Cows, Instinct not Logic

This evening we will be rotating cows to a new pasture. Hopefully the cows will cooperate and things will move along easily. That is not always the case, even though we are moving them to better pasture. Our logic tells us that they should want to move because there will be more to eat, but there in lies the problem with applying human logic to animals.

Come to think of it, applying any logic to an animals is a critical error in thinking. This is an error that many who do not spend time around animals make. Animals (and yes, this includes your dog or cat) act upon instinct and not logic. Their brains are pre-programmed to re-act in a certain way given a certain trigger. Their actions are based on finding comfort, safety, food or reproducing, period, nothing more, nothing less.

Often I think that line is blurred because of the movies put out by movie production companies like Disney such as "Bambi", "Lady and the Tramp" or even "Charlotte's Web". These movies give human emotions and thoughts to animals. This opens the door for the anti-animal agriculture groups to pray upon the naive emotions of those who don't understand animal behavior. They put themselves in that animal's place, applying their human thought process to a given situation.

Those animals were put on earth for our use. We are the ones with logic and emotion, we are human and that sets us apart from the animals. As much as we want our pets to be able to communicate on a deeper level, they or any other animal cannot.

Does this mean we can treat animals any way we want. Absolutely not, because we have been given dominion over them we must take care of their needs and make them as healthy and comfortable as possible. On our ranch we utilize low-stress cattle handling methods, rotational grazing and a solid vaccination and health plan to make sure our cows are well-cared for.

So tonight, I will use my knowledge of cattle and their instincts with my logic to help move them to better pastures in a low-stress manner. And until the cattle tell me different I will continue to do that as I work to provide you with the best beef in the world.