With Cattle, the More Thins Change, the More It Stays the Same

Obviously, the world of cattle ranching is one that isn’t easily understood, but most of the world relies on beef as one of the staples of their daily diet and it comes from those people who tend to their herds on a daily basis, making sure they are healthy and that, ultimately, their beef makes for a product that is healthy. It is not an easy job and since the world eats so much beef, the market is high and can pay off in a big way if it is done correctly. The goal for the cattle rancher is to get the highest production possible while keeping overhead to a minimum, so new techniques are always being introduced to the cattle ranching business.

The cattle ranching business has certainly changed over time. It is no longer operated by cowboys roaming the Midwest searching for quantity over quality. The business is a real business and newcomers have a lot to learn. People will always be eating beef and it is up to the cattle ranchers to produce quality beef at a high rate. It isn’t easy, but at least the policies that have been put into place by the United State government has made it much more safe and made the quality of beef better and more healthy.

What does the future hold for the cattle ranching business? It will be interesting as Americans and the rest of the world try to eliminate red meat more and more and organic cattle ranchers are claiming a larger stake of the business, but eating beef will continue and there’s no doubt about that. As long as policies are in place and regulations continue, the quality of beef will remain up to standard.

 As far as the ranchers themselves, it is a way of life that can’t be changed too much from the way it used to be more than 100 years ago. Technology and data collection has changed things, but cattle is still cattle and as cattle ranchers continue to live off the land, things aren’t going to change very much.

 The romantic notion of living on the range is outdated, but it is still a way of life. Drive across the plains of the Midwest and you can still see cattle grazing in the open just as they did a hundred years ago. The beef industry hasn’t changed as much as you might think despite the changes in breeding and tending to health issues among the herd. The techniques may change but beef and the cattle that produce it will always be the same.

Jeff Berlinicke