Glad I didn't sell her

[True Grit Farms]

I disagree.

6
That's par for the course

People disagree, Darryl. There is no shame on either side for that.

People are different also, and your different Raven.

 

[M-5]

I agree Ron , but u tend to disagree with everything.

 

[Bright Raven]

I agree Ron , but u tend to disagree with everything.

I do disagree philosophically with some of the users here but probably not as much as you think.

 

[Bright Raven]

6
That's par for the course

People disagree, Darryl. There is no shame on either side for that.

People are different also, and your different Raven.

My good friend, you don't have any idea how glad I am that I am different.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Lost old #07 yesterday, I'm guessing 17-18yo, my record keeping is not the best. She was born on the place. She knew the drill, never a problem, never got sick, never got out, raised a nice calf every year. When the herd was caught and sorted she knew she needed to get through that sort gate and out of the way. For the last 3 or 4 years I've said "when she weans this calf I need to let her go to town".
Every time she'd come to the sort gate expecting to go on out like she's always done and I would hold her up for a second then let her on by. "Get one more calf off her" I'd tell myself.
That same scenario played out again two weeks ago. I'm holding the sort gate and she is looking at me like "Why'd you stop ME?". So my rational for letting her out this time was to put on a little more condition on her. Thinking " I'll sell her in a month or so".
Monday afternoon I saw her laying away from the herd, rode over to check on her. She looked ok, didn't seem to be in distress. She got up when I insisted. I had that feeling that you get when you can tell its time, I knew her time was near. I went back to the barn and got her two scoops of sweet feed. (I tell my wife that sweet feed to cattle is like ice cream to people).
I sat out there and had a good talk with #07 while she ate her feed. Thanked her for her contributions to our farm and family, told her I could tell she was tired and ready to go and that was alright with me.
When I got up yesterday morning I could see she had moved during the night. After work yesterday I went to see where she was, she had moved to one of their loafing spots under some big oaks and passed away.
Glad I didn't sell her!!!!

Great story. You did the right thing.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Man is top of food chain everything below us is " just " pets or food , people that value animals as equal to humans are coo coo for coco puffs

I disagree.

Much as I hate to admit it M-5 is correct. We are placed by our creator above all animals.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Years ago I bought a bull at K-State's sale. He was halter broke and easy to handle. He became a novelty of the neighborhood. He liked to be brushed and later on as the years went by, he had his own XL horse blanket for the winter cold. He would load in the trailer anywhere out in the pasture. Just pull up to him and open the trailer door. Spring of 2010 he was 11. He didn't go to grass with the cows. He died in November. I loaded him onto a trailer with my skid loader and took back roads to the pasture he'd walked for many summers. I dug a hole on a side hill overlooking the corral, covered him with a blanket and filled the hole in. I've never done that before and probably will never do it again. But if I had to do it over-I wouldn't change anything.

Another tear jerker. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bright Raven]

Man is top of food chain everything below us is " just " pets or food , people that value animals as equal to humans are coo coo for coco puffs

I disagree.

Much as I hate to admit it M-5 is correct. We are placed by our creator above all animals.

Correct? Who gets to make that judgement? I respect that is your "belief". But you don't get to make that judgement on my behalf.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

I burried my buck last month. I was aware that age was catching up with him, but selling him was never a thought that crossed my mind. I spent about a half hour chatting with him and feeding him treats before we put him down. Every doe in our herd , except two, are either his daughters or granddaughters. He was a gentleman to have around and was the cornerstone of our goat program. He has a spot overlooking our lake, where my Titan will some day ( hopefully years from now) join him. The great ones are hard to let go.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I disagree.

Much as I hate to admit it M-5 is correct. We are placed by our creator above all animals.

Correct? Who gets to make that judgement? I respect that is your "belief". But you don't get to make that judgement on my behalf.

You're correct, I didn't make that judgment.

 

[Chocolate Cow]

"We are placed by our creator above all animals."
I agree completely with that statement. It's also what gives me 'the heart' to care about how I treat them. No. I don't brush each one. But, every now and then, there's that one animal that responds differently than all the others. I can't help but respond back in a more caring way.

