Mythbuster Monday talks change and chance

In the beef cattle industry, change can be a slow process. Only about 10% of our industry utilizes artificial insemination (AI) technology. The tool has been available for decades, and one that some would argue that when used well, it holds the single greatest potential for genetic herd improvement. But change is hard – it takes time and a lot of considerations to decide if such a large change in your breeding program is right for your operation.

On the other hand, our industry can be taken by a storm of change in an instant – remember two months ago when the term “lean, finely textured beef” wasn’t a part of any of our normal vocabularies?

We see these things happen overnight, or over a gradual period of time. This winter, my mom, dad and I worked cows together – just the three of us – while I was home. It was a different scene than the one I remembered from childhood. It was quiet, calm… slow and easy.

Then, working cattle seemed like such an ordeal. It took a crew – neighbors, family and friends – all with hot shots in hand, pickup horns blaring, cattle bellowing and tempers a little short. But slowly, over the years, we started eliminating things that didn’t seem to work so well in exchange for a little quieter method.

Maybe it’s the grey hairs I’ve started to see popping up more and more in dad’s beard, maybe it’s more resources available on low-stress handling, or maybe it’s just the necessity of needing to do the same amount of work with fewer hands around the farm. Regardless of the reasoning, things have changed.

Last year was the first go-round of AI’ing heifers at Nelson Farms. It proved its value in the boss man’s mind, so now it’ll be the route for all females. This year, the goal is to get all 300+ ladies calved in less than a 45-day calving period.

Among other reasons, he told me: “Laura, I’ve been calving cows for 50-some years, and I’m tired of it taking all spring. I think it’s time I deserved to be done with calving at a decent time and enjoy my spring. Heck, if this works out well, I might even get to spend some time visiting my daughter in Montana. I might even take up fly fishing.”

For a man who always considered a week in town for the county fair to be the only necessary “vacation time” in life, that’s a big change. It also brings up another one… that daughter in Montana. That would be me, making a move to a state a little closer to Nelson Farms, looking forward to making a home somewhere that my family can visit a little more frequently (perhaps even giving way to a new fishing habit for dad, I hope) than my current Ohio one.

This all leads me to today’s myth: That good lookin’ black calf does all the talking for the Black Ink team.

Fact: While I do sometimes feel a bit like the Wizard of Oz, talking behind the screen of that black calf on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, you know better than that here on the Black Ink blog. You usually hear from Miranda each Monday, Gary posts updates from the road and Steve’s tuning in from Rocky Top from time to time.

The truth is, everything we do under the Black Ink name is a team effort – Larry, Mark, Paul, Gary, Steve and now Kara are sending Miranda and I updates and thoughts from their travels through the cattle industry that we share with you here, here and here. Often, those thoughts have come through my voice as we’ve navigated and explored new ways to share pertinent beef quality information and learn more from you all along the way.

From now on, you’ll hear those other voices chiming in more often… maybe you’ll be able to pick up on Miranda’s slight Minnesooootan accent and never-ending optimism through her typing, and you’ll get more of Steve’s witty, dry humor and obscure and interesting references.

While a quick change in some respects – this will be the last time you see blackinklaura pop up in a blog byline here – most of them will be subtle. You’ll see different authors here, new ideas on Facebook and different perspectives on Twitter conversations. But, the message will always stay the same – finding ways to add more black ink to the quality-focused cattleman’s bottom line.

It’s sure been fun being the voice behind so many of these messages over the past year or so, and I’ll look forward to tuning in just like the rest of you from now on—by pushing that little subscribe button at the top right!

-Laura

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