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Last week we PAP tested heifers and it’s one of Last week we PAP tested heifers and it’s one of my favorite things we do all year! (PAP stands for Pulmonary Arterial Pressure, but some people get it confused with, you know, the human Pap. Other end of the cow for this one!) Here’s how it goes: We catch the cow in the chute and then use a halter to keep her head and neck from moving around. The vet then cleans her neck and puts a needle in her jugular vein. Then, he inserts a catheter which is then is passed down the jugular vein, through the right atrium of the heart, into the right ventricle, and then into the pulmonary artery. Then, the vet hooks up the catheter to a transducer and injects some saline into the catheter. The transducer measures the pressure exerted on the saline by the blood from the pulmonary artery. The PAP score is the mean between the diastolic and systolic and is the score we use to determine whether or not a cow is suited to our environment. If a cow tests within our range, she gets a new yellow tag with a permanent ID. If she doesn’t, she gets a red and will stay at the lower ranch or be sold to someone who doesn’t run cattle at high altitudes. Once she’s done, we let her out of the chute and off she goes into the pen with her pals. So, why PAP? Cattle at high altitude can be prone to High Altitude Disease or Brisket, which is basically fatal pulmonary hypertension. We call it brisket because, just like in humans, as the heart starts to struggle, there is a lot of fluid buildup, which collects in the lowest part of the cow at the brisket. It's 30% heritable and our HQ is at 9,000 feet, so this is an important part of our program. We’ve seen considerable improvement in both death loss and PAP scores the last several years and I was really, really happy with this year’s scores! Shout out to Leachman for raising the best high-altitude bulls in the business! Research is showing that high-PAP cattle can be more prone to heart issues even at lower elevations, so I bet we’ll see it adopted in other areas in the future as we begin to better understand the relationship between PAP and bovine heart health. What questions do you have? Lay ‘em on me!
Yesterday, we shipped our last loads of calves and Yesterday, we shipped our last loads of calves and I decided to bring y'all along! Here's how it went: First, woke up annoyingly early for a Sunday Wool socks + long underwear because it's chilly in the morning on the mountain But not too cold for a regular hat! Pounded a @verbenergy bar (better than tea when bathroom breaks are nonexistent 😆) Got my spur stuck in my chaps while putting them on because why not? Saddled and ready to gather the trap! Got everything pushed into the pens Sorted off calves (not videoed because I would have been fired if I'd been messing with my phone while sorting) Counted cows Counted calves Sorted out replacement heifers and sweated A LOT. Counted out loads Loaded trucks Said adios to the sale calves Unsaddled my horse Went home and ate a bunch of chicken nuggets (not videoed.) I don't get as many long days in the saddle as I used to, but with the boys being old enough to tend to themselves for a little while, we're entering into a new Horseback Mom season and I'm so here for it. We are preg-checking our last group of cows on Wednesday and PAP-testing the heifers in a couple of weeks, but golly it feels good to get the calves gone. We were happy with how the first group sold, so hopefully today's sale goes just as well. Shout out to @@olathebootco for making boots that are comfy enough to ride *and* walk in, because The Boss doesn't always allow my precious self to change my shoes before we sort on foot 😆
Cattle Pot Tour! Have you ever wondered what the Cattle Pot Tour! Have you ever wondered what the inside of a big cattle pot (livestock semi trailer) looks like? Well, I climbed in one in between shipping loads of calves yesterday so you could see! Cattle pots have two decks--one above, one below--and each deck is separated into compartments by gates. The gates enable us to section the cattle into smaller groups for their safety (we don't want them to get squished!) and so the load doesn't shift too much in transit. We also separate types of animals (e.g. cows and calves) because we want like animals together, again, for safety and weight management. The cattle access each section by ramps that can be let down or put back up depending on which part of the trailer we are loading, and in between each bunch, the trucker will go in and shut and lock the gate to keep them in their groups. This is Part 1. In Part 2, I'll show you how we load the trucks, handle the cattle during loading, and share the considerations we make and the kinds of laws and regulations that cover the shipping of live animals. What questions do you have about livestock trailers?
Today is our little baby's 5th birthday, and I can Today is our little baby's 5th birthday, and I can't quite believe it. Kirby is silly and sweet and a bit of a storyteller. He loves to be the cutest and I'll carry him around as long as he'll let me. He loves cowboy stuff, trucks, making messes, and his stuffed kangaroo named Baby, and I'm so happy he's our littlest buddy. Happy birthday, Kirby Shirby!
As a rancher, what I most want people to understan As a rancher, what I most want people to understand is that we're about way more than raising beef.  We are about stewarding the land so that the land and the cattle can work together to thrive.  We are about keeping wide open spaces as wild as possible, and as healthy as possible so they can support as many different kinds of plants and animals as possible.  We are about protecting these lands from development.  I think it's easy to forget this when you live in a city, but there are still places in the world (so many of them!) where we can walk out our front doors and be surrounded by nature. In the United States, many of those places are ranches.  To me, this doesn't look like the environmental devastation that people (fine, activists and the media) associate with beef production. Because that narrative is misinformed and leaves a lot out. This looks like nature that is thriving, and deeply alive.  So, the next time you hear someone railing against ranchers, I hope you'll remember this video and these words and know there is so much more to the story.
Death is just part and parcel of caring for animal Death is just part and parcel of caring for animals and being a part of the natural world: sometimes animals die. Sometimes they get sick and we can't save them, sometimes they get hurt, and when we're very, very lucky, the animals most important to us die of old age. Over the weekend, we said goodbye to our Zombie. He was 28 and took care of our little boys so well. We are heartbroken because good horses like him don't come along very often, and Wacey in particular is really missing his friend. But, 28 is a good long life for a horse, and we're happy we got to spend the last few years with him. Sometimes people think that ranchers are heartless animal abusers, but that's simply not the case. We care for our animals deeply, and sometimes they become extra special parts of our lives. Bert buried Zombie him next to one of his favorite dogs who died a few years ago, and put a big rock on top of the spot. Next week, the boys and I will venture over with paint and brushes so that no matter who lives on this ranch in years to come, they will know our beloved animals are resting there.
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