I am returning from the state of Vera Cruz Mexico and have just completed a week working with Zoetis Mexico. It was a week I will never forget, and it was much better than I anticipated on all counts.

I have always liked the Mexican culture from what I could see from the U.S. from watching movies and working with many Mexican immigrants. I have spent some time on the border and have always liked it. Tammy and I have always enjoyed authentic Mexican food and Mexican culture.

I flew into Tampico last Sunday night and was picked up by Roberto Pena, whom I had met at the feedlot challenge In Alberta earlier this year. I liked him immediately when we met and felt very comfortable with him taking care of me.

We met the rest of the team the next morning, and LuLu was my interpreter for the week. I had met her in Lethbridge as well and she helped me communicate with the feedlot owners from Mexico while in Canada. Everyone else was very friendly and we headed to the first feedlot.

The driving is crazy. We got to the first feedlot, “Praderas Huastecas” and the security was pretty intense, as in guys with machine guns walking around. After lots of Mexican chatter and checking Identifation we head in. It was not like driving into a feedlot, but a resort. Palm trees and manicured lawn and flowers like you see going to a resort. We pulled up to the first building and it was beautiful Spanish architecture and grazing cells full of cattle. It was as pretty of a place as I could have imagined. They feed 120,000 head of cattle and have a slaughter house right at the feed yard.

They had set a tent up with chairs and I presented my cattle handling talk complete with water bottle and Greeley hat for my power point presentation to two different groups. I was very nervous as to how the workers would accept me and how well it would be with the interpreter. LuLu was excellent. She had ear buds for everyone and could keep up so it was easy to give my presentation. I could tell they were listening and accepting what I was saying by the body language and facial expressions.

Next we went to work working and not talking. As we headed back towards the pens we had the slaughter house and feed mill on one side and the private golf course on the other. Everything was first rate and very modern. The pens were very long and narrow, and had lots of shade as heat was the big challenge. I didn’t notice at first, but every male bovine in the feed yard was intact. They don’t castrate. They feed everything as a bull. Many are Brahman/Brownswiss cross and Zebu. It was quite a site to see that many and the pens were real full.
Buller activity is around 2% if I remember correctly.

No one really explained why they kept them as bulls, but they are concentrating on quantity as the quality is difficult to achieve in the climate they are producing in. I think they are figuring ways to improve the quality, and all the beef I ate was excellent in flavor and tenderness(and we ate a lot of beef last week).

All bulls in the pens

My mind is kind of a blur and I can’t really remember what we did first when we actually started working cattle. The thing that I do remember is how good the cattle were to work. They were very gentle and responded very nicely to pressure. All week long I had so much fun working these very nice disposition cattle.

Next morning we left the hotel at 4:30 and were at the shipping pens to watch them load cattle. One division was on the other side of a busy highway so they hauled the fat cattle to the slaughter pen facility. The bulls loaded great and the man that was loading the cattle was excellent and had been doing it for a long time.

Next we went and observed them pull a pen of two hundred and went along while they drove them about 1/2 mile to the holding pens at the abattoir. It was very difficult because the alley was only ten foot at the start and then went to twelve with lots of corners and challenges. They always lead cattle in front, but they still come back on them. I suggested less numbers and installing two block gates to allow the person at the back to go to the front to get them started again. The vaqueros were glad to hear that and had been asking for it before.  All cowboys have this strange sense of humor and dealing with things, and they called the alleys from the pens to the slaughter pens “autopista hacia el Cielo” which translates to “highway to Heaven”.

We all met up at the receiving area and watched them unload trucks and pen the cattle. They brought breakfast and coffee. I was hungry and it was good. The coffee had sugar in it and was very sweet. We had tacos with meat, hot sauce and lime. Everyone was laughing and giving each other a bad time and enjoying each other.

Grupo Gusi managers at slaughter plant.

The cowboys just stepped of their horses and they stood right where they left them. One horse never moved as the truck backed into the chute about two feet away and never moved when the driver released the brakes. That was one disappointing thing I saw was how tired and sore the horses were.

