Calving Heifers on the WineGlass Ranch
Ranching always provides a good source for fresh stories.
I walked into the corral one morning to check on the first-calf heifers (cows that have never had a calf before). I watched a newborn calf trying to get his first drink. The calf was having a tough go because there were two heifers claiming him and he didn’t know which way to turn to get his first meal.
The calf’s mother, the red cow, was trying to sniff and lick the calf. The calf was trying to suck the grey cow (not his mother). The grey cow kept putting herself between the calf and his actual mother. The result was the three of them milling in a circle with nobody being in the right spot. I gave them a few minutes to sort things out but it became clear that some intervention was needed. I wandered over to chase the grey heifer away from the pair. The objective was to move the grey heifer away from the calf and his mother, giving them time to pair-up. It turns out the grey heifer is one of those cows that will be called special names during future calving seasons. She was hell bent on taking the newborn calf for herself and she made it clear that I wasn’t going to stop her.
Plan B -> move the calf and his mother into another pen so they could pair-up, away from the other cows. Moving the calf would require tying the calf into the calf sleigh, dragging the sleigh all the way across the large corral, then go back and try to sort his mother out from the other cows and get her into the corral which may or may not be a lot of work.
I stepped away from the group to ponder on the logistics of Plan B…and the calf walked up to me. He was obviously very hungry and very confused. I stepped away again…and the calf followed me again. Light bulb. I headed out and the calf followed me like a well trained dog. The four of us walked quietly all the way across the corrals, me in the lead followed closely by the calf, followed by his mother, followed by the grey heifer. I walked up and opened the gate into the next pen. The calf walked past me into the pen, his mother walked past me into the pen, I closed the gate and went about my day! It was the most amazing thing! No fuss, no muss.
The grey heifer wasn’t too happy but she eventually went off and had her own calf the next day.
My Two Cents About the E.Coli Related Beef Recall
There is no problem with the beef production sector. All the meat that arrives at the processing facility remains as healthy and delicious as ever!
There is a small problem with one plant in the beef processing sector. It’s important to remember that e.coli is natural in all food processing facilities (beef, chicken, fish, carrots, tomatoes, etc, etc). The problem with XL Foods is their monitoring processes weren’t consistent enough. It was a small processing problem that they need to correct and then it’s business as usual. The problem is the media has found a story that they can run with for a while. They are like a dog with a bone; they won’t let the story go until they have picked it clean.
The Americans banned beef from XL Foods out of convenience. The drought in Texas last year and the mid-west this year has resulted in a surplus of slaughter cows on the market in the US. Banning beef imports from XL Foods allows American processors to step in and supply beef to the stores who used to buy from XL Foods. This creates a bigger demand for beef from American packers and it helps flush the American beef production / processing system. Another reason is that the Americans are cranky the World Trade Organization over-turned their Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) legislation. It was a big win for Canada and so when the US saw an opportunity to screw our beef industry they jumped on it with both feet.
