Category Archives: Beef Quality Assurance

Am I a hypocrite?

There is a lady involved with the beef industry that is very willing to share her opinions on all sorts of social issues. A while back she pretty much stated that we men needed to grow a pair and start acting like men. So I will, and the first thing I will say is that’s no way for a lady to talk, but it sure did get me to thinking about things.

Her statement caused my mind to ask myself this question. Am I a hypocrite? That is a tough one because it will make you really get honest with yourself (unless of course, you’re a hypocrite to yourself about your own honesty to yourself).

I have many strong opinions about what I feel is right and talk about being right, but do I live them? I actually feel pretty good about most of what I do and feel like I am honest with you and myself.

In thinking all this over, it caused me to create some thoughts that may be helpful for you to think about.

What is my purpose in life and am I fulfilling that purpose? I feel real private about a lot of things, but like to share my opinions with others.

I don’t really know what my purpose in life is. I have not got that one figured out just yet. I do know that so far my job for lot in life has been the training and care of animals that are involved in food for humans and horses that used for pleasure or in the production of animals.

I am real happy about that. I don’t know why but I have always had a compassion for animals. I have always had some kind of a dog in my life, and for some reason dogs seem to enjoy being around me. I like that. I am fascinated with cats. They are a very hard animal to figure out. Some cats really like being around me, but some want nothing to do with me. I want to get to a point that all cats like to be around me.

Some people would think of me as a hypocrite because I say I care about animals, but I eat them (I don’t eat dogs or cats, I hope …) or am not against rodeo. Other people would say I am a hypocrite because I am not sure ranch rodeo is a positive thing for the beef industry and the natural horsemanship movement has not been the best thing for the horse.

I am not saying these things to offend anyone, but simply giving my take on things from the way I see it. People can do whatever they want to do in our society. If it is against the law and if they are caught they will be punished in some way. All I am doing is voicing my opinion on what I think will create improvements.

That may be my purpose in life. My wife and I have purchased many places in our 25 years of marriage. I am proud to say we have improved each place considerably in the time we owned them. I have thrown my leg over lots of different horses in the last 50 years and hopefully I have made improvements to most of them. In the last 20 years or so I have hopefully made improvements in the way people communicate with animals and other people. Yep, I know “improvements” is my purpose in life.

Lets get back to the animal subjects …

How can I say I care about animals but still kill them for food?

To be honest I never even thought about this for a big part of life. I have been in the cycle of life and have seen nature’s harshness with death from predators or old age and have seen how slow, painful, and inhumane this process can be. Growing up with a grandfather that was a butcher, helping him slaughter since I could go with him, and seeing how much more effective he was at a quick and fearless death than nature, it never even entered my mind that what we were doing was wrong. We had cared for the animals, provided them with shelter and feed, which was our purpose in the deal and in turn, they did the same for us. We gave them a good quality of life, better than what they would have had if we were not involved, and in return they gave us a better quality of life in the form of food and shelter just as we provided for them.

Animals either don’t know what death is and aren’t afraid of it. If they did or were they would act very differently before they are harvested. They would not walk calmly up the chute to their death. Animals do have fear and to me we need to handle the animal in a way that keeps it from being afraid as much as possible.

Agricultural animals can take incredible amounts of discomfort. They can survive at extremely cold temperatures, have broken bones or body parts cut off and in a very short time get back to normal behavior. The worst thing that I see for animals is fear. I don’t think the pain of branding or castrating is inhumane to animals, but the fear it creates probably is. This is why it is important to be very effective a doing these processes. To brand an beef animal with a hot iron, it should take less than thirty seconds and be done. If it must be done do it properly and quickly then get the animal back to the herd to feel safe.

When a predator attacks the fear is extreme and can last a long time. If I raise the animal in a way that reduces stress, increases quality of life, and ends the life quickly and with the least fear and pain possible, while keeping natures natural cycle in harmony, I don’t feel I am being a hypocrite, but a true animal activist.

I used to rodeo and rode bucking horses and bulls. I really miss having the physical skill to ride bareback horses. I don’t miss riding bulls, it probably ranks up there with the dumbest things I have ever done. If I care about animals how could I do that? Most guys that ride bucking horses have the utmost respect for the horse, and have a lot of feel for the way a horse is handled and treated.