We then went to all the processing areas and observed and I worked some through as I thought would do. The main thing was I took less numbers and didn’t store them in the tub. They had the habit of filling the tub and working them from there. The cattle worked so nice they would work pretty good anyway, but I wanted them to see a little different style, and to see if I could do it. The cattle were very nice to work.

Late in the afternoon we finished up and went back to the main offices and went upstairs to have lunch with the Owner, his Family and managers. It was a beautiful place with a very nice view of the grazing pastures. The tequila and wine went to flowing, and we had very nice cheeses and salamis and guacamole. We sat down to a wonderful meal that was very organized and the waiter was so good at keeping everyone with everything they needed. It was one of the top eating experiences I have had, and I’ve had some pretty good eating experiences. Carne Asada (steak) just kept coming until I couldn’t eat any more. The view, the people and the food/culture was why this was such a great meal. We left kind of late and every one was pretty full of food and drink and content with a good successful two days at out first feed lot.

The next stop was Grupo Gusi, a very similar operation to Praderas , as they are owned by two brothers.

We followed a similar program with the talks first and then working with the crews at each operation. These were both very impressively run operations.
The owners really seem to be very good business, hire good managers, have lots of help with labor, and believe in good facilities and doing things right.
For as big of operations as these were, it appears very well organized and things are really managed well.

We had another very nice meal in the same style as the other. The food was excellent as was the conversation. Not as much wine drank as we had to drive to the airport. As they always seem to do in Mexico, we worked, ate and talked to much and then it was a mad dash to get to the airport. The traffic was terrible and Roberto was really doing a good job of pretending to be a race car driver. We got to the airport late, but as luck would have it the pilots in Mexico have the same style I guess and our plane was late arriving so we made our flight. The other Zoetis guys asked Roberto why he was driving so slow. To much fun!

We flew to Mexico City, got in at about 10:00 p.m., stayed at Airport motel and had a 6 a.m. flight to Vera Cruz, which is south of Tampico and a very nice coastal city.

The feedlots we were visiting in this region were smaller and worked as a group and used the same slaughter facility. I did my talk in the new hospital area they were building. They had installed a bud box and were trying to get it done before we had our day of demonstrations. When we started the chute was not working, and I said we could just put three head in, then back them out and do some others. It was a great place for the talk. The calves in the sick pen watched the talk as well, and instead of using a water bottle to demonstrate position, I just climbed the the fence and used a live calf. It was the nicest place to do a talk ever.

My talk lasted about an hour. We then went and did some work in the pens. I tried to pull a pen by myself and couldn’t get the cattle to move good enough to get them to pull themselves so I had a couple guys help me and they came out real good. It was a good demo on getting more help if needed and how position people to get cattle out of pen nicely. (I still should have been able to pull them myself)

We then went to work the new bud box. The manager was real nervous about if it would work or not. I put three in and they worked perfectly into the lead up to the chute. I closed the back gate and explained what I did. I said we could back them out and try some more. They said the chute was now working. They were stringing wire for electrical when we pulled up, and they got it wired and going by the time we used it! We ran more through, then went to the processing tub and worked in that area. It worked real well and they were bring smaller groups of cattle. They were doing a real nice job of processing the new arrivals.

We went back to the hospital area and they were using the new system. Two young guys were working the bud box and really trying to get it figured out how to use it. They will.

This time the Zoetis team prepared the meal. They cooked the steaks and ribs right next to the cattle. We had a simple meal of meat, tortillas, lime, and green salsa. My kind of eating.

The cattle were great to work with. I was getting real comfortable with all the people, from the Zoetis team to the owner, managers and workers. It was a real nice day.

The last day was like the rest, a very early start, but we stopped and had a great breakfast. Roberto’s son, Luis came with us for the day. He spoke very good English and had a good sense of humor. Family is a very important thing in Mexico. He took pictures for me.

The feedlot that hosted the day we’re Charros. I have been very interested in and have admired the Mexican rodeo skills (charreada) for a long time. I understand a little about it, and these guys were very serious about it. They were a little more horse oriented here and had real nice horses that were in good condition.

I got to do my talk in the” Lienzo “ which is the arena. I did a little “horsemanship for stockmanship demo”. I’m not sure what they thought of that.
We the worked cattle. I demonstrated pen work, pulled a couple of calves out, then pulled the pen. They went out real nice and I was able to do it by myself.

