denoginnizer
Well-known member
How do you define a good "cattleman"?
Defining a "cattleman"
- Thread starter denoginnizer
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
bigbull338
Well-known member
what is a cattleman. well he is a rancher. feedlot operator. a stocker operator. farmer that grazes wheat. the weekend farmer. scott
dcara
Well-known member
Well.... obviously he/she should be able to:
-Raise healthy and happy cows that he will always get the highest prices for at sale time. Although the health of a cow is usually easy to identify, making sure they're happy is somewhat harder since it requires excellent cow communications skills and some knowledge of cow psychology. Since the good cattleman will be an expert in time management he will also know how to use flag signals/semaphore when conducting group or whole herd psychology sessions from the roof of his pickup truck in the pasture.
-Negotiate the best possible price for replacements, bulls or otherwise. The seller should feel guilty if he doesn't just give the "good cattleman" the cow/calf/bull etc.. In short, the good cattleman will be able to BS his way into or out of any situation.
-Predict the weather with absolute accuracy and know rain dances that work when needed.
-Understand all aspects of soil and forage analysis.
-Set a bone, thread a needle, fix an engine, climb and fall-off a windmill, barn, or other structure and be ale to laugh about it while everyone else is laughing at him.
-Run faster than a speeding bullet (or at least a bull), jump tall buildings/ hay bales in a single bound.
-Enjoy the sight of a newborn calf, and watching the grass grow.
I'm sure there are more, but since I'm not there yet how would I know?
-Raise healthy and happy cows that he will always get the highest prices for at sale time. Although the health of a cow is usually easy to identify, making sure they're happy is somewhat harder since it requires excellent cow communications skills and some knowledge of cow psychology. Since the good cattleman will be an expert in time management he will also know how to use flag signals/semaphore when conducting group or whole herd psychology sessions from the roof of his pickup truck in the pasture.
-Negotiate the best possible price for replacements, bulls or otherwise. The seller should feel guilty if he doesn't just give the "good cattleman" the cow/calf/bull etc.. In short, the good cattleman will be able to BS his way into or out of any situation.
-Predict the weather with absolute accuracy and know rain dances that work when needed.
-Understand all aspects of soil and forage analysis.
-Set a bone, thread a needle, fix an engine, climb and fall-off a windmill, barn, or other structure and be ale to laugh about it while everyone else is laughing at him.
-Run faster than a speeding bullet (or at least a bull), jump tall buildings/ hay bales in a single bound.
-Enjoy the sight of a newborn calf, and watching the grass grow.
I'm sure there are more, but since I'm not there yet how would I know?
denoginnizer":2txjkl9w said:
This one is tough, but I'll give it a shot. A good cattleman understands a multitude of things - grass management, identifying undesirable forage (and knowing how to get rid of it/prevent it), how to tell a calf will be sick tomorrow, what to look for in a cow/bull/calf and what to make sure is not there, how to manage his/her herd for optimum results, knowing each animal and being able to tell them apart even in a herd where all the critters are the same color, knowing what an animal is most likely to do in any given situation, understanding the cow 'mentality' so to speak, making sure his/her animals are always taken care of regardless of how deep the snow is, never leaving his/her animals if there is a problem, never leaving his/her problems for another to deal with, and finally having a soul-deep love of ranching and the cows.
I'm sure I've left some things out, but this is a start.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
A true Cattleman has been givin a gift to be manager on the good Lords land. Few are called or chosen.
