Modern Day Cattleman

He’s got more conveniences than his grandfather would ever dream could exist. Fast-acting medications, equipment that makes his job safer and technology galore.

His horse sometimes walks on four legs and runs on grain. Sometimes it rolls on four wheels and runs on gas or diesel. His tractor has a cab, sunroof, heat, air conditioning, Bluetooth and GPS.

He racks up more cell phone minutes than a teenage girl ever dreamed. Important minutes though, as he talks to his buyers about cattle prices, neighbors about splitting the fencing bill and his buddies about more gossip than a grown man would ever admit.

He may wear his grandfather’s uniform of starched wranglers and cowboy boots. He could just as easily be seen in khaki shorts, a t-shirt and comfy sneakers. Those late night cows-are-out situations may even produce a wardrobe consisting of underwear and mud boots.

He buys cattle online. The same place he sees posts accusing cattlemen of animal cruelty, misusing antibiotics and ruining the environment. He wonders if these folks have ever been on a farm or ranch. Ever seen the cleanliness and precision of a feedlot. If they’ve read the research, if they’ve done their homework. He figures they haven’t. Figures social media and the mainstream news is where most folks get their information. Sad, really, because if they would just sit on the front porch like folks used to and have a conversation with him he could share some knowledge. He could tell them that their food is safer now than ever before. He could tell them how much he loves his job, this way of life; how he’d never do anything to risk it. His grandfather was understood. Consumers back then were empathetic. He realizes that today’s consumer is often times so far removed from agriculture that they truly don’t know what they don’t know. So he’ll be patient. He’ll try to educate. He’ll keep doing his best.

He has a love/hate relationship with bovines. He loves the sweet sounds of cattle munching grass after being turned in on fresh pasture. The ball of newly weaned calves. Loves looking at this year’s calf crop, proud and confident in his breeding decisions. Yet, he hates doctoring those high-headed cattle who try to kill him. He hates losing an animal. First-calf-heifer worries keep him up at night. He hates the unfairness of the cattle market. Hates how quickly live cattle prices can drop just as grocery store beef prices rise. Though his grandfather couldn’t keep up with these changes like the modern day cattleman’s Stock Market cell phone app, it was a worry back then too.

Sure, the internet, social media, field-mapping drones, consumer-confidence, computerized harvest equipment, synchronized heat cycles, embryo transfer, cell phones, barn cameras and countless other modernizations have changed the way a modern day cattleman operates. Yet, some things stay the same…

The modern day cattleman works to feed himself, his family – the world – through the only thing he knows, his true love, his passion – being a Cattleman.  His grandfather would be proud.