We then loaded up and went to the slaughterhouse they used. It was great. The manager and employees were very into animal handling and welfare. They worked very hard to keep the animals calm. They only moved them in groups of ten and used excellent pressure. I told them about the rules in some plants of hockey helmets and protective vests and they were very surprised that all cattle were not as calm as theses.

While we were there a stock truck pulled up with ten head of finished cattle. The driver backed up to the chute, got out to make sure he was square and unloaded, just like I had done with my grandfather so many times when I was a kid. It was real nice to see a bob tail truck load of cattle. He even reminded me of my grandfather in how he worked.

Back to the feedlot and we had another great meal of steak and beef ribs and tortillas. It was so nice to sit amongst these hard working, good people and to hear them laugh and talk and enjoy themselves. I am starting to understand more words and kind of understand what they are saying once in a while.

 

We said our goodbyes and headed back to Vera Cruz. The remaining Zoetis crew and I went and had coffee and desert at a nice restaurant near my hotel.
They had certificates for me to sign. They provided them for every person that attended.  I sent this picture to my Daughter Mesa as she is good friends with Julio Moreno and thought she would get a kick out of it.  In Mexico they use the Fathers and Mother’s family name on documents, so they all had at least three names like this.

As we visited I started thinking about how much this team was like the team Zoetis has in Canada. I even started matching them up. Shawn Wilson in Canada got the ball rolling for me to visit Mexico in Canada. He and Roberto Pena are very much alike in the way they work. I appreciate what all the Zoetis folks I’ve worked with have done. It’s been a great year working for them in Canada and Mexico.

I’ll finish this long “ Piales” loop up with some observations.

The workers in Mexico feedlots make very little money. They work 6, ten hour days and if I understand correctly they make the equivalent of $100/ week.

They understand how, and do handle cattle very good, at least when I was there. Like all of us, there is room for improvement, and I hope I approached presenting this to them in a way that they will want to make improvements.

The owners and managers want to be the best they can be. They will improve the cattle they feed, and they will be a strong competitor in the finished cattle market in the future. I saw two very nice Brangus bulls that one feedlot is offering semen to their customers. This will be a game changer if the ranchers will upgrade the cattle genetics.

The feedlot system really works in Vera Cruz. The grass is not very strong, and most of the ranchers are not very progressive. The calves come in very week and green and if they can get them straitened out, they really “pop” and the gain is good and the days on feed are short. All the inputs are available at a much cheaper cost. It looks to me like the potential for profit is very good as long as the feeder cattle price stays right.

An improved pasture system with good grazing management, and good cattlehandling skills to settle these calves, get them eating a ration, and to prepare them for the pressure and straiten these cattle out before going to the feedlot seems to be where good stockmanship could help more than anything to improve profit and animal welfare.

The beef we ate was from the feedlots we worked in. It was very flavorful, not tough, and a good eating experience.

The owners, managers, and workers have a much better working relationship than many I see in the US when Mexican labor is used. I think the cultural differences sometimes creates a different reaction in the States. I notice that when a manager is “talking” to the crew, it’s like they aren’t really listening or acknowledging what the “Gringo” boss is saying. I got a very different feel from the crews I spoke to in Mexico than in the US. We need to figure out how to get this same working relationship between workers and management in the U.S.
Maybe we need to change our methods of pressure to get the job done.

At each of the talks, the owners were present at the start of the meeting and had some positive things to say to the workers.

Hand shaking and hugs are a big part of the culture.

I’ll make a confession. I am a little embarrassed about our American lifestyle. We have everything we need and just about everything we could ever want, yet we are still not content, and always want more and have all kinds of what we think are problems.

The Mexican people are happy. From the owners to the poorest of workers they all seemed happy and appreciative of life. It seems to me that the faith (Catholic), family, pride, and food are real important things no matter what position they have in the world. The material things they have are more practical than ego based and I think this makes a big difference.

We hear so much about the bad things in Mexico. I was so fortunate to get to see the good. I’ve got the greatest job in the world!

Lots of contemplation in the last few weeks.

Watched PBR finals and they showed Ty Murray on some bulls. Great rides, but the bulls we watch today are so much ranker than then is what I was thinking.

