Category Archives: Stewardship

Climate change

At first it was ” global warming ” now it more common to be discussed as ” climate change.”

I have been watching people’s reaction to this for quite sometime. I am seeing less resistance to acknowledging that something is up with the climate, but not much change in the opinion on either side of the argument.

I will tell you right now I have no idea what is happening. This same thing may have happened 1000 years ago, or may have never before. I do believe Mother Nature has a way of taking care of herself. When man gets in the way of her job she always seems to take care of it in another way, and if we would have listened to her and learned from the past cycles we would have benefited.

In the Western forests we have a huge die off of timber because of the pine beetle. With forests the cycling of nutrients is what makes it work. Fire, blow downs, insects and animals all help with the balance in nature. Man can help to maintain the balance or hinder it.

When we took control of the management of the forest, mostly with the suppression of fire or the wrong kind of logging, Mother Nature took over and said I need more nutrients to put back in the soil and her solution, the pine beetle. We have learned so much in the way we manage our forests. The managers of the past were trying to do wrong, it was just that they could not know the damage they may have been causing until the mistake was made to learn from.

Most of the time when humans are dealing with natural resources we have a two sided split of take more or take less. At first both sides are to the extreme and time creates the balance that is needed. The big challenge is to not making mistakes so big that Mother Nature must go to extremes or it takes so long to repair the damage that the whole ecosystem is thrown out of wack causing changes in plant and animal population.

From what I have seen from the past and the power of Mother Nature, I am not worried about the environment as much as the ones that are messing with the balance of it.
The United Nations predict we will have billions more people on the world in the next 40-50 years. The people that know about forests predicted we would have a bunch more trees in our Western ecosystem as well.

I always try to look at what I call the big picture such as what is happening with the human race that is positive and what can we do to improve our quality of life while not creating poor quality of life for our future generations.

When I look at the over consumption and waste of us “civilized folks” I get a little embarrassed. In times past, the royalty and the very rich were the only ones that lived life of excess and waste. Now a great percentage of our population live the life of royalty, and a small percentage live a life non-abundance. The big question should be, “How much does it take to have a good quality of life and while we are having this good life, how can we improve it for the future?” It looks to me as if we should try to manage consumption and life like we manage our pastures.

So this brings me to the critics of beef, and how they say the beef industry is adding to the problem of global warming, which is causing climate change.

Before the Industrial Revolution, or even before man, the ecosystem worked in a wonderful balance of growing things out of the earth, then sunshine and all the other energy from the sky was captured by these plants. These plants had to break down to feed the things that had no way to get the energy from the sun and sky. The purpose of lightning is to break up the nitrogen in the atmosphere and it is taken up by plants to get it back to where it is needed. In forests, fires and other predators break down the fiber to go back into the earth. With grass, fire and grazing animals have been the harvesters of nutrients to break down the fiber. This is why cows are not better converters. The manure has great nutrient density to go back into the soil. Before the west was settled it had millions of bison, as well as elk, deer and other grazing animals.

To me it seems this is what made the environment work. Just because we have messed up the balance since the invention of the internal combustion engine, should we get rid of a valuable piece of the environmental balance?

I read a book called Freakonomics several years ago. They looked at things in a simple numbers type of analysis. It taught me to look at things how they really are, not just how they appear.

They looked at the gun issue. One of the big arguments of hand guns is the accidental death of children. The image of a child dying from a gunshot wound is almost unbearable. If you look at it from a statistical point of view way more infants per thousand die from drowning in man-made swimming pools than by gunshot. I don’t hear much talk about swimming pool control or banning them.

Let’s look at professional sports. How much energy does it take to run a season of football?What does that do to the environment? The horse industry uses huge amounts of our natural resources and puts lots of diesel smoke in the air. I am not saying we should not do these things, just that we have many more critics of the beef industry than most anything. Yet, at least it is providing balance in the environment and providing nutrition for a good bit of our population.

I was at a large feedlot recently and we were loading finished cattle to go to harvest. The cattle were of excellent quality and they walked on the semi very nicely. As they went on the truck I got to thinking that all the feed, petroleum, time, and infrastructure that is the beef industry was loading in front of me. This was the end product that all the production has lead up to.

