A quick note in response to some comments made about a
picture I posted on Facebook last Thursday of me branding a cow. For starters, I understand that this is
an issue with two sides, and that it is an endless discussion. However, I took offense to some
comments insinuating that I was taking part in animal cruelty, when that isn’t
the case at all. Also – do you
know where the meat you’ve been eating comes from? What kind of life those animals live and what processes and
procedures are followed to get that animals onto your plate? I do now. Australia is the world’s second largest exporter of beef,
and I’m proudly living on a productive Australian cattle station. (and my boss is Canadian!)
We’ll start with a background of the size of these
cattle stations here in Australia.
I am currently employed as a station hand on a 93 000 acre station in
Queensland. Perspective time! Barrie, Ontario, is about 77 square
kilometers, which convert to 19 027 acres. This station is 93 000 acres. Vancouver, British Columbia, is 115 square kilometers. Again – this station is 93 000
acres. It must also be stated that
this station isn’t even a big one!
There are many station in Australia that are over a million acres in
size. Let’s put that into
perspective then. Ottawa,
including Kanata, Nepean, Cumberland and Arnprior is 2779 square
kilometers. That is still only 686
705 acres. If that isn’t clear
enough, many station in Australia are BIGGER THAN CANADA’S CAPITAL CITY AND
SURROUNDING AREAS. Now, on to animal
numbers, so you can put the idea of ownership and business into this
equation. There are nearly 10 000
cattle here. That’s more than the
population of Minden’s worth, in COWS. Moo.
A quick definition for your read: the word ‘husbandry.’
Noun
[mass noun]
1. the
care, cultivation, and breeding of crops and animals: all aspects of animal
husbandry
2. management
and conservation of resources: low
borrowing demonstrates astute husbandry of resources
Cattle, (and sheep and goats), undergo various husbandry
procedures to:
-
Improve productivity; by maintaining your animals,
vaccinating them and even dehorning them, your herd will be healthier and
therefore will lead a happier life in the paddock.
-
Identify individual animals or mobs of animals;
branding helps identify your animals from a distance
-
Prevent unwanted breeding; by castrating and
monitoring your animals, you will prevent unwanted breeding, inbreeding, and
uncontrolled/unmonitored cattle numbers
-
Enhance carcass quality and composition; this
means that when the cow is ready to be butchered, its meat is well composed and
it’s a healthy weight for eating.
-
Reduce the risk of disease; vaccinating and
checking your animals for infection, lesions, and wounds (from fights, dingoes
or other wild animal attacks)
-
Monitor for the presence of disease and to meet
the requirements of disease control programs
-
Decrease the risk of injury to themselves, other
animals and people; by dehorning, you’re keeping the other animals out of the
risk of being bruised or injured in the paddocks and during
transportation. You’re also
preventing injury to humans during transportation and further husbandry
processes.
-
Determine their age and maintain correct animal
records
When
carrying out husbandry procedures on livestock it is important to:
-
Handle the animals in a way that minimises stress;
Australian farmers pride themselves on low stress stock handling. This means
fast and efficient husbandry procedures
-
Maximise animal welfare
-
Pay attention to occupational health and safety
-
Take workplace productivity into account.
Most Australian stations practice low stress stock
handing, and even host schooling events for locals and for farming staff to
attend, to continue the education of low stress stock handling. Wentworth, for example, is hosting a
two-day low stress stock handling school with hands on practicing and a lecture
theory portion, in April.
(This is a good read to skim over, if you’re actually
interested in guidelines and procedures of animal husbandry! –
Australian cattle producers care about their animals,
and practice the best and most efficient procedures with the animals’ welfare
in mind at all times. During
“branding time,” branding, castrating, and dehorning takes place – as does
vaccinating, and a quick look over of each animals, looking for lesions, eye
infections, or other marks.) The
high majority of Australian beef cattle spend their life grazing in large
paddocks on large cattle stations across the country. They are not housed in tight barns or sheds, and husbandry
processes take place out in stockyards on the properties in areas that the
animals are familiar with.
The routine husbandry processes and practices of
dehorning and castration are essential management procedures that help maintain
happy and healthy animals that can be reared and delivered to market in the
safest way possible for both the animals and their handlers.
Branding isn’t mandatory everywhere, but it is mandatory
in the state of Queensland for any animals over 100kg that are being sold or
transported. It isn’t a
thoughtless procedure that is done carelessly. There are brand reuirements, location requirements, and the
brands must be registered. Farmers
take great pride in their brands.
Depending on the size of a cattle operation, a bystander
may or may not understand the importance of branding cattle to distinguish them
from others. Many beef farms in
Ontario (for example – sticking to Ontario, just because it’s where I come
from_, have very small numbers of cattle in comparison to larger farms in
Australia. Branding is the most
practical and visible way of permanently identifying animals from a distance. It is essential on large scale
operations where it is not practical or even possible to read an ear tattoo or
electronic ear tag.
Graziers/Rancers take great pride in a nice, neat brand,
showing their ownership, taking care not to smudge or over brand their
animals. Brands are registered,
and each brand is a symbol of a farmer’s or a company’s hard work and years
(sometimes generations) of dedication.
Too often, people put their emotions and pain tolerances
on animals, such as cattle being branded.
A cow’s hide is much thicker than our skin, and is built to withstand
life outdoors. A brand done
properly only lasts two to three seconds, maximum. (as opposed to freeze branding, which lasts between 30-60
seconds, and hurts for much longer like severe frostbite.) The animals’ behaviour when they are
reunited with their mother suggests that they are more concerned with being
temporarilty separated from their mother than the branding procedure. Once the endorphins of sucking their
mother’s milk kick in, they wave their tails in happiness. The mothers keep the marks clean and
infection free. An efficient group
of farmers and station hands will have the calves separated from their mothers,
have the calves branded, dehorned, vaccinated and castrated, and reunited with
their mothers in only a few hours.
Many people that form an opinion on such matters have
never actually taken part in the actual task at hand. Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to work with an
efficient and careful team here at Wentworth that worked quickly and quietly
while ensuring low stress stock handling.
I, myself, even got to brand, dehorn, vaccinate and castrate calves, and
witnessed all procedures start to finish – as well as the reuniting of calves
and mothers.
Cattle can handle physical pain very well, but
not mental stress, which is why it is so important to handle them properly. Handling cows with low stress stock
handling will help to keep their stress levels to a minimum. If handled
correctly, they don't have any fear of humans or yards when they come in again
for weaning, suggesting that it isn't an ordeal for them. It is
documented that if they are familiar with yards/crushes etc , then their
cortisol levels don't rise as much as those that are encountering the
experience for the first time.
This shows the importance of running them through the crush for a
"practise run". (A crush
is either a manual, or hydraulic piece of equipment that holds a calf in place
by applying pressure to their chest cavity, holding them still so vaccinating,
castrating and branding can take place with as little movement as possible from
the animal. A crush does not hurt
the animal. Instead, it helps keep
them calm.
Initially,
I was really upset by the comments made on the picture I had posted, but
instead of lashing out and saying something ridiculous out of anger, I figured
I would do some research, talk to real farmers in the area, and write up
something educational so that it’s known that I am not in fact living on a farm
that takes part in animal cruelty.
I hope you learned something from this! It’s not much, but it’s a start. The debate is endless.
Lastly –
call them farmers, bogans, rednecks, hillbillies, whatever you like. Just make sure you thank them for the
food you eat. Without them, you’d
be scroungin’.
Cheers!
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