Focused on Cattle
Friday evening I went to Boardman, OR with four of my veterinary "colleagues" (TF, BM, STM, and RW). Boardman is known for nearby stash(es) of nerve gas.
Saturday morning we met with Bill Gover, manager of the feedlot south of town. He had a George Bush look (something about rancher types?) and was very friendly and informative. He spoke about the Oregon Country Beef (OCB) program they have there. This program caters to health conscious people by providing meat from short-fed* animals not treated with antibiotics (except sulfas) nor fed animal products. Because the feedlot also contains non-OCB (Beef Northwest - BNW) animals, they have the capability to switch animals over to BNW in the event that they require antibiotics.
We drove around the feedlot - looking at the hospital pens (containing primarily respiratory cases), the feed mill (their cows are fed uncooked french fries, corn from the midwest, and hay), the various pens of healthy cattle. They have about 34,000 cattle on 100 acres (as my mother put it into perspective, that would be like having 340 cattle in the one acre field behind our house) - it was not particularly offensive in odor, and the ground was pretty dry. Some of the cattle are from Hawaii - a new one on me - and others were retired roping steers from Mexico.
Off in the distance there were two dairies and a cloud of dust rising from a compost pile. STM and I (who were driving around with Bill) were informed that in addition to manure they put their "deads" in the compost pile. The heat sterilizes the mixture, and it is sold as steer manure - if I knew before I had forgotten that dead animals could be in such manure.
We didn't learn much that was veterinary related, but gained information that should help us speak intelligently to our feedlot clients in the future.
From the feedlot TF insisted on heading East (not the way we were supposed to go) and North; we came upon a sign for a fish hatchery, and ended up there as there was some mention of interest and little or no opposition. I think TF worked there one summer.
Our final stop was the Krebs ranch in Cecil (on the way we stopped to investigate a snake that was squished in the road - it turned out to be a gopher snake maybe two to three feet long. TF gave us a bit of a lesson in distinguishing bull snakes from rattlers).
At the ranch we were cordially welcomed by Clint and Maureen Krebs and further informed about OCB. The marketing information was interesting - i.e. save briskets in a freezer until St. Patrick's Day rolls around and people want corned beef; butcher bulls around the beginning of baseball season to make hot dogs. Clint didn't express great belief that antibiotics shouldn't be fed to cattle, but he follows what the customer wants. (It reminds me of Marshall Fields': "Give the lady what she wants.")
Something interesting about OCB is that they do not set their prices competitively. I think they set their prices based on the cost of raising the animals, etc and not as a mark up compared to generic beef. I suppose it won't be that way forever, if they finally get enough competition; it also sounds sort of communistic. But in a way it seems like the Christian way to do business - not trying to do better than the other guy but just pricing based on what things are worth.
* Short-fed cattle are fed at the feedlot an average of 90 days instead of the normal 120 days. This practice reduces the amount of fat in the meat.
Citation: http://managingwholes.com/hatfield1.htm
Saturday morning we met with Bill Gover, manager of the feedlot south of town. He had a George Bush look (something about rancher types?) and was very friendly and informative. He spoke about the Oregon Country Beef (OCB) program they have there. This program caters to health conscious people by providing meat from short-fed* animals not treated with antibiotics (except sulfas) nor fed animal products. Because the feedlot also contains non-OCB (Beef Northwest - BNW) animals, they have the capability to switch animals over to BNW in the event that they require antibiotics.
We drove around the feedlot - looking at the hospital pens (containing primarily respiratory cases), the feed mill (their cows are fed uncooked french fries, corn from the midwest, and hay), the various pens of healthy cattle. They have about 34,000 cattle on 100 acres (as my mother put it into perspective, that would be like having 340 cattle in the one acre field behind our house) - it was not particularly offensive in odor, and the ground was pretty dry. Some of the cattle are from Hawaii - a new one on me - and others were retired roping steers from Mexico.
Off in the distance there were two dairies and a cloud of dust rising from a compost pile. STM and I (who were driving around with Bill) were informed that in addition to manure they put their "deads" in the compost pile. The heat sterilizes the mixture, and it is sold as steer manure - if I knew before I had forgotten that dead animals could be in such manure.
We didn't learn much that was veterinary related, but gained information that should help us speak intelligently to our feedlot clients in the future.
From the feedlot TF insisted on heading East (not the way we were supposed to go) and North; we came upon a sign for a fish hatchery, and ended up there as there was some mention of interest and little or no opposition. I think TF worked there one summer.
Our final stop was the Krebs ranch in Cecil (on the way we stopped to investigate a snake that was squished in the road - it turned out to be a gopher snake maybe two to three feet long. TF gave us a bit of a lesson in distinguishing bull snakes from rattlers).
At the ranch we were cordially welcomed by Clint and Maureen Krebs and further informed about OCB. The marketing information was interesting - i.e. save briskets in a freezer until St. Patrick's Day rolls around and people want corned beef; butcher bulls around the beginning of baseball season to make hot dogs. Clint didn't express great belief that antibiotics shouldn't be fed to cattle, but he follows what the customer wants. (It reminds me of Marshall Fields': "Give the lady what she wants.")
Something interesting about OCB is that they do not set their prices competitively. I think they set their prices based on the cost of raising the animals, etc and not as a mark up compared to generic beef. I suppose it won't be that way forever, if they finally get enough competition; it also sounds sort of communistic. But in a way it seems like the Christian way to do business - not trying to do better than the other guy but just pricing based on what things are worth.
* Short-fed cattle are fed at the feedlot an average of 90 days instead of the normal 120 days. This practice reduces the amount of fat in the meat.
Citation: http://managingwholes.com/hatfield1.htm
posted by Claire at 18:33
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