Several years ago I read in Allan Savory’s book on holistic management that if the amount of energy to produce a kernel of wheat is more than the energy that comes out of it, then world is out of balance. It hit me that our finished beef is the same scenario. To me this must be the question we ask for any natural resource we are harvesting for consumption.

From what I have been told feedlots as a whole are very efficient. They have gotten very good at feeding and caring for animals in the maximum use of resources to convert this to protein. They can do this in large numbers that fit with the huge demand for high quality beef. From what I have seen, beef cattle in the feedlot are well cared for, and if the weather conditions are not extreme, they are content to eat, sleep and be happy. If you don’t see things for what they really are, either because you can’t see the whole picture or don’t want to, you won’t believe me.

For someone driving by a feedlot at 75 miles an hour, that can see the dust and smell the smell, and see all the pens full of animals, you probably won’t be able to see this. I don’t blame you, but all I am saying is that the cattle are living an easy life that everything they need is provided for them, and that is what a beef animal needs. I don’t have the resources or knowledge to speculate on the energy in, energy out scenario I spoke of earlier, but I sure hope someone does and is honest about it.

Here is what I think is the perfect production model for the beef industry. We need to manage the cow-calf and the stocker portions in a way that keeps the natural balance with nature’s ecosystem. We should always remember this is the first priority of grazing animals. We must harvest animals or the balance will be off because of too many animals. This is also the problem with the wild horse population in the west. It is out of balance, and people driving by at 75 miles per hour can’t see it.

We produce an abundance of grains in the US, Canada, and Mexico. If we don’t feed it to animals, what will we do with it? At this point in time we need to feed this to animals to convert it to human food in the form of protein. We need to do this in a way that is environmentally stable, and we must be producing a product that the consumer can benefit from on the health side and want to consume to help keep the numbers in balance to make it all work. The thing that scares me is that with climate change causing commodities to become more expensive, and fossil fuels becoming more expensive, the current system may not be profitable. If we don’t have profit in the feeding sector it could force us to discover a new business model for beef cattle.

We may have less cattle that stay on grass longer, or different genetics that finish easier. The main thing we must protect in my opinion is the need for grazing animals to keep the balance.

My grandfather was a butcher and I grew up on grass fed beef. My wife and I enjoy the challenge of finishing beef on forage to get a great eating experience. In my opinion it is a real skill to get a quality product on grass alone. Many say this is the best way to raise beef for environmental stability, many say it is not. At this time in the world there is a place for both.

Some folks don’t like the flavor of grass fed. I feel we are finding the balance. When I am home I enjoy beef raised on grass. When I am on the road I love a good grain-fed steak. The reason I like them both is because I feel they are actually good for the environment. My mission in life is to make sure all animals have a good quality of life while they serve their purpose on this earth. We in the industry should be very careful of criticizing the other product just for marketing purposes.

I feel the real problem in the affluent societies is that we are living way to high on the hog. There is so much that we have but don’t really need. We go to much, eat to much, drink to much, borrow to much, and the things we eat, drink and borrow for don’t make us happy or content so we eat, drink and spend some more.

Just look around you. How much stuff do you have that you don’t need or how much do you do that really makes you happy. We all need to slow down and smell the roses and figure out what really adds to our quality of life. I feel credit cards and borrowing money have created more to climate change than all the cows in the world.

I am not saying we should live like we are in the poor house. Have the very best that you can afford for a high quality life. Waste is a terrible thing, and is really a lack of discipline. It looks to me like the past 50 years or so has been about getting as much material things as possible. I think the younger generations have watched this and see it is not the best and are not as material hungry as the my generation. This will truly add to the quality of life and reduce the human impact on the worlds natural resources.

Ranching is a interesting life. The thing is you may have a million dollars in assets, but you can’t afford to buy groceries because all your money is tied up in the assets. This creates a very frugal lifestyle that teaches you to enjoy the important things in life while conserving resources that you can’t spend money on. When you do get some money you have learned the habit of conservation and not spending money on things you don’t need.

We all need to do our part to make this environment work. All sides need to quit trying to get our own needs or desires filled and do what is right long term. This is not something to take lightly. Never underestimate Mother Nature’s ability to protect herself.

Are you a positive to the balance, or a negative?

I am going to eat a steak tonight to help the balance.