The way I see it, the bucking horse has the highest quality of life of all horses I have seen, including the wild horse. Most performance and pleasure horses get to much nutrition and not enough exercise. Many are kept in small enclosures and are in small numbers so the natural social order does not happen. Many trained horses are constantly being put under pressure to perform under high pressure training regimens and some get no exercise at all with little to no social interaction because of the human taking such good care of them, as if they were a human.

If you study the life of most bucking horses, they are raised in a herd, with lots of room to roam, get a pretty good balance of nutrition, and don’t have to work or be stressed for long periods of time like pleasure and performance horses. When they are learning to be performing bucking horses, they can have quite a bit of stress until they learn how to work in the system. The quicker they learn the easier it gets, so it is important to train them to the system.

Many of the problems that show up in performance and pleasure horses, such as soundness, disease and stress induced vices, are very rarely found in bucking horses. They live and perform longer as well. To me this is fact that the bucking horse has the best quality of life in the horse world. There may be more risk of injury because of the extreme energy they put out for 30 or 40 seconds, but this is actually what keeps them healthy, the short periods of high stress is exactly what nature does to keep an animal aware of danger, and healthy enough to do something about it.

As I look at rodeo, it appears to me that folks don’t see the big picture. Would I be a hypocrite if I justified tie-down roping? I don’t know if I can justify it and am not trying to, but I will give some observations. If we break roping and tying a calf down into its component parts it makes it easier to analyze. The horse and rider chasing the calf create fear so the calf runs. It is proven that an animal has one main thought at a time, so if the calf is running, that is a natural thing for calves to do, and as long as it is not for to long of a period of time it does not over stress the animal. If it is caught, this is the only time in the run when pain is really involved. The horse stops, the calf keeps running and he is stopped by the rope. It used to be the calf was jerked over backwards because of the sudden stop, but calf ropers have learned to not jerk them hard to keep them on their feet to get a faster time.

If you watch a bunch of cows and calves together, and a new calf that is only hours old try to suck the wrong cow they get butted or kicked real hard, and it does not hardly phase them. Calves take way more punishment from other cows than they do from the sudden stop of the rope.

The next thing that happens is the cowboy runs down the rope. This creates fear in the calf and it again thinks about and tries to run away. After the roper gets a hold of the calf, he flanks him down. To be honest this is when the cruelty can happen. If he is flanked real high and hard, it could knock the air out or stun the calf. When a calf or any fleeing animal is on its side and restrained they will struggle briefly and then usually give up and lay quiet.

Mother Nature has created this. When a prey animal is caught they struggle for a while then give up and go somewhere else with the mind. This is the way animals deal with the fear of attack. You can see this in a tie down roping run. If the roper flanks smooth, strings the front foot quickly, then scoops the hind legs low and firm the calf does not have time to struggle. When the roper gets of the calf the may struggle a couple of times then lay quiet until untied. Many times after the run the calf almost walks or trots off in a better state than when he started.

All this takes from 7 to 30 seconds. Now there are some things we could do to minimize the jerk of the rope like a calf collar to reduce the ropes pressure on the neck. That may help but I have to remember that the calk takes more abuse from its own mother or other cows. If the horse overworks this would be helpful in keeping the rope from choking the calf.

Of all the timed events tie-down roping is the most criticized. It used to be called calf roping. This is why it is thought to be the most abusive, because you are dealing with young, cute calves. In my opinion it is the least abusive of all timed events that involve cattle. The one that gets the least mention is the one that I feel is the hardest on cattle and that is team roping. Team roping steers are big and look tough with their horns. When you have a horse that weighs 1200 pounds plus, and a steer that can weigh well over 500 pounds and you are going around 20 miles per hour, and you rope that animals hind foot or feet and you dead stop it all that is a bunch of stretch from his heels to his horns.

I point these things out to show, in the way I truly and factually believe animals deal with stress, pain and fear.

I am not a big fan of ranch rodeo. I like most of the people involved, admire the skills the competitors have perfected, love the tradition and gear, but I cannot find a way to justify the events. All the things they do in a ranch rodeo pretty much go against everything we try to promote with the Stockmanship and Stewardship program the National Cattleman’s Beef Association sponsors. These practices are not what I envision as what the customer sees as Beef Quality Assurance. I am not saying they are wrong for doing it, and don’t think ill of someone that promotes or participates in it, but I would be a hypocrite if I tried to justify it.

