Oh me. What a depressing essay. I have a long history of attempting to address issues related to those discussed. Most of you can’t begin to know how hard it is for an established farmer or rancher to deal with all of the problems raised here. Round-up, weed killers and pesticides are critically important to modern agriculture. In my per…
Oh me. What a depressing essay. I have a long history of attempting to address issues related to those discussed. Most of you can’t begin to know how hard it is for an established farmer or rancher to deal with all of the problems raised here. Round-up, weed killers and pesticides are critically important to modern agriculture. In my personal journey we have been able to eliminate round-up. We attempted to eliminate weed killer, that lasted two years. On the third year we were forced to spray because cattle must have something to eat besides weeds. Four years ago we rented a 1000 acres of grass. The place was run down so we put cross fences so we could rotate the cattle. Then we began a weed control program. This year we rented the 1000 acres directly to the east of our current location. No cross fences, no weed control program. The 1000 acres we have had for only four years will graze two times as many cattle. I wish I could put pictures on here. You would not believe the difference. We stoped mass treating our cattle for worms because we were killing all of the dung beetles. Pharo Cattle Co. Bulls are rated for fly resistance, a heritable trait according to knit Pharo. One of the reasons we buy his outrageously priced bulls. So a win there. In our butcher program we do not use antibiotics or hormones, we do feed cracked corn, which almost certainly was sprayed with round-up at some point. Trying to fatten cattle in west central Oklahoma on forage without irrigation is near impossible. My family has put a lot of effort into this over the last 15 years. I have no other neighbors who are working on this like we are and we are not close to what you are asking for Dr. Malone. There is a reason only 6 percent of our food is grown organically. It is a very difficult bar to reach, especially on the scale we have to operate. Farmers and ranchers, like all other business people respond to the market signals. They must to survive. The market pays for pounds of beef and bushels of grain. Our butchered beef, for instance, is outstanding. Even with the cracked corn as a down side for some, no hormones, no antibiotics and you know where it comes from and how the cattle are treated. It is a hard sell. Walmart is to convenient and cheap. My banker tells me the farm butchered beef marked is saturated. Not enough consumer interest! We have a long way to go and somebody will have to help pay the cost of making the change. That burden cannot be born by farmers and ranchers alone. And I still question if sufficient amounts of food can be grown and afforded even if everyone wanted to make the change. If it only works for the well healed that is not a plan.
Oh me. What a depressing essay. I have a long history of attempting to address issues related to those discussed. Most of you can’t begin to know how hard it is for an established farmer or rancher to deal with all of the problems raised here. Round-up, weed killers and pesticides are critically important to modern agriculture. In my personal journey we have been able to eliminate round-up. We attempted to eliminate weed killer, that lasted two years. On the third year we were forced to spray because cattle must have something to eat besides weeds. Four years ago we rented a 1000 acres of grass. The place was run down so we put cross fences so we could rotate the cattle. Then we began a weed control program. This year we rented the 1000 acres directly to the east of our current location. No cross fences, no weed control program. The 1000 acres we have had for only four years will graze two times as many cattle. I wish I could put pictures on here. You would not believe the difference. We stoped mass treating our cattle for worms because we were killing all of the dung beetles. Pharo Cattle Co. Bulls are rated for fly resistance, a heritable trait according to knit Pharo. One of the reasons we buy his outrageously priced bulls. So a win there. In our butcher program we do not use antibiotics or hormones, we do feed cracked corn, which almost certainly was sprayed with round-up at some point. Trying to fatten cattle in west central Oklahoma on forage without irrigation is near impossible. My family has put a lot of effort into this over the last 15 years. I have no other neighbors who are working on this like we are and we are not close to what you are asking for Dr. Malone. There is a reason only 6 percent of our food is grown organically. It is a very difficult bar to reach, especially on the scale we have to operate. Farmers and ranchers, like all other business people respond to the market signals. They must to survive. The market pays for pounds of beef and bushels of grain. Our butchered beef, for instance, is outstanding. Even with the cracked corn as a down side for some, no hormones, no antibiotics and you know where it comes from and how the cattle are treated. It is a hard sell. Walmart is to convenient and cheap. My banker tells me the farm butchered beef marked is saturated. Not enough consumer interest! We have a long way to go and somebody will have to help pay the cost of making the change. That burden cannot be born by farmers and ranchers alone. And I still question if sufficient amounts of food can be grown and afforded even if everyone wanted to make the change. If it only works for the well healed that is not a plan.