Well, I suppose it is December. That is the comment I try to tell myself and others when the comment, “I’m not ready for snow!” arises. But when the weather has been so nice, it’s hard to be ready to acclimate to cold, snowy weather. March, April and May seems just not that long ago […]
animal welfare
HSUS and #aggag bills
I subscribe to the Humane Society of the U.S.’s email blasts – mostly just to watch what they are saying. Like when they tried talking about saving coyotes and free-range chickens in the same sentence!? That one made me laugh. Anyways, most of them I just glaze over, but yesterday’s email brought out my inner […]
Corn-fed AND grass-finished beef
A couple of years ago, I put together a compilation of resources (see my tab at the top of this blog) on the difference of corn-fed beef AND grass-finished beef. Not vs. And. Even though most of the beef my family raises is finished on a corn/grain ration, they spend the majority of their lives […]
Planting time? and snow drifts.
In the next several weeks, farmers across the U.S. will begin planting and cultivating their crops for the 2013 harvest. With the 2012 drought still looming, this is a little scary. You can put a seed in the ground, but what does it need to grow? Water, nutrients, sunlight. And more water. And not to […]
Celebrating ag week…calving-style!
Happy National Ag Week! I got to celebrate, calving-style, this past weekend at my in-law’s farm. They have baby calves and baby lambs everywhere! See these two cuties? They are actually twins. One red, one black. The really random thing is that the neighbor had the exact same thing happen, both out of black momma […]
Dodge Super Bowl commercial giving back FFA-style
An update to my blog post last night. If you didn’t see or hear about the Dodge Ram “So God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl commercial, it is creating quite the conversation. The video features Paul Harvey’s voice sharing the poem with “tear-jerking with pride” images of the people across our country who raise our […]
“WE in agriculture.” A response to HSUS.
The following letter was written by my father, a rancher in Eastern Colorado, in response to the HSUS’s CEO Wayne Pacelle’s letter to the editor in Feedstuffs Magazine, December 31, 2012. Dear Editor: Pacelle’s attempt at civility (Dec 31, 2012 Feedstuffs) is similar to a D.C. politician giving the evening forecast. He can rant about […]
What’s the beef with Big Beef?
“Beef’s Raw Edges”: a series of 16 stories that ran over three-consecutive days recently in the Kansas City Star. This series raised plenty of serious issues including beef safety, nutrition, the use of antibiotics and growth promotants and the environmental impact of feedyards. These issues are all important to their readers – however they have […]
Inside a beef packing plant
Have you ever been able to tour inside a beef packing plant? Quite the opportunity if you get the chance. Of course there are undercover videos all over the web about the inside of the packing plants and show the mistreatment of animals – and they are horrible or setup. But that is a rarity […]
Cool cattle
During the widespread heat of summer, how do cattle in feedlots stay cool? To answer that question, this video is from my friend, Joan, who owns and operates a beef feed yard in Nebraska. She told me that there is always plenty of room for the cattle in the yard to move around, but they […]
