While I was finishing up writing yesterday I was listening to pandora and the “Tom Russell Chanel”, which I do a lot.  Really great music that fits what I like to listen to.

The “Front Porch Song” came on and I thought it really fit what I was talking about.

It’s  a long song,  but its really worth the time to listen to.

So the scoop loop was all about the Jack Voyette’s and the people that help them run them skinny old cows, and that Hereford bull who’s work is never done.

I don’t care if people use or don’t use implants, but getting the work that’s never done, done.

Its a great Sunday morning song any way.  Hope you enjoy it and find a little humor in it.

Spent last week in Alberta. Could not have been better. Zoetis-good company and products to work with and for. Shawn Wilson-good Partner to spread the message. Veterinary Animal health, Feedlot Health Management, and Coaldale Veterinary Clinic- great service providers for feedlots. The men and women in charge of caring for the Beef animals we came in contact with-very good and getting better. Ruth’s Chris-great food with great folks.

I rode some nice horses, worked in some nice facilities and shared lots of ideas with some very different cultures in the tradition of making steak. From a large purebred operation to a government research facility, and lots of real good feedlots in between, lots of variety and personalities in cattle, people and facilities.

A few years ago A and W in Canada started a campaign of all antibiotics and hormone free. The decision upset many Canadian producers as they had to source the beef from places other than Canada, and felt they were playing on emotion rather than science in what is healthy eating.I said at the time we should watch and see if the fast food consumers even cared. In one discussion we had, it was said that it did improve sales and profit for the company. Macdonald’s took a different approach and made a real campaign to promote Canadian raised beef. I don’t know what that did for sales, but it was sure good for promoting the western way of producing beef as they had the Ranching theme in commercials on tv. Tim Hortons started as a coffee/donut fast food(Canadians are addicted to “Tims”) and now serve sandwiches. We had one and it was very good. I don’t know if it is all Canadian beef, but I would guess it is, but I did not see any signs or adds.

I have been keeping my eye on the recently opened Chick-Fillet in the Denver Airport. McDonalds used to always have a big line waiting to be served, and now the line is at the Chicken place,(except on Sundays, they are not open even in the airport). That is very interesting to me. We also should watch Chipotle and see if they can dig their way out of the food safety hole they have got themselves in.

I know a young man in the Fort Collins, Colorado area that has a very good grass fed beef business. His Father Steve Bowers got it started and now Nate is taking it forward. He told me that he can explain to his clients the need for antibiotics and treating for animal welfare, and they are all for proper use of vaccines and antibiotics, but they will have nothing to do with implanted beef.

This is all very interesting for me to observe. I believe in science and I do not believe Beef implanted with estrogen to be bad. All the science that I have seen from the beef industry shows no problem. I see no science from those that oppose it ( including my wife) but lots of emotion. The thing we in the beef industry must face the facts to is some people purchase food on emotion more than science.

When I order a steak, Because of my involvement with production from pasture to plate I have a different kind of emotional reaction. When I get done with a series of days working and end up flying out the next morning, I reward myself with a real good steak. As I savor each bite of medium rare prime beef, I not only chew on the steak, but chew on and analyze all the encounters with humans and animals in the last week.

When I think of the owners of the feedlots and the amount of money, and the risk of losing that money feeding the very beef I am eating, and to see how much responsibility they take on not only to take care of the animals, but also the employees and the families they provide a living for, I get a little emotional.

When I chew on the fact that the veterinarians that have dedicated their lives to the care and well being of animals, and how passionate these people are to make life better for animals and the animals owners, I get a little emotional.

The people that are the “meat” of our business are the ones I get really emotional about. The workers are what I’m talking about. The cowboys that will fight for and tell poems about the life they live. The feedlot care givers that will work in any kind of condition taking care of an animal that sometimes does not appreciate what is being done for them, and a job that always requires more. When I think of the sacrifices the workers of our industry, from the person calving heifers to the truckers hauling them to the slaughter plant and everyone in between, I get a little emotional.

When I am enjoying that steak, I’m chewing on the thoughts of if I am doing my part to help the people and the animals have a better quality of life, so that the people that are all around me in this nice restaurant, enjoying a great steak eating experience and have no idea of all the effort, sacrifice and risk that went into the wonderful experience they are having, I get a little emotional.

So, how does an implant fit into any of this? What is does is take some of the risk out and more profit in. When you have a commodity that is priced by supply and demand, the pay that all these hard working people involved is always at risk. If we can have a product that will add pounds that are helping to pay the wages of employees and the debts of owners that buy the tractors and feed trucks from the local business on Main Street, and help fund research to even do our job of raising high quality, environmentally friendly beef even better, I guess I get a little emotional about the science.

From the production side, a implant helps reduce risk and pay wages. That’s a good thing. If the science says it’s bad, then we better change it. If science says it’s okay, then we are doing the right thing.

So we all may be driven by emotion. I just hope we can find a way to convince our consumer that emotion with science is better than emotion without the whole picture. We may need to take a different approach at pressuring our consumer to accept our science.