 

[Nesikep]

Lost old #07 yesterday, I'm guessing 17-18yo, my record keeping is not the best. She was born on the place. She knew the drill, never a problem, never got sick, never got out, raised a nice calf every year. When the herd was caught and sorted she knew she needed to get through that sort gate and out of the way. For the last 3 or 4 years I've said "when she weans this calf I need to let her go to town".
Every time she'd come to the sort gate expecting to go on out like she's always done and I would hold her up for a second then let her on by. "Get one more calf off her" I'd tell myself.
That same scenario played out again two weeks ago. I'm holding the sort gate and she is looking at me like "Why'd you stop ME?". So my rational for letting her out this time was to put on a little more condition on her. Thinking " I'll sell her in a month or so".

That's like my old girl Rosie I put down 3 years ago.. she had her 16th calf at her side, but had bad arthritis and shipping her to travel about 12 hours would just not have been right, and there's a good chance she would not have been accepted at the barn. It's definitely the rare exception that one will live out her days here... If one isn't in shape to leave, I'll afford them a little time of "retirement", but I won't have them graze forever, I'll put them down.
At current count, Rosie has 3 daughters here, 5 grandaughters and a grandson, and 2 great granddaughters, excluding this years calves (half of the calf crop is from her grandson)

The day I put her down was pushing the limits for frost and digging a hole, but another winter on a bad hip wouldn't have been good... deliberately didn't breed her that summer... Not a bad calf for an old toofless lame cow.





I do value human life over animal life, without question, BUT, just because they are 'lesser' doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated respectfully.. I'm not advocating treating them LIKE humans though.
I am never going to make big money doing this, but if I can't afford to make some exceptions to the rules for exceptional animals, it's not worth working so hard to not be wealthy... If I want an ungratifying job there's lots of easier ones

I think my stance is pretty clear in my signature

 

[boondocks]

Some pretty good evidence that some bacteria etc might be king of the hill. There are an awful lot of organisms that have been around an awful lot longer than humans.
And not to be morbid, but humans are fodder for worms etc. So who's the smarter species?

 

[greybeard]

Some pretty good evidence that some bacteria etc might be king of the hill. There are an awful lot of organisms that have been around an awful lot longer than humans.

Including some of the antibiotic resistant strains--the 'super bugs' like enterococci bacteri.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Much as I hate to admit it M-5 is correct. We are placed by our creator above all animals.

Correct? Who gets to make that judgement? I respect that is your "belief". But you don't get to make that judgement on my behalf.

You're correct, I didn't make that judgment.

I'm curious as to your belief. Is it your position that humans are inherently positioned above all other animals? Are they equal? Or are they beneath some, most or all?

 

[Bright Raven]

[/b]

Correct? Who gets to make that judgement? I respect that is your "belief". But you don't get to make that judgement on my behalf.

You're correct, I didn't make that judgment.

I'm curious as to your belief. Is it your position that humans are inherently positioned above all other animals? Are they equal? Or are they beneath some, most or all?

Avoiding religion. Humans are animals. Animals and plants have characteristics that distinguish them from other animals and plants. Science has established a taxonomic hierarchy that places plants and animals "above" or "below" others based on their ancestral history. What I believe does not affect those concepts.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

It is a very simple question Raven.

It appears you've selected taxonomy as your accepted basis of classifying life. Surely then, you can utilize this system you accept as the gold standard to explain where humans fall in relation to other animals.

 

[Bright Raven]

CF:

This is a "very" rudimentary phylogenetic tree of animals. Homo sapiens belong in the group known as Chordata:

 

[Bright Raven]

CF:

If you are wanting a comparison of humans to other animals, please establish a criterion so that I may respond. If you are talking length of existence, man has only been around for a short geologic time. If you are talking cephalic index, man ranks at the top.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

So it appears your answer will somehow involve a chart that has stopped at the phylum level.

I believe I am quoting your directly with the following: "Science has established a taxonomic hierarchy that places plants and animals "above" or "below" others based on their ancestral history."

Since the word hierarchy suggests an unequal footing, and you've stated that the taxonomic hierarchy places plants and animals "above" or "below" others, it can only be inferred that the classification system you ascribe to does not equate all living beings as equal. There apparently is an order.

Using that system of order, where do humans fit in this system. Above all other animals, below all other animals, above some, most? We have eliminated that they are equal to all others.