A lot of people think of the old American Buffalo herds with rose colored glasses.
They think of harmonious packs of majestic beasts all living in harmony with nature, making their way across the great plains. People whose’ most in depth nature experience amounts to a walk at the local park that is curated by their city seem to think of nature as some kind of paradise.
The reality of nature as a whole and buffalo herds in the American West is very different.
It’s War.
Every living thing is fighting for its chance to survive and reproduce. They don’t care one bit for other species. Often, they don’t care for, and are even fighting against, members of their own species.
This is the only way it can work.
Back to the buffalo herds. These massive herds of animals were constantly surrounded by predators living on the outskirts waiting to pick off the weak and sick animals. If anyone couldn’t keep up it was quickly taken out of the gene pool by ruthless predators.
Bugs of every kind imaginable were constantly fighting to get their share of the pie. Flies, ticks, worms (not earth worms…the inside kind) were fighting their own war to survive.
This is simply the way of the world. As much as it may break our modern hearts, the second a baby or an elderly buffalo couldn’t keep up it was done.
That war is a thing of the past in many ways today. It has led to our modern livestock being some of the weakest, sickest animals to ever walk the face of the earth.
Modern confinement pigs and chickens come to mind. Confinement operation chickens die of natural causes if they live a few weeks past their planned lifespan.
A healthy herd needs predators. There’s no way around it. If you want to have animals that aren’t completely full of antibiotics, hormones, and vaccines something has to get rid of the weak animals.
So where are the predators on our ranch?
It’s you and me.
Yes humans, and specifically the rancher in charge is the predator.
It’s up to me to choose which bull breeds the cows for the next generation and which mothers get to stay or go. I take this job very seriously.
I’m always evaluating the herd. This is a lot easier when I see them every day to move them to the next pasture.
If a mother doesn’t take care of her calf she can’t stay. If she doesn’t stay healthy enough to have a calf every year on just grass, she has to go.
If I treat them like pets and let weak animals stay, the only people I will be helping are the industrial agriculture corporations.
Do a bad job at this crucial aspect of ranching and there will be one less quality ranch that treats animals right and one less option for people to choose where to get their food.
On the bright side this is harder in the beginning and gets easier and easier the longer you work with your herd.
We got the best start we could buying animals from very high quality operations that treat animals the way we want to. We are so grateful to have a head start on this process.
Channeling my inner great plains predator,
John Michael