each of the last two years and this year looks like that growth will be even bigger. We have been receiving some very good feedback from our customers and the word of mouth advertising has been fantastic.

Last year, we made the switch from grass-fed, grain finished this year to straight grass-fed and it was very successful. It means that our cattle are lighter than industry average at harvest, but I think it makes for better tasting meat. The steaks are smaller, but are more tender and juicy than those from the store.

One of the reasons is that our cattle are raised without any growth promotants or antibiotics. Animals which may need medical care are treated and once they recover are removed from the system and sold back into the commodity feedlot chain. Let me state that there is nothing wrong with store-bought beef, we simply choose to do it differently because we think it’s the right thing to do.

I would have to say that every cattleman I have ever met takes as much pride as we do in their herd and they way they do things. In fact, I think it's far too much work to do it if you don't love it, there are easier ways to make money, if you have been a Ranchland News reader, I am sure you know what I mean. Anyway, in addition to the news for the week, I wanted to share a little of our philosophy and insight into the inner workings of Cherry Creek Angus.

Thanks for checking in, I hope this letter finds you well, wherever you may be.

The times that time doesn't fly

Good morning to you all.

After a week in Reno, or at least most of a week, I am finally back home. I was out west covering the annual National Cattlemen's Beef Association. And, although it was a good, productive week, I have decided I hate being away, particularly this time of year when there is much work to be done. I don't travel much any more, but even that little bit is disruptive. The worst part of it is that it's not just disruptive to me but to everyone around me and we found out last week that Wyatt is impacted perhaps more than anyone. The little guy had a pretty rough week and I felt slightly guilty that Amy had to deal with it on her own. Her came down sick with a sore throat and a cold late and the week, so he was even more grumpy than usual. But regardless, that didn't stop his growing process. Up until recently, he has only had a vocabulary of just a few words, mostly cow, cat, mommy and daddy. But you can get a general jist of what's being communicated. Well in the past week that has all changed. His vocabulary has increased and although it is mostly parroting what we say, he has probably tripled his word portfolio. On my second day out, he was walking around the house shouting daddy, daddy, daddy, followed by his "I don't know" shrug, which is awfully cute. So needless to say, this week was an exception to my life which seems to fly by, with the second hand sweeping faster each day. Time did not fly while I was in Reno.

On the upside though, I did have an opportunity to meet some excellent cattlemen, attend some good ranch management seminars and make some contacts in the business and one of the things I have learned is that the cow business, perhaps more than any other these days is still first and foremost, a people business. So, although it's tough to be away, I'm glad I made the trip. I also managed to avoid losing any money at the tables, not because I won, but because I ended up being too busy to play.

So I got back yesterday and in the afternoon, the three of us piled into the truck and took a drive to take advantage of the beautiful sunny weather we've been having for the last couple of days. The temperatures have been in the upper 50s with bright sunny days here on the ranch. We worked our way out east on the gravel roads to explore some of the areas we hadn't seen yet. There are some very big, very scenic ranches to the north east of us and it was a fun afternoon of exploring, if any of you have a chance to make it out this way and want to explore, it's definitely worth the time.

Today it's back to work in an effort to get ready for calving season, which could begin as early as late this week. First calf heifers tend to drop their calves early, sometimes as much as a week or more early, so we will be in that window on Valentine's Day. My chore list is about as long as my arm and it starts with my least favorite task, which happens to be mucking out barn stalls. Fortunately, they're not too bad, but it's frozen, so it will take awhile to get the job done. I also have fence to fix (a weekly chore here) hay to move, straw to buy, and snow to shovel. So as you might have guessed, the old clock is winding back up on me and I'd best get to work.

I hope this note finds you doing well, wherever you may be.