~ Curt Pate

Balance

Feel, timing and balance – this discussion all started from my desire to preserve and improve the American Western style of horseback livestock handling and management.

This is very important to me. My people have been livestock people for as long as I can find in the past and my children are both choosing to go forward with livestock in the future. I truly feel it is what my whole life has been set up to do, and now I feel it is time for me to share the knowledge I have accumulated to give people that are interested more options to think about and hopefully act upon.

The challenge is as humans we have the the mental ability to use all the things available to us to become very powerful. If we are not careful the power becomes the main desire and we over use this power to create what we think we need and want. If a person is not careful this power becomes addicting or habit and what is pleasure at the moment can lead to problems in the future.

We need this power to survive as humans, and the world needs us to to use this power in BALANCE to survive. As I look to all the disagreement in the world most of it seems to come back to the use of this power.

In livestock management the amount of skill you have in controlling the feeding and handling of this stock creates success or failure. In some society’s the animals are very gentle and easy to manage, and in others the animals are closer to the wild animals that grazed the environment before them.

On the western ranges of North America, because of the feral cattle being wild it created the need for power to overcome the animals ability to escape pressure. This is what created the skills of the cowboy. (For this discussion lets call everyone who works cattle horseback a cowboy.)

The ability to create a horse that is more athletic than a cow and the skill of using a rope or whip to aid in the management of cattle were essential to being successful at profitable ranching in the early days of ranching. Today we still need these skills in some situations, but because of modern facility design, smaller pastures and enclosures, and modern advances in technology not everyone has to be a cowboy in the cattle business.

To me you must use what works best for your personality. Beef cattle are stronger, faster and have more stamina than the human. The horse is stronger, faster, and has more stamina than the bovine. The human must use its brain to outsmart the cow, or to train the horse to outmaneuver the cow.

The skills of the cowboy are very admired. What I call being a good cow fighter is very well thought of in most ranchers’ minds. It takes a bunch of dedication and skill to get this power over a beef animal. Good horsemanship skills, good roping skills, and reading a cow are very important in the fighting of the cow.

This is all great, but what if we could change things just a bit, change the feel and timing of pressure, to create a more balanced approach to getting the critter to do what we want. If you don’t want to change because then you would not get to rope as much or have the high power horse skills in use as much, I understand. You are not in the business for profit, but for lifestyle. And you are also saying you like to be hard on livestock. When you rope cattle in the pasture, throw a trip on ’em to doctor them, you are being hard on ’em. When you yell, scream, slap your chaps and run into the bunch to get ’em through the gate, you are being hard on them and teaching them to be afraid.

I like to think of a good cowboy the same way I have heard a good black belt karate master should be. The black belt has spent years accumulating skills to have the mental and physical ability to have power over other humans. If they don’t use this power in balance it would create many problems. They could end up in prison or dead if they become to aggressive with their skill. From what I understand the black belt develops these skills but does all he can not to use them, except in a controlled match. This is how he tests his ability to use the skills, so in a real life situation he is ready to use the power.

What we are talking about with effective cattle handling is the ability to use feel and timing to get an beef animal to go where we need them to go. The better you handle the cattle the better trained they become and the less pressure it takes to handle them. If they have not been trained, or have learned to escape from bad handling, then you should have the skills (power) to get the animal to do what you want. This is when the balance of power is important.

For me personally, at one point in my life I thought the use of my cowboy skills was the most important thing to develop, and it was. But what I have found with experience (another word for mistakes) is that I overused the skills because I was good at them and did not know how good it felt to get something done with feel. My personal satisfaction and profit level have increased and chance for injury or death have decreased.

What helped to get me to that balance was being around good stockman that understood the balance. I had the skills, that’s why I had the job. The boss’s job was to keep me in check and to balance my cowboy powers with the feel it took to do the job right.

These days I am learning ways to work with animals in harmony as much as possible. Time and experience have helped me learn to balance pressure with animals and humans. There are times when neither will cooperate and that is when more pressure is needed. If you don’t have the pressure available to you, you will either not get it done or have to hire someone that does have the ability to get it done.

Cowboys come in all different styles. In every style there are a few that have learned feel, timing, and balance. This earns them the title of a “top hand.” Not just from other cowboys, but from all involved, and that is real important. I hope you are one or are working hard at becoming one.