The difference between rodeo and ranch rodeo is the events. Rodeo animals can be patterned and trained to accept the pressure and the events are quick. Lots of pressure under 10 seconds, then back to the herd. If you look at ranch rodeo there is quite a lot of wild chasing and quite a bit of stress on the cattle and really no way to pattern or train the cattle before, and the pressure can last quite a while. With ranch rodeo the real good competitors get it done quick and effectively, but many times things don’t go as good for some, and these circumstances create what I see as the problem. Professionally run rodeos have become very strict with rules and time limits and are quick to punish for animal abuse. This is the way it must be.

I would be a hypocrite if I did not give my honest point of view on this. I will probably make some folks mad about this subject, and for that I am truly sorry. I have learned the hard way that when you say what you believe it can cause friends, or who you thought were friends, to get real upset.

It is interesting to explore the different ways people think we should care for and use animals. I like to visit with vegetarians and animal activists that will give me a chance to discuss my reasons for believing in and doing the things I do. If you can keep from being in a confrontation, but keep it in a discussion, it really helps them see things from my point of view. I think the better I get at this the closer I will be to getting to pet more cats, and as I said before that is real important to me.

~ Curt Pate

Two Stockmanship Events Coming Up in Colorado, July 1-2

18-DSC_0394Two upcoming Stockmanship and Stewardship events on July 1st (8am to 2pm MST) at the Cargill-Yuma Feedyard in Yuma, CO and on July 2nd (10am to 4pm MST) at the Magnum Feedyard in Wiggins, CO will give livestock producers in Colorado how low stress livestock handling can enhance cattle operation profitability and improve animal welfare.

Topics will include management of receiving and shipping cattle, pen riding, general cattle handling, (lunch provided) and an afternoon chute-side management of processing cattle.

Curt Pate will share his ideas and knowledge with interested people by helping them to hone their skills as cattlemen and women to improve their stockmanship and stewardship.

To RSVP, Contact Travis Hoffman, Colorado BQA Coordinator by June 24.
Phone: 970-491-2333 / Email: Travis.Hoffman@colostate.edu

CLICK HERE to look at the event flyer.

Mother Nature, predators, and customers

As we move along in the world we are told we are going to be hard pressed to feed everyone in the future and our planet is going to suffer from it.  Many are against the production of livestock claiming it is a big contributor to climate change, bad for the environment, and is cruel to animals.

I am not sure any of these are true. Many things in the past have happened that changed the course of history, so it is hard to predict the future with 100% accuracy.

I do know Mother Nature has had grazing animals and predators working in unison to create balance in the ecosystem for thousands of years.  I just don’t understand what has changed that makes that such a bad thing.

Most of the people that are against the production of livestock are not bad people.  They are simply believing what they believe because of what they have been told. Some do it because of political motivation, some for profit.

It is our job to change these folks’ minds if we can. I like to look at things from a cattle handling perspective, so the first thing we will do is sort ’em up three ways.

Pen number one is the folks that are already enjoying beef.

We must keep this pen full and happy. We must give them what they pay for and make sure we do things at least as well as they expect and better if we can. Just like cattle in a pen, they may not all be the same, but they all deserve the best care possible.  If the folks in this sort want all natural, organic, grass-fed, grain-fed choice, grain-fed select, or hamburger let’s give it to them and keep them happy and well fed. This is a big pen of easy keepers, but we can’t get complacent.  We must keep our eye on them and always be aware of problems that may show up.  In cattle we practice good BQA (Beef Quality Assurance). In this pen we need to practice PQA (People Quality Assurance).

Pen number two are the folks that are a little hard to get to sorted off, are on the edge of jumping the fence, and real nervous when they get in the pen.

We must work with this sort to get them in the pen and once in the pen they will need to be handled properly.  This pen takes a lot of work, but it is very important “to do the right thing” because at some point we may be able to upgrade them and re-sort some to pen number one.  We must be careful this pen does not take all our time and resources and cause us to have issues in pen one.

