CALF_News_June_July_2019

18 CALF News • June | July 2019 • www.calfnews.net CALF ANIMAL HEALTH Chuteside Manner EXPLORING THE FRONTIER OF ANIMAL HEALTH What's the Difference? By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor H ave you ever sat on a tractor for hours, drove your pickup to a place three counties away or drifted off into thought while pitching out the calving shed? These are times when I think of the incredible changes that have happened in livestock production during my lifetime. Finding various breeds of any species fascinating, I’ve been disappointed to watch the drastic overhaul of our nation’s pork industry. A healthy number of purebred breed associations once dotted our landscape. Although I am sure that some still exist, they have mostly been forced into consolidation, maintaining Cattle must thrive in their environment. Many breeds of livestock reflect hundreds of years of selective breeding, enabling them to withstand whatever climate they live in. Photo by Micky Burch enough efficiency to justify an office. Up until the 1980s, every farm up and down any rural road raised hogs – they were called the “mortgage lifters.” Those farms are mostly gone. Now, I am not against progress, and I understand the need for pork prod- ucts to be consistent in size and taste. I know that packers need to know they have a steady and constant supply of hogs coming into the plant. Various diseases, mostly virus-borne, have also had serious repercussions as to how hogs are now raised in the United States. I still, somehow, wonder how our nation’s sow herd has turned into a cookie-cutter industry – get big or get out. Likewise, the poultry people have gone the same route, only faster. The majority of both hogs and chickens are now a mix of breeds specifically designed for unifor- mity, productivity and the ability to live in confinement building units. You know where I’m going with this; let’s not allow the same thing to happen with our cattle. We have a different business model University of Nebraska Extension educators tell us (at grazing schools, for example) that this trend is possible in cattle production, although it will be a long time before it reaches the level of the pork and poultry industries. Cattle require too much capital (land) and too much time from gestation to plate. As compared to smaller animals, this inef- ficiency is burdensome. Let’s embrace the differences Hogs and chickens may be put in a building in Alaska or Alabama, and live under similar circumstances. Cattle cannot. Therefore, a very wide differ- ence in breed makeup is seen worldwide, much having to do with climate. In the United States alone, we are frigid in the north and tropical in the south. We’re wet in the east and dry in the west. Feedstuffs vary as much as your imagi- nation can handle. What’s the result? Cattle will eat almost anything and turn it into protein. From swamp grasses in Florida to vegetable peelings in Califor- nia, cattle of whichever breed you need are there to fit the bill. There is, as we know, a push to supply Choice, high-quality, corn-fed beef to a major share of consumers. A couple very successful breed associations are doing a wonderful job promoting branded beef to a lot of people. Kudos to them for increasing value in our product and giving us an opportunity to better ourselves. Let’s remember that there’s also room for, and a need for, other cattle that fit very specific niches along the production line. How did this all start? Another applicable quote from Ritchie is,“When the needs of the animal indus- “Every breed of livestock has at least one valuable feature that is worth preserving.” – Harlan Ritchie, Ph.D., Professor of Animal Science, Michigan State University, and Beef Cattle Extension Specialist