The Beef Industry: Near & Far

Driving through the sandhills of Nebraska and the rolling hills (and mountains too!) of eastern Wyoming, I can picture the cowboys and Indians, the wagon trains and horses making their way west - but it must have been a hard life! Crossing over streams and rivers in search of better land and gold. Fighting the buffalo in hopes of finding sustenance. Sleeping under the stars and hearing coyotes in the distance. Makes me shudder yet sigh of (somewhat) simpler times. If you've followed along on my personal Facebook page, you know I haven't been spending much time at home, instead, seeing quite a bit of territory in the heart of cow country out West. Although my travels have been superb and it was a pure joy to see the mountains again, I did miss my Iowa cornfields and the comforts of home.

Through all the miles, I've gathered quite a few thoughts on beef cattle production in Iowa and elsewhere. So, this week, we are going to break down a couple of quick learning points.

#1: You have got to be TOUGH to have cows out West.

Don't get me wrong, having cattle in Iowa isn't a cakewalk. Those mornings when waterers are frozen over, you have 6 inches of snow on the ground, every pen needs to be bedded, and you're in the heart of calving season - that makes for a tough day. But our friends out West deal with different weather patterns, for longer periods of time.....ahem, snow, and different environmental challenges. Furthermore, our fellow farmers and ranchers in the Paradise Valley (near Dillon, MT) are struggling to keep their land due to folks from the city moving to the beautiful mountains. As we well know, land is so valuable, especially when running a herd of cows (hello, pasture!). The fact that ranchers are losing land that has been in the family for generations is both frustrating and sad. I guess that's another staple in the fact that we need to share our story as to why agriculture is important (more to come on that later this month!).

#2: Rain is a beautiful and useful tool.

When we get into the western halves of Nebraska and South Dakota, we start to notice a common theme: it's brown. Unfortunately, that part of the world doesn't receive as much rain as we do here in Iowa; thus, grazing systems are a bit different. We see grasses such as prairie grass and hollow grass unlike our Timothy, Brome, and Kentucky Bluegrass, a stockpile grazing program rather than rotational grazing, and water gathers in a reservoir or tank next to a windmill rather than a creek running through the center of the pasture. Strategic planning is constructed to ensure that cattle have access to adequate feed and water at all points during a normal grazing period.

#3: Resources aren't at the back door for ranchers like cornfields in Iowa.

It's not uncommon for producers in Iowa to encompass more than one avenue of the beef industry in their operation. Some have a cow/calf operation with a feedlot, others have a small cow/calf enterprise that translates into a seedstock program where they sell heifers and bulls. That's not the case for our friends out West. They typically specialize in one area (cow/calf, seedstock, backgrounding/stocker, feedlot). Many ranchers can't grow corn - which is a novel concept for Iowans since it comes out our ears (no pun intended). If they can, it's not the Pioneer or DeKalb brands that grow in 105-108 days, it sits at about 72-75 days for a growth period and they flood irrigate the field, making really wide rows. To add another dimension, they live in cow country - combines are a foreign concept, and most times they rent a combine to harvest their corn. Also - no need for a GPS and autosteer. Their cornfields aren't 200 acres.

Life looks a little different for our fellow farmers and ranchers on the western half of the United States. But that's what makes our industry unique. We take the available resources and grow efficient cattle that are a healthy product for consumers across the globe.

This is the tip of the iceberg of challenges we face in the beef and meat industries. We're launching an all-new series in two weeks with more to come soon.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO EAT BEEF!

Lauren