I then had breakfast with Temple, before we did the event for Cherokee Ranch and she had made the realization from a lab with cattle that the systems she designed 30 years ago was for a different temperament of cattle than we have today.

(We used a Sort of Bud Box system, and Temple never said one negative thing about it. I’ve heard lots of folks criticize her and the tubs she promotes in a very negative way. She won’t stoop to that negative type of presenting. She presents the facts as she sees them. I admire her for her honesty. If you don’t like what she presents, give her the facts, prove them to be correct and she will promote it. She is always trying to learn better ways.)

I hear the same with horses. They say the old time horses were much tougher to “break” than the ones we are starting today.

These are real important things to think about. We can change because of the changes we make. See things for what they are, not for what they have been.

Watching the young bull riders and how they have stepped up to ride these great, seemingly impossible to ride bulls is amazing to me. I really like watching the animal athletes and the human athletes.

I finished a book titled “ The Hacking of the American Mind” by Robert Lustig.

It is very science based and talks about contentment in life. It’s main idea is that often pleasure creates long term negatives in quality of life. Many times these pleasures become habits that really create problems. Sugar is a big part of the book. The pleasure you get from sugar leads to health problems, the same as smoking or drugs. The more pleasure you get, the more you want, and the worse the outcome.

I think we all have addictions. I think I have an animal addiction. I have really enjoyed working with animals all my life. I think this is a good habit and addiction. When you have a positive interaction with an animal is sends the same pleasure signals to the brain and body as a drug. The pleasure you get, or the addictive behavior actually creates more pleasure and a positive outcome through a more profitable animal or a relationship with the animal that creates higher quality of life. This causes you to want to get even better and that is a very positive addiction.

The same happens with being nice or creating positive relationships to help people. Creating art, building saddles, braiding rawhide and any kind of creating something are great addictions.

It is so easy in this modern age to get addictions that create small pleasure but big problems. THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE ARE THE GOOD THINGS! This is so important to understand. The more money, time and technology you have access to the more chance you have of going toward small pleasure and big problems.

I have spent a lot of time with Hispanic people and the Mexican culture the last couple of weeks. When I am with Mexicanos I get embarrassed by our American culture. We have so much, have to work so little, and really have it easy compared to most of the rest of the world, yet we are unhappy and complain about everything.

The Mexican people appreciate what they have, take care of their family and possessions, work hard jobs that might not be the best pay, but don’t complain and are always happy.  They are content.

Bill Dale, my friend and leader of Team California Beef Council and I went to Brawley, California for a NCBA Stockmanship and Stewardship event and worked with around 150 feedlot workers, that were mostly of Mexican decent. They were very friendly and seemed interested in what we were offering them.
We also learned great safety advice from Gordon Moore of Texas Cattle Feeders.

We went to supper that night and got to visit with Jesse Larios, who helped organize the event, and is a fellow Greeley Hat Works enthusiast. It made me appreciate the culture even more to get to hear his story and some of the history of the feedlots in the area.

Next I went to spend some time in Yuma with my Folks who winter there. It was great seeing all my Moms friends and how much fun they have living like young old people.

Then I went and played horseshoes with my Dad. Real fun and he is real good.
I recommend everyone at about fifty go spend a week in a retirement community. It will help prepare you for the future.

I have had a tooth that has been bothering me for about a year. My Dad said he had gone to a real good dentist in Mexico. I got the number and called and made an appointment for 8 AM the next morning. I then went back to my Moms place and she needed some new glasses but couldn’t go the next day. I called and the receptionist said to come today. We jumped in the car and headed to Mexico. We got there a little after noon, and I figured they would figure out what was wrong and then have me come back to fix it. After three hours I walked out with a sore mouth and all the work they could do done. I got in the chair, he looked at my mouth, figure out the problem, told me what he could do and how much it would cost for the work. I said let’s do it and he did it.

No nonsense. Just get it done effectively and efficiently for about 1/4 the cost of what I would have paid in Montana. I answered about seven questions before they went to work, when done the assistant took me to the pharmacy, got some antibiotics, paid the bill and was on my way.

Simple effective healthcare.