Pen number three is the smallest pen, are on the fight, want to hurt you, and should be handled with great respect and care.

If you get in the wrong spot and they get the opportunity they will hurt you.  They should only be handled by an experienced professional.  This pen is dangerous.  If you miss a sort on one and they get into pen one or two they can stir the whole pen up and cause problems you could not imagine.

Pen three are the folks that are against animal agriculture or certain segments of it – PETA, HSUS, many environmental groups,  extreme vegetarian and vegans to name a few.  It is hard or impossible to handle pen three type cattle, they bring out strange reactions by folks that are trying to handle them.  Because they are almost impossible to handle in a normal manner we get frustrated and many times do exactly the wrong thing.  If you put pressure on an animal that’s on the fight, crazy, or has lost it’s ability to reason, it can really cause problems.

We in the livestock business must give pen one and two what they need, understand what they want, and understand that the customers are not always right, but they do make the decision to come to the bunk or not.  If we don’t give them what they want pen three is always trying to get them to jump into their pen.

I would like to give you my thoughts on pen three.

We are not going to change the minds of the majority of these folks through reason or force, so it is a waste of time to do so.  The only thing we can do is not make mistakes to give them an opportunity to change the minds of pen one and two.

Allow the best trained professionals to deal with the results of the actions of this group.  This is why I feel it’s important to support organizations that do a good job of handling these situations.

The Beef Check-off seems more important now than ever, and that money must be used properly.  The anti-animal groups have much more money in the bank and the main stream media seems to favor some of their ideas.  We can’t fight them on a dollar to dollar basis, but with a true message that focuses on positive reasons for livestock, the miracle of social media and the great work that our young people are doing with it, we can make more of a difference than ever before.

If you try to find the positive in each situation, it is often helpful.  I look at the folks in pen three as predators to the livestock industry.

In nature predators serve a purpose.  They keep animals bunched, creating a herd that keeps moving together. While in the herd individuals must get along, do the right thing, or they get pushed out and increase the chance of predator attack.

Just like the herd, we in this business need to move together, get along and help each other to keep from being attacked.

Predators not only keep the herd bunched, but also keep them moving to fresh feed, which for animals is moving in the right direction.  This is what makes predators so valuable to our ecosystem.  Because of predators, grazing animals have been improving our environment for thousands of years.

Understand the predators are moving us in the direction that the customer wants us to go. We are much better at animal care and managing our resources because of the pressure put on by the livestock industry predators.

Predators eliminated the weak, overly brave, lazy, and not smart animals. We also must remember that some animals became extinct, and many are struggling to keep from becoming extinct.

As we look at the consumption of beef losing ground to other proteins,  we should take an honest look at what we need to do to improve our place in the environment (industry).  It may require some changes from the way we have survived in the past and it may require going against the wishes or interests that have created success in the past, but is the only way to secure and improve the future of the beef industry.  Remember, people don’t have to eat beef, but want to.  Lets do what it takes increase the desire.

Some in our business have not changed to fit the times. We must be very careful about protecting these folks or the entire industry may suffer.  As in nature, not everyone can survive in this business.

Mother Nature is harsh.  The predators kill in a way that is very disturbing and just looks wrong.

If you look at it from the big picture what they are doing is keeping things in balance and headed in the right direction.  When a prey animal is weak or makes a mistake they are taken out, making the herd stronger and more adapted to the environment at the moment.

It seems to me that if you look at the big picture of the situation, pen number three is very hard to handle, dangerous, and flat out makes you so mad you can hardly stand not to do something.  The trouble is the only thing you can do is to get smarter and try to keep from dealing with the pen three’s.

The big picture is that the predators of the livestock industry are making us much more aware and creating better management of our resources, better care and handling of our livestock and that is keeping pen number one on the gain and real content, hopefully pen number two is realizing that we are getting better at the things they want in our product.

In nature it seems as everything should go along in harmony, with no natural disasters, no suffering, no starvation or any thing negative.  That’s not the way it works.

The livestock business is the same way.  We are going to have great times and we are going to have some challenges.  How we react and what we learn from each challenge is going to determine the direction of the future of the industry.

Listen to the customer, work with Mother Nature, and be careful of predators.

~ Curt Pate