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A healthy and strong calf now.

Our family has been in the cattle business for decades.  We depend on them for our livelihood; we are not hobbyists.  Therefore, the welfare of our herd is extremely important to us.  This is one of the reasons that the grass fed business was such a good fit for us.  The grass fed beef business encourages cattle to live in the most natural state with the least amount of intervention.

We are concerned about the overuse of antibiotics in the meat business.  In our opinion, it is not the best policy for the cattle or for consumers.  The overuse of antibiotics can lead to the development of super-bugs and resistant strains of bacteria. 

However, antibiotics can be beneficial when a cow or calf is sick for whatever reason.  Recently we had a heifer give birth to her first calf.  It was apparently a hard birth and the calf did not have much energy when we found it.  The mother had cleaned it up, but the calf had not nursed. 

Unlike humans, calves have to nurse within the first four hours of its birth in order to receive the necessary antibodies from the colostrum to survive.  Without the colostrum, the baby calf will die regardless of what you do.  The clock was ticking on the life of this little heifer calf. 

We tried to encourage it to stand up and nurse on its own, but to no use.  It could not even stand on its own long legs.  It was extremely weak. 

I backed the ranch truck up to the cow/calf pair.  My husband lifted the baby in its arms and sat with it on the tailgate while the mama cow followed us to the pens.  Regardless of how docile a cow is, she can be very protective of her calf.   Luckily, this particular cow seemed to understand that we were trying to help.

We got her down the chute.  My husband tried to hold the calf up to nurse, but it was too weak.  Instead, Lane milked the cow and poured the life-giving colostrum into an esophageal feeder, which delivers the liquid straight into the stomach.  After releasing the mama cow from the chute, we gave her plenty of fresh water and hay. 

My husband also gave the calf an antibiotic to ward off any possible infection.  Pneumonia can develop especially when the animal does not get up on its own, but just lies down.  Even though administering the antibiotic meant that we could not sell this calf as grass fed beef, we felt it was necessary for the calf’s welfare. 

The next morning Lane put the cow back in the chute, but this time the calf was able to stand with support.  We watched with joy as the little heifer nursed from each teat with its tail wagging.  We repeated the nursing session again later that day; however, she was still too weak to stay standing long on her own. 

The next morning she was more strong and needed less support from my husband.  His back was grateful.  We watched the calf take a few steps on its own.  Its legs were shaky.  In fact she reminded me Bambi in the animated Disney film.  To our amazement, that evening she was nursing on her own.  We could her gulps of milk going down her throat and a foamy white mustache covered her mouth. 

We kept the calf with her mother for a week watching her get stronger every day.  With great pleasure, we released them both to join the rest of the herd again.  Watching her trot alongside her mother through the pasture, you would never guess that she had such a rough beginning. 

Quick intervention on our part saved the calf.  By ensuring the calf received colostrum and necessary antibiotics, we saved her life.  She is out of our grass fed beef rotation, but we have other options.  We can keep her in the herd.  We can sell her as a show heifer.  We can sell her to another ranch as breeding stock.  In the end, the welfare of our herd is more important.

For many years it has been customary for farmers to give their livestock antibiotics regardless of the health of the animal.  Proponents argue that antibiotics promote growth and prevent disease, which in turn creates cheaper meat.  They insist that this is good for the consumer.  Whether you agree or not, most farmers do not have a choice in the matter.  Antibiotics are included in most feed on which both big-scale and small-scale farmers depend.  Therefore most of the meat in the United States has traces of antibiotics.

A few weeks ago on “Oprah,” she interviewed Michael Pollan.  I showed a portion of the show which included a Food IQ Quiz in an article called “Food, Inc.“  According to this quiz the amount of antibiotics administered to livestock was staggering.  It was 28 million pounds of antibiotics a year.  These antibiotics are given to healthy and sick market animals.  These are animals being raised for meat.

After years of being exposed to antibiotic-laden meat, doctors and health officials are beginning to see a correlation with antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.  Denmark is one of the first nations to discontinue the widespread administration of antibiotics in all of its farm animals.  Of course, farmers can give medicine to sick animals.  Katie Couric recently reported about antibiotic-free animals.  Watch the report for more information.

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As I watched the report, I was very disappointed with the woman representing the National Pork Board.  She was convinced in spite of the evidence of success in Denmark that reducing the amount of antibiotics would hurt the American consumer.  Change is hard for some people, but I believe that soon there will be a huge change in the way that farmers conduct their business and raise their animals.  I hope that it will be a move back to the way our great-grandparents raised food.

Years ago some farmers went against the grain like Applegate Farms (mentioned in the news report) and Cross Creek Cattle Company.  We do not give our animals antibiotics.  If one animal should become ill, then they are immediately separated and treated in a humane manner.  We follow the veterinarian’s instructions and restore the animal’s health.  However, we also remove the animal from the grass fed beef program.

We will not sell a cow that has been treated with antibiotics, growth hormones, and/or steroids for human consumption in our all-natural, grass fed program.  We do not have many problems with sick cows.  In fact I cannot remember the last time that an antibiotic had to be administered to any in our herd.  We provide ample room for grazing, good quality hay, great pastures of grass, and clean drinking water.  We consider these things preventive medicine.

Since we do not feed the cattle grain, then we do not have to worry about antibiotics being delivered to our animals in feed.  Eating grass fed beef from Cross Creek Cattle Company is safe.  No need to worry.  Our reputation depends on it.  We will not sell meat that we would not serve in our own homes.  Therefore, there are no antibiotics in our meat supply.