If we use balance in our gift of humans having power over other animals the rewards are many. If we get power hungry the instant satisfaction is usually followed by future problems. This is not exclusive to cowboys, but to all humans and all aspects of life. Balance may be the secret to the highest quality of life.

Find it.

~ Curt Pate

Feel

Lets talk about feel.  I have been asked many times if feel can be taught.  I don’t know, but I see people with quite a bit of feel, so it’s learned by some.

As I stated before, to me feel is applying proper pressure in the proper amount.  That seems like such a simple explanation for such an important concept.  Simple can be very complicated unless you keep simple, and that is the reason these things are difficult to teach.  Those that learn feel keep it simple, those that don’t make it complicated or can’t control emotion.

Pressure is what creates a reaction in an animal.  The type of pressure, the amount of pressure, the proximity of the pressure, the awareness of the animal,and how familiar the animal is with the type of pressure effects the reaction of the animal to the pressure.

Pressure creates a stimulus to the brain of the animal from its vision, hearing, or actual physical contact of the body.  I also have experienced times when the animal can seem to read the intent of another animal or human, and this is a pressure that should be examined as well.

Here’s my simple cowboy way of looking at how the brain works.  It has two sides.
One side is the thinking side of the brain, or if we are talking in terms of livestock we should call it the “gain” part of the brain.  The other side is the reaction side of the brain, and we will label it the “shrink” side.  When cattle are on the gain they are healthy and much more likely to be profitable.  Livestock on the shrink are unsettled, unhealthy, unhappy and usually unprofitable (looks like it should be the “un-side” of the brain).

Animals on the gain think about the kind and amount of feed and water they need and have the space and time to consume it.  If other animals are present that make it “think” it is safe and creates social comfort, this will help keep the animal on the gain side of the brain as well.

Animals on the shrink have unfamiliar or excessive pressure put on them which causes the brain to go to the reaction side.  If this pressure lasts it can put the animal in another state of the brain which is survival.  This is the worst place for an animal to be and it is my goal to always keep any animal from reaching this state of mind.

The environment outside of the body creates the environment inside the body.  The main defense grazing animals have is to move away from danger or what we call flight.  The amount of fear the pressure creates is what can put the animal into survival mode.  If the brain switches to survival mode the animal needs all its energy for flight.  “They load ‘er light, bind ‘er tight, and head ’em for the swamps,” as my old friend Steve Mitchell used to say.

The brain sends signals through the body with cortisone and adrenaline to increase blood and oxygen flow to the heart, lungs, and legs to increase the ability to run away from danger. Any thing that takes energy and is not needed is put on stand by or shut down.  The immune system takes a bunch of energy (remember how you feel before you get a cold).  There is no need to fight off pink-eye or BVD at the moment, if a grizzly bear, or a human that acts like one is trying to get you. This is the danger of excessive pressure too often for too long.

The environment inside the cow also has predators and they are waiting for an opportune time to attack. These are pathogens and bacteria and other things I don’t know the names of.  I look at the immune system like a county sheriff.  If he has good deputies and they are all on the job, the county has very little crime.  If they have a disaster from mother nature, big predators like fire, tornado, earthquakes or flood, they shut down the crime immune system and help people in the survival mode.  This is when the pathogens of society attack.

Hopefully this will get you to thinking how important it is to keep an animal on the gain.  This is why it is not only important to get the cattle to do what you need from a handling stand point, but also from an economic and ethical point of view as well.  The amount of feel you use with your type of pressure affects immediate and future gain.

Every experience the animal has with pressure effects how its brain reacts to pressure.  If the animal learns to take pressure he is on the thinking or gain side and will get better to handle over time.  Pressure without feel is excessive and creates shrink or survival mode. Over time this will create animals that are hard to handle and, if driven to survival mode, can become very dangerous.

No matter how good you are at handling livestock, the next person that gets to handle it may not be as handy. The situation and area it is being handled in may require an animal that is trained to take pressure and think its way through the situation.  If it has been taught to handle with feel, it will be much easier to get it done safely while keeping the animal on the gain.

If we all learn to handle our livestock with FEEL it will solve many problems.  That’s what Stockmanship and Stewardship is all about.

So, whatever method you use to get livestock from point to point, make sure you use feel and keep ’em on the gain.

~ Curt Pate