Celebrating Earth Day

It's Earth Day, where we celebrate our planet and participate in activities to help keep her sustainable and healthy.
I was reading up on Earth Day this morning, and found that in 1970, Earth Day helped Democrats and Republicans form an alignment to get the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Act passed in Congress, which was somewhat of a letdown for me.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about protecting and improving our planet. My lifestyle and job depend fully upon my ability to do so. I also love that those who do not live in an area or have a job that allows them to improve earth daily are willing to help make a difference on this day. That's wonderful, and it's amazing to see what people can accomplish, even in the most urban areas, when they set their minds to making the earth better!
The part that bothers me is that so many people associated with the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and numerous other supposedly helpful acts, laws and causes for the environment hate me, my neighbors, and my lifestyle. They jump on the bandwagon of one day of physically helping earth out, then spend the rest of their year negating everything those in my profession do that is also helping and improving the earth.
This becomes particularly frustrating on months like this one, where everyone I know has spent countless hours dealing with inclement weather, working tirelessly to ensure the health of their livestock, planned ahead and reduced numbers to make sure the land and ecosystems on that land are cared for, even if it's another drought year. When a few blog comments pop up damning me and my profession in the midst of all that, with no justification beyond stating that I am in the wrong because of what I am and how I make my living, my good humor takes a dive.
This is because these less than fun days on America's privately owned lands are the Earth Days that make the most difference, be it good or bad, and we aim to make every single one good. We take our responsibility of being stewards of the land to the extreme, regardless of weather, breakdowns, health or personal sacrifice. We set a standard based on our children and grandparents, rooted in generations of work and personal responsibility, paid for in sweat equity.
And, perhaps most irritating to those who hate us - we do what we know is right for the land without fail, regardless of the monetary, social or personal loss. Even more frustrating to them is that we don't care about that "loss," because to us the permanent gain of improving the environment far outweighs any temporary gain that may be found through their misguided options.
While today's official Earth Day itself is fun, and a wonderful opportunity to help make a difference, it's one of 365 celebrated and practiced by farmers and ranchers every year. We love our big and little pieces of earth beyond measure, and care for them accordingly.

From Start to Finish

Perhaps you've heard that it takes a long time for ranchers to raise the product we sell, which in our case is beef. This post covers the timeline from start to finish for you. I realize some of the photos aren't my best - I wasn't planning this post for the last two years, and my photography has improved since 2009. My hope is to follow this post with one of photos of our calves over this same time period, so you can see how they change and grow.

 Today I am showing you the timeline for the steers we sold in September, 2011. We started planning for them in June of 2009, when we turned the bulls in with our cows. This was the first time we managed specifically for the following year's calf crop.

In late 2009, we poured all our cows for parasites, and preg checked them. All pregnant cows were kept, and given a shot to protect their pregnancy. We fed them every other day all winter to ensure they had enough energy to produce a healthy calf and stay healthy themselves.

Nine months after we turned the bulls in, around late March and April of 2010, the calves were born. We were still feeding at this time because the grass hadn't turned green yet, and the cows were using more energy to produce milk for their calves.
When born the calves weighed between 70 and 80 pounds.

In May, 2010, we branded all our calves, castrated the bull calves, gave everyone an ear tag, and a shot to protect them against common diseases in our area. Then we turned them back out with their mothers on grass for the summer to grow.

Around October 1, 2010, we gathered all our cows and calves back up, and weaned the calves from their mothers. At this time we kept them in the corral for a few days and monitored them closely for sickness. Then we turned them back out on grass, and fed them cake and hay for the winter. Our calves weighed between 500 and 525 pounds when we weaned them.
Lots of ranchers where I'm from market their calves at weaning, or in the months following. Theirs may weigh more than ours at that time because calves are sold by the pound, and ranchers work hard to make as much money as possible, as all good business people do.

Winter, 2010. Here is a photo from feeding over the course of the winter. We fed them every other day, and checked their water every day.

 

We also weighed every calf when we weaned, and again in January, 2011 to determine how well each calf was gaining. During the second weighing, we sorted the heifers from the steers and turned them back out in separate pastures.

In early 2011 we also bangs vaccinated all our heifers, which is required by law for all replacement heifers (those we kept for breeding)
In March of 2011 the calves were one year old, and weighed between 600 and 700 pounds. Around this time (there's no set date) they went from being "calves," to "yearlings."

In May, 2011, we poured our steers for parasites, counted them and hauled them to their summer pasture.

In June, 2011, the heifers were turned out with a bull for the first time.

Meanwhile, the steers were happily grazing and gaining on grass for the summer.

 

Then, on September 17 we sold our steers after managing and working with them for 26 months. They weighed just under 1,000 pounds, and went to a feedlot to be fed a high energy diet for a few months prior to entering the food chain.

