What determines whether a cattleman is serious?

[ALACOWMAN]

I would say that if your in the cattle business... you better be serious about it. It has its "fun" times, and good times.. but over the long haul.. its a serious business when your dealing with human and animal's lives.

yep like puttin' out hay in pouring rain,or cold. or my favorite time of year that can turn into a nightmare pronto, calving season.. one minute your anxiously waiting on the next generation,, the next your turning a breech for a pull

 

[novatech]

Looks like it boils down to how you see yourself. Everyone else may have different openions. But who cares?

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I like My cows better than a lot of the people i no.

 

[ANAZAZI]

I like My cows better than a lot of the people i no.

ye and amen to that!

 

[AnimalLover26]

For me I guess im not a cattlewoman lol. My cows are strictly my pets and considered part of my family. I make 0 profit but for me that was never the idea anyways. I got my first cow shortly after the passing of my grandmother and the divorcing of my parents back when I was in middle school. I joined FFA and threw everything into my heifers and pulled myself out of my grief. They have given me so much happyness and got me through some of the worst times in my life. I love them! And even now as im going through my cancer the time I spend with them gets me through. I had no plan on breeding further out of school but unfortuinitly one of our neighbors bull wont stay out of my fence lol. Anyways my herefords and my sisters shorthorns are treated as well and my cat and dogs and just living out there life in peace. They have given me so much over the past 13 years all I want is to give them the best comfortable life possible. I have been critisized by many about my choices with them and I understand everyones point of view but to me I love these cows more than anyone will ever know. I dont eat meat (yes I know odd huh). Rest of my family except my husband ,sister and kid think im nuts ...but too each his own

 

[DOC HARRIS]

The inital question from the previous thread was to define what is a "serious cattlemen". This is close enough. Excellent thoughts on this subject.

I have a friend that is serious about making money in the cattle business. He buys almost all his stock. Never tries to do much herd improvement. Has very little help at all. Runs ranches in 3 counties in 2 different states and spends very little time or money doing what most "serious cattlemen" would consider necessary. He has somewhere around a thousand head of brood cows. Is he serious? I have a neighbor who has 40 or 50 head of seedstock cattle who invests considerable dollars , effort and research in improving his seedstock and has some of the finest animals of his breed in my opinion. Profit isn't a serious consideration in his operation. Is he serious? Some kids that only own one or two show steers spend considerable time and money studying conformation. Are they serious? I think they are all serious or they wouldn't be doing it. I'm not arguing, I just personally think the word serious is pretty loose and not a very good adjective buy itself. It's kind of like the word pretty. It's very subjective.

Best answer on this entire thread!

DOC HARRIS

 

[DOC HARRIS]

For me I guess im not a cattlewoman lol. My cows are strictly my pets and considered part of my family. I make 0 profit but for me that was never the idea anyways. I got my first cow shortly after the passing of my grandmother and the divorcing of my parents back when I was in middle school. I joined FFA and threw everything into my heifers and pulled myself out of my grief. They have given me so much happyness and got me through some of the worst times in my life. I love them! And even now as im going through my cancer the time I spend with them gets me through. I had no plan on breeding further out of school but unfortuinitly one of our neighbors bull wont stay out of my fence lol. Anyways my herefords and my sisters shorthorns are treated as well and my cat and dogs and just living out there life in peace. They have given me so much over the past 13 years all I want is to give them the best comfortable life possible. I have been critisized by many about my choices with them and I understand everyones point of view but to me I love these cows more than anyone will ever know. I dont eat meat (yes I know odd huh). Rest of my family except my husband ,sister and kid think im nuts ...but too each his own

AL26-

Don't let ANYONE -for ANY REASON - make you consider changing your feelings or attitude about
your cattle. God placed them in this world for more reasons than to just provide Protein for humans. As an 82 year old former Ag teacher and Dr. of Chiropractic, I understand your emotional and inner feelings about animals with whom you may have an affinity. Your soul can reach out and embrace
the "being" which resides behind those big, brown, eyes-to-the-world, and ONLY THEY can understand your most heart-felt feelings and agonies which you may feel only YOU can understand! Not so! An animal communicates with us through a different emotional basis than other human beings, and believe me, - They KNOW your hurts, uncertain feelings, doubts, FEARS, stomach-butterflies and terror which strikes your life occasionally, but they can't put their "arms" around you and tell you that everything is okay - but they DO hold you with their effections, passions, and sympathies, because that is the only way they can communicate,

I am also victim of Cancer- for over 11 years - and the apprehension which overwhelms one occasionally can be fearsome - but Jesus Christ understands, and your outpouring of love for your animals envelopes them as a warm quilt - and they KNOW your innermost passions. The people who criticize your actions just DO NOT understand the mysteries which animals know esoterically with you!

You have an inner attraction which relates to them, and you must never lose that wonderful bonding!

God bless you, and I am praying for you.

DOC HARRIS

 

[BIZIN]

I like to think I'm a serious cattleman, but youve gotta be honest, some days you love those cows. When you watch a sunset with a group of cows grazing on a valleyside as the sun slowly drops behind them! Everyday you get to see another miracle, another picture perfect sunset, another image that shoulda been shot with a camera, but I'll be honest, there are some days when all you wanna do is shoot every last one of them cows! As the bulls your trying to pull outta the herd rams into your truck, or puts you over a fence. Those days when you wake up to all the cows with their heads dug into the barley pile, and no one is around to help you put em in, and every last one of em wants to keep coming back to that damn pile!!! Or when a cow wont accept a calf, no matter what you try to do! To me, a cattleman is the guy who takes all that bad, all that stress and aggrevation, and forgets about it! To me the term "cattleman" is a group of men and women, and in that group there are 100's of sub-categories. I dont think anyone can be defined as JUST a serious cattleman, but they do fall into a sub-category.

 

[AnimalLover26]

Thank you for your kind words Doc Harris And yeah i try not to let the comments of others affect my feelings even when my own parents tells me its obsurd to spend money on them when it could be spent elsewhere. I just try to be understanding of all points of view specially since I know most are opposing views :lol: Im just thankful my hubby puts up with my crazyness lol , eventhough he hates it (hes a city boy).
I love these cows prob more than anyone could understand,they were my rock when I needed them most and felt completely alone. So if it means no entertainment or extras for me I will make sure they have the best till its there time. And to Bizin I know what you mean also. But I think its my poor hubby that gets angry I just try to keep a cool head. I dont have any bulls cause I didnt want more cows to feed , but our neighbor cant keep his bull out of our property its completely destroyed my fence , dented our truck, knocked my hubby down , and let my cows out to wander the roads. Deff not fun when you get a call from the sheriffs dept at 3 am. and just love walking my cows 2 or 3 miles back to our pasture in the dark ,carrying a bag of feed and they just dont want to follow grrr. But at the end of the day knowing there safe and happy is all worth it. I was going to post some pics of my babies but when I took the digital out yesterday I couldnt get it to turn on. Going to try again this week, think it needed to be reset. Next week is my surgery to try and remove my cancer before it spreads (thank god they caught it before that!) so ima be busy , got to jump me some calves to for some casteration fun lol.

 

[Keren]

BIZIN you are spot on.