Author: Luke

Many people these days are concerned about how hormones are used in livestock production, both in dairy and beef.  It's an understandable concern.  We all want to give our families the healthiest food we can.  It seems to me that the hormone controversy is missing some key information that is needed to make an educated decision on the consumer's part.

I guess this is what tofu looks like, not that I know.

When hormones and food are talked about, it is most always in relation to beef or dairy.  Have you ever heard of hormones in fruits and vegetables?  No?  Do a Google search on hormones in soybeans.  Or look up "estrogen in sweet potatoes."   There are many foods other than meat and dairy that contain levels of hormones, often times at much higher levels than the hamburger you grabbed at the drive-thru.  It is difficult to find data on actual levels of hormones in a given food, but let's do a little experiment.  Estrogen is one of the most commonly-used hormones given to beef cattle to increase performance.  A web search for "foods high in estrogen" ought to have beef nearly leaping off the screen, right?  In fact, it doesn't even make any of the lists I looked at.  That's strange, don't you think?  Maybe the hormone levels in beef really aren't as high as they are made out to be.

For sale: Non-hormone-treated beef?
(yes, those are what you think they are!)

For those who want beef, but have been convinced that hormones are the devil, non-hormone treated beef, such as organic, has been recommended.  If that's what you want, more power to you.  I have sold some non-hormone treated cattle myself.  Every year in fact, even before it was popular.  They are called "bulls."  Now, which do you suppose has higher levels of hormones, an entact bull (that means he has testicles) or a steer (testicles removed) with two small time-released hormone capsules in his ear for the last 100-150 days of his life?  In case you are having trouble, the answer is A.  And it isn't even close.  Trust me on this one.  

Would you think twice about eating a hamburger if you were told it came from a bull?  Probably not.  

A cartridge of Ralgro, a commonly-used beef cattle implant.  Each of the capsules contains one dose and is inserted under the skin on the backside of the animal's ear.

There certainly is some confusion about how hormones in our food affect the body.  Do your own research.  Just be sure to check both sides of the issue.  If someone brings up hormone-treated beef as being bad, ask them what they know about hormones in their tofu.  "Hormone-free" anything is a misleading label.  Everything has hormones, and that is not always a bad thing.

Here's a few other articles about hormones in beef:
Hormones in cows and what it means for your health – Fox News
Hormones in your food – should you worry?  – Huffington Post
Steriod Hormone Implants Used For Growth in Food-Producing Animals – FDA 
Beef Myths – Growth Hormones in Cattle

This winter, Lazy TV Ranch of Selby, SD interviewed Dad and I for a story they printed in their sale flier.  Many of the cows we have today are daughters of bulls we've purchased from them over the years.  Their Gelbveih and Balancer genetics are our choice going forward for our terminal cross.  They're good friends of ours and it was a privilege to be featured in their sale flier.  Here is a link to the article if it's too small to see below.  The Lazy TV Ranch website can be found here.

 

After my last post, I started thinking about other places around the ranch that we repurpose things. This morning as I did chores, I snapped some photos of a few more.

 Almost every part of the fence in this photo is repurposed. The pipe used to construct the fence on the left was used in the oil fields. The fence on the right is guardrail, the same as you see along the highway.  The tall poles spent the first 60 years of their career holding up power lines.  And of course, the railroad ties holding up the fence I've already explained in my last post.

 

The sheets of galvanized steel used to construct this windbreak came off an old building that was torn down.  The poles that support it are old power line poles also.  The windbreak serves to protect the cattle from the sub-zero windchills that we often see in winter.

 

Another use for old tires – salt feeders.  Cattle, unlike humans, seem to regulate their salt intake quite well.  In fact, their diet of grass or hay is often short on salt, so we offer it free-choice in these tire feeders.  This tire in particular probably came off the front of a tractor and was turned inside-out, which is why it looks so funny.  We probably have 20 or 30 of these feeders scattered throughout the ranch.  In addition to tires, we also have made salt feeders out of a bathtub and a urinal – but they aren't in the yard, so no photos today.

 

Speaking of urinals, this old outhouse serves as a storage shed for some cattle-working tools, such as sorting sticks and branding irons.  Don't worry, this isn't the original site – there's no hole in the floor.

 

One is obvious – the buckets.  This is probably the most coveted of repurposed items a farmer or rancher can obtain.  It almost seems like a crime to see one in the ditch and not stop to pick it up.  Here we're using them to deliver grain to the calves, but they are also used for a hundred other jobs as well – cleaning out water tanks, carrying fence clips, a place to sit, hauling water to random animals in the barnyard…I could go on and on.  The second repurposed item here is what we put in these buckets.  Dried distillers grain is a by-product of ethanol, so I think that qualifies.  About 25% of the grain in the pile is distillers grain.

 

Every farm or ranch has at least one coffee can full of rusty, bent, used nails waiting to be straightened and pounded into the next building or repair project, which will probably involve salvaged lumber from the last generation's building project.  You see, repurposing isn't a new idea for those of us who work close to nature.   Perhaps it is because we have observed nature enough to see that she doesn't waste anything either.