It’s great that they choose beef no matter how it’s raised. But it’s our job to convince them of why we do what we do, and I think we may have to get emotional about our science.

Animal husbandry and science, plus transparency and honesty and a great tasting, safe product, and using the same amount of emotion to sell our production as we do raising it. That’s what I decided while enjoying my meal.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed chewing on that steak!

I met Craig Gifford when I did a day for New Mexico State in Las Cruces.  His Grandfather Andy was a boyhood hero of mine, and his Father Dennis Gifford was a guy I looked up to as a cowboy growing up.  We did this interview and I thought you might enjoy reading it.  Good questions from a real good guy.

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE • VOLUME 25 • AUGUST, 2017
From Stockmanship To Beef Industry Trends: Q & A With Curt Pate On Where We Are And Where We Are Going
Craig Gifford, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist
The NMSU ACES High and ACES High + programs are value-added programs designed to prepare calves for a healthy and productive transition to their next phase in the production cycle. The programs are off to a good start with nearly 1000 calves enrolled and approximately 750 calves designated for the certified sale scheduled for November 15th at Clovis Livestock Auction in Clovis, NM. The programs stress proper vaccination protocols and adherence to BQA guidelines; aside from vaccination, it is important to consider animal handling and stress in order to produce the healthiest animal possible
.For many operations in New Mexico, branding and weaning will be the only times cattle are handled. One of the main goals of any vaccination program is to ensure that healthy calves are being sold. However, high stress animals or animals handled in a high stress manner are more likely to experience increased rates of morbidity and mortality. NMSU recently hosted Ag Days Degree and had the opportunity to bring in Curt Pate to discuss stockmanship. Curt is a world-renowned expert in horsemanship and stockmanship and has hosted clinics throughout the U.S. and internationally. I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Pate and discuss a few questions.
Q: What do you feel is the area with the most room for improvement in livestock handling/husbandry on large rangeland operations?
Curt Pate: The biggest challenge I see and hear about range cattle at auction markets and feed yards is cattle don’t know how to stop. This is very important for safety and keeping the stress level down on animals as they are going into the next phase of the production system.
Q: Relative to animal handling/husbandry what do you think are the major challenges or opportunities for improvement in the beef industry in the next decade?
Curt Pate: The lack of basic skills in animal care that is learned when dealing with small numbers. We used to start out learning how to care for a horse or a few cows. Now we expect someone with very little experience to take care of hundreds of animals without the skills learned by dealing with small numbers. We need to encourage young people to get involve in 4-H and FFA to learn the basic animal care skills.
New Mexico State University—All About Discovery!TM
Q: The beef industry has been placing more of an emphasis on docility. In your opinion, is there any connection between temperament and a cow’s ability to produce in tough environments (limited forage, predators, etc.)?
Curt Pate: We need tough cows for tough environments. We need to keep the cow in the cow that fits the environment. We also need to teach them and their offspring to handle the pressure of the next phase of production (how to stop and sort) and adapt to the next phase of production. This is where stockmanship becomes important and adds value to these animals.
Q: We often hear that consumers are and will become more actively involved in the food production process by demanding more information about where their food comes from. What impacts (if any) do you think this could have on cow-calf operations in the West?
Curt Pate: It will be a positive to those that can adapt and give the consumer what they want. For those that want to tell the consumer what they need, it could create a negative impact, mostly through a lower demand for the product they raise. We need to remember people don’t have to eat beef. It’s a decision they make, and they have lots of choices.
Q: With an aging producer population, what are the major hurdles that limit opportunities for young producers to enter the beef industry?
Curt Pate: We need to change our paradigm of owning real estate and animals to be in the beef business. Land prices have changed to where you can’t buy and pay for a place with production. I see such a high quality of life for young people working in the beef industry without the financial stress that so many of the older producers have dealt with. There is such a shortage of quality people with animal husbandry skills, this looks like a way to live a good and prosperous life ahead. It’s supply and demand.

Curt Pate: I feel we have shifted so much of our time from working with and caring for animals to using computers and machines in our daily life activities and even caring for animals, that it has diminished our ability to handle and care for them. We need to make a concentrated effort to learn the things that came naturally when animals were the main part of our life.
All through time there have been changing skills that were the most valuable for the times.I feel now and in the future those skills are going to be animal handling, grazing and resource management, as well as marketing. We need to focus on these to be valuable and profitable in the future.
Concluding Remarks
It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to discuss animal husbandry and stockmanship with Mr. Pate. The beef cattle industry is increasingly recognizing the importance of stress and how management and handling contributes to stress. However, most of the work surrounding stockmanship has centered on handling or working animals in confinement. Mr. Pate’s observation of teaching cattle to stop is an important one that both ranchers and researchers should consider. The practice of teaching cattle to stop does not occur just in a corral but also out in the pasture. It is a concept that deserves more attention. Lastly, Mr. Pate’s observation regarding the lack of basic animal husbandry experience in today’s world really highlights the importance of the great work our 4-H, FFA, other Extension personnel, and industry leaders do every day to provide animal experience to New Mexico’s youth!
New Mexico State University—All About Discovery!TM