Beef Cattle

I have learned more about beef cattle than I ever imagined I would. The best part about it is that I'm loving it. Right now, we are having to discern between beef cattle breeds visually. It's harder than I thought. A black cow looks like a black cow and a red cow looks like a red cow. The only breeds that I really can immediately identify are the brahman, and the holstein.

Now I am required to identify the Limousin, Corriente, Gelbvieh, Angus, Red Angus, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmaster, Brahman, Hereford, Charolais, Shorthorn and Simmental.

In addition to breeds, we are learning all about beef production. There is more involved than just breeding cows and slaughtering them for steak.

The whole process starts with grass, corn, cow-calf, stocker, feedlots, sale barn, cuts of beef, conditioning scores, carcass weight, and packers.  Phew.

 

A Day With My Girl

We had a discussion in Animal Science class yesterday about the value of livestock and pets.

If a cow worth $300 swallows a nail or other assorted hardware, would it be worth a $400 surgery to remove the metal or spend $7 on a magnet that would hold everything in place until slaughter?

What if a 14 year old dog would get an additional 6 months of life if it received an $8,000 procedure?

How about a horse with severe colic? Is is worth a 3 hours drive to the vet school for a $3,000 surgery for a 50/50 chance of survival?

The professor suggested having these questions already decided prior to the event becoming a hard, fast decision based on emotion rather than economics.

I can answer the first two situations easily. Give the cow a magnent and kiss the pup goodbye. But that horse....Well, that is a bit more difficult. It would have to depend on how old the horse was. If today that decision would have to be made, I'd probably have the surgery. If she was another 4 years older, maybe I would just kiss her goodbye.  At this moment, I have too much invested in her to not take the chance. Then again, if my anti-horse husband had to make the decision, my lovely Kadance would be making a hasty visit to the renderer.

Any Given Moment

Whenever I sit down for more than five minutes, the pups automatically assume I am waiting for them to join me. As they are schnauzers and refuse to be ignored, it is much easier to just allow them to sit on my lap. As a result, I am never cold.  The only real problem comes when the doorbell rings. Pandamonium!

Beware of Greeks Baring Gifts

Dang it, dang it, dang it.

My PC, the one that my husband primarily uses has been infected with 5 different trojan viruses. Hopefully my security software has been able to capture them and remove them.

I've done a quick check of basic functions and all appears to be well, then again, the citizens of Troy thought they were safe, too. Look what happened to them.

A Day of Limited Responsibilities

My husband left very early this morning: he had to drive to Ft. Leonard Wood for a class. I, on the other hand, had no pressing obligations this morning except for my Lucy. She decided it was time to get up and not tolerating being ignored, she got nose to nose with me and barked, demanding my immediate attention. Naturally, I complied with her demands, kicked back the covers and headed downstairs to let her and Baxter outside.

Still drowsy, I laid down on the couch and quickly fell back to sleep. Persistent barking (sorry neighbors) infiltrated my slumber and I readily became aware that my pups were still outside in the freezing cold. They had been for nearly 40 minutes. Brrrrr!

They were cold and ready to get under the covers and snuggle. Like the doting mother that I am, I gave in and invited them onto my lap. I wrapped them under a blanket while I watched the morning news.

Wanna know what is new? The weather and the upcoming Olympics. At least that is what is news for the television viewing audience. My news is much better.

I had my hair done this morning. That is always a nice treat. The military ball is coming up and I just couldn't attend and sit at the head table with my hair looking like the mess it was. Fortunately, I love hats and wear them frequently. I just don't have one that would be appropriate as formal attire. So, a morning in the beauty parlor.

Once my hair was all pretty, I immediately put on a winter hat and headed out to the barn. I did, you'll be happy to know, inform my stylist not to put much effort into styling it because I would be going to the barn and my horse doesn't care if my hair is brushed or not.

So, out to the barn. Way in the back part of the pasture, the horses were munching away thrilled to be outside in the warm sunshine. The air temperature, a brisk 25 degrees, but the sun was warm. My girl barely noticed my approach. I'm certain she knew I was making my way through the pasture careful to avoid muddy spots (not an easy feat) as I was calling for her. She probably was hoping I was a figment of her imagination and that I would go away if she didn't acknowledge my presence.

No such luck, Kadence. Momma is here!

She gave me her typical greeting and sniffed in search of the alfalfa cubes. How does she know? Anyway, of course, I had a treat for her. The other horses wanted in on the action, but my girl was not having any part of the sharing of the treats or the sharing of mom's pets. Her ears pinned back and she, very clearly, warned the others to stay an appropriate distance away. Lots of rubs later and I was covered with horse hair. She is definitely shedding. I suspect she's getting warm in the sun due to her genetics because the quarterhorses and Missouri Foxtrotters were not shedding nearly as bad. Then again, my beautious girl is a warmblood and prefers cooler temperatures. She has a tendency to slow down as the temperature rises. Forget about any strenuous exercise when the thermometer reads above 80 degrees. She hates sweating as much as I do.

I wonder if she would be willing to wade into a pond. If only there were a pond close by to experiment with pony doggie paddle.

New Technology

Blogspot has some new options that I'm trying to figure out. I wish notifications came with a set of instructions on how to navigate and operate the new options.

Same thing with Facebook. New changes.....Sometimes change is good. BUT.....Sometimes....it can really be a hassle to embrace.

Phew.....How Time Flies

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since October. Wowwie, wow, wow.

So, I finished last semester with two A's. Naturally. I learned a tremendous amount from my horses class. The landscaping class was fun. It gave me a new appreciation to the amount of work that goes into planting trees and flowers. I had always planted pretty things in some sort of eye-pleasing fashion. There is, however, a method to the madness.

This semester, I had started off with three classes. Unfortunately, a limitation on my allowable credit hours forced me to drop the online class. Turns out that was a good thing. The folks that I know who are in the class are struggling and not having any fun.

The second class, I dropped because I obviously skipped a vaulable pre-requisite. I didn't understand the language of livestock production. I have to get the basics down before I can comprehend the nutritional and medicinal requirements of cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and poultry.

This leaves Animal Science 101. I'm digging it. Right now, I am attempting to visually distinguish several beef cattle breeds from one another. This is not as easy as one might imagine. Yes, I can spot a Brahman bull, but Limousine cows and Shorthorn cows and Gelbrieh cows really all look the same to me. So, I made flashcards. I think I'll have to find a cow person to help clearly identify the slight variations in the physical characteristics.