I went out to “The Ranch” as my Compo(a little Spanish lingo) Armondo calls it.
The Mendoza family are so welcoming to us.

They practice roping and horsemanship in the Mexican tradition and are creating some great young “Charros”. They are building a Lienzo (Mexican rodeo arena) at the place and are calling it the “Antonio Lepe Mendoza” arena to honor their father.

They are hard working people that put all they have into family and culture and I am so fortunate to be able to have them let me learn from them on how to be humble and proud in the Charro tradition.

So back to the book. Pleasure that creates contentment or a lifestyle that creates contentment. This is what creates the good life.

This is so important for us to create for ourselves, those that we are involved with, and the animals in our care.  Learn to create it.

I am going to Castle Rock, Colorado to do a cattlehandling presentation for Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Saturday with Temple Grandin. I have heard Temple use the term “when bad becomes normal” many times.

In continuing my thinking on the stress put on calves this time of year, I think this saying fits. It has become normal thinking that this is normal.

The way we approach the predator/pray relationship with animals makes all the difference. In my opinion it is much better to approach it from a “pressure” relationship.

The human has the ability to create a positive pressure or a negative pressure. We can walk into a pen with a bucket of pellets and shake it and all the cattle come to you, or you can walk into a pen and shake a rattle paddle or flag and fix fence for the next three days.

I know the human can create the proper situation to get animals to change behavior.

When I used to do colt starting clinics, several times I had a couple stud colts with a bunch of mares together in the arena and with the use of a flag and a riding horse that would put you in the right spot I could use the right pressure to get them to not want to breed or fight while I was in control. If I used to much pressure it would create problems for the person trying to ride them, not enough pressure would create problems for the people on the other horses. I might have to use a bunch of pressure at first, and that was why it was so important to be on a horse handy enough to get to where I needed the pressure. Releasing the pressure at the right time and in the right amount was real crucial, and if done properly it would take less each time and pretty quick all it took is being there.

We got some kittens awhile back. We have lots of dogs around here that are very aggressive towards small animals that run. All these dogs listen to me and understand that I am in control because of the pressure I use with them. We set it up with the right situation and the cats and all the dogs get along.

Because of creating proper pressure and control, these example show how the human can change real strong behavior and instinct in animals that are in a predator prey/prey relationship or the same species that left alone would be very dangerous in a group from fighting and breeding.

When the change is made life is much more enjoyable, safer and productive for the animal and the human. Quality of life improves.

This is a real challenging balance to achieve. First off, if it doesn’t work you could end up with dead cats and horses bred or hurt. Some aren’t willing to take the chance, so they either won’t try or put way to much pressure on and create a fear of the human rather then a change of mind. Then when the human is forgotten or not present the behavior intensified to get it done before the human shows up again.

Second, this requires controlling of emotions and developing a feel for pressure.
It is much easier to just put lots of pressure on and use facilities or a tool to make it happen. By using excessive pressure you get the job done, but create fear or mistrust in the animal for the future. This is the place that some horse people use the term “feel, timing, and balance”.

Third, people that use high pressure to get things done think of the skill used and the immediate outcomes as the goal. They don’t think about what excessive pressure is creating in the future. They also will criticize those that use skills that are different than the ones they use. With the extreme conditions livestock handlers have to work in, it takes tough people to do the work, and those that are tuff like to be tuff, and are proud of the skills they have.

When we work livestock, it is very important to be able to get the job done. I feel like I really got along good starting colts. I got to figuring out how to really help a colt to keep from bucking by the way I rode them. Some need to have lots of pressure to keep them moving and some need very little. I was willing to get on most anything, and if I couldn’t help them and they had to buck, I had the skill to ride them and help them through that. For me this created a better outcome father down the line because I didn’t take all the life out with to much groundwork or round pen. Not everyone has the skill to ride a bucking horse, so it’s not for everyone. I helped many of them to not buck and really got along good with very little pressure, but hardly anyone complimented me on that or even saw it. If you made a mistake and a colt really bucked and you rode him everyone could see and appreciate that.

 

Hopefully these examples will get you to thinking and talking to others about changing pressure with animals for immediate and future results, and hopefully “bad will not be normal” in the future.

This to me is the real rewarding part of stockmanship.