We received our one and only paycheck for the steers on that day too, after carrying the expense of growing them for those 26 months. During the time we owned them, we saw them almost every day, and never went more than a week without checking on them for their entire life.

Their sisters will take another two years to start earning income, when we sell their first calves. That's four years of time and money invested prior to seeing any return. Now, I don't want to you think I'm complaining, because I love and enjoy what we do. I'm just explaining.

Ranchers all love what they do for the most part. People who are just in a profession for the money don't typically choose this one. It takes a certain mindset and love for your work to put an animal's well being before a regular paycheck. This is also why you'll often hear ranchers call our profession a lifestyle - because it transcends the definition of a job regularly.

So, to recap quickly. We started in June of 2009, when we turned the bull in with the cows.

Nine months later the calves were born.

And a year and half after that, we sold the steers.

Would you Work Differently?

Ryan Goodman, at Agriculture Proud, asked the question, How would you work differently if a non-farmer/rancher followed you around for a day?

My answer is nothing would change. Our success in the ranching business isn't based on what we do when someone is looking or watching. Our success is based on how we treat and care for our animals and land day in and day out, and we all know that.

This question was exciting to me because in recent months we have had the opportunity to have several people on our place. We had a good friend of mine from college who was here to record us and get pictures for her work with the Wyoming Stockgrowers (she was "the media"!). She happened to pick a day of preg-checking, and our cows were miserable that day (naturally). She saw that no one lost their temper, regardless of the cows being less than willing to work with anyone. She may have even got a couple choice words on her camera. But, it was interesting to see how a day of working frustrating cows highlighted so many positive things about ranching when you're there to see the entire picture.

We also give a talk on ranching to every single hunter that sets foot on our place, prior to releasing them to hunt. One group of dinosaur bone (that's a topic all its own) hunters happened to show up on a day when we were working our yearlings earlier this fall. I stood with the group at the fence and spent over half an hour answering questions, debunking myths, and reinforcing truths they had all heard. These people were from New York to Florida, and it was their first glimpse into real ranch life. The rest of family continued on with their tasks, and these people were fascinated with what they were watching.

As a media person, I have had the opportunity to be in the "following someone around on their operation" shoes many times. Several of these people had no idea I knew what end of a cow ate, and the vast majority of them were exactly as I've described my family. They put me right in the middle of whatever was going on, explained the hows and whys to each task, and were genuinely happy to have me around and explain things to me. They were also not about to put off preg-checking, shipping, weaning, etc.. (the animals always come first) just to visit with me.

These families would almost always invite me in for lunch, offer a place to stay if I needed one, tell me to please come back if I was ever in the area, and thank me for being there that day. The people in agriculture are amazingly hospitable, open and hardworking people, and that is another thing that doesn't change from day to day.

The only thing that is slightly different is the task at hand can take longer because we will take the time to answer any questions people have. We also always invite people in for lunch and conversation after the task. It has been my personal experience that when people outside agriculture actually do spend a day around farmers and ranchers, it's a very positive, eye-opening experience that goes a long way in showing them the truth about our industry!

Agvocating, without the Internet

I attended the Leopold Conservation Award and Wyoming Stockgrower's Association Environmental Stewardship Tour last year, and left with a great idea for telling people about our industry. The part some producers may find most appealing is that it doesn't require using facebook, twitter, blogs, or the Internet in any form.
The family made a brochure explaining several of the things they did on their operation to promote great stewardship. They included some background information on their ranch, photos, and contact information in case someone wanted to get in touch with them in the future.
Anyone that goes on their ranch for hunting or fishing is given a brochure, and required to sit through a brief (10-15 minute) talk about their ranch and all the positive things they do to conserve the environment through their livestock produciton practices.
I recently took this idea and altered it slightly. I made a powerpoint slide show explaining the benefits of ranching on private, and public, lands. I went into some of our managment practices and the positive impact they have on the land, and the extended benefits those practices had on everyone who eats. I explained that we raise the safest food supply in the world on the land we own and rent, and included pictures of my family doing the things I was discussing.
The powerpoint made it's debut earlier this summer, when a group of dinosaur bone hunters arrived for a week of digging. The group was comprised of people from across the country, and the slide show was a big hit. Several people asked questions, and were genuinely interested and pleasantly surprised at what I told them about ranching in Wyoming.
They were impressed that all the land they drove by on the way to our ranch (we are 56 miles from town) was owned and operated by families, not large corporations or absentee owners, with very few exceptions. They couldn't believe we had such an extensive animal health and feed program, and were impressed by the in-depth managment plan and use of technology on our operation.
One lady from New York wrote us a great note, thanking us for raising the food that feeds the world, and for taking the time to tell her about ranching.
Thought I would share this idea with you, in case you're trying to find ways to tell people about our industry that doesn't involved the world wide web.