I’m always on the lookout for obvious contradictions and/or discrepancies within the beef industry. They’re not that hard to find. Fortunately, most of the ranchers I know are not as gullible as some believe they are. Bull sale catalogs are a great place to find obvious contradictions and discrepancies. Most beef industry publications will have a few contradictions and discrepancies.
A while back, I read a feature story about a seedstock producer in a neighboring state (his name and the breed of cattle are not important). Actually, I did not read the story; I just looked at the pictures. There were pictures of this seedstock producer unrolling big round bales on dormant winter grass that looked to be 8 inches tall (my cows would think they had died and gone to heaven if I turned them out on grass like that). There was a picture of this same rancher feeding small square bales to a group of pairs. There was also a picture of this rancher feeding whole corn on top of the rolled out hay. Underneath a picture of cows eating the corn was a caption that said, “These cows are adapted to their environment.”
Most seedstock producers, as well as many commercial ranchers, no longer understand the concept of “environmentally adapted.” Instead of requiring their cows to fit the environment, they are artificially changing the environment to fit their cows.
Since most ranchers have cows that are too big and inefficient, they are forced to reduce stocking rates and/or feed harvested and purchased feed to keep their cows in production. This quickly takes most of the profit out of ranching. Here at Pharo Cattle Company, we want a cow that can survive strictly on what the ranch produces with little (if any) inputs. We run our cows on short native grass year-round with very little supplementation. We let the environment sort out the “good ones” while we show absolutely no sympathy for open, late, or dry cows.
A cow ought to be supporting the ranch – instead of being supported by the ranch! Who is working for who? How many hours per year do you spend working for your cows – fixing equipment, putting up hay, hauling hay, feeding hay, etc., etc.? You should treat your cows like employees. If you have a cow that cannot do the job you expect her to do, replace her with one that can do the job.