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From the looks of his cows, his bulls were nothing special. I didn't see any of his cattle that were purebreds. They all looked light for the amount of time they've been on the BLM range, which is not at it's best for the year.
Obviously, Bundy takes much greater care of is melons than his cattle. His melons have an excellent reputation and are, according to what I read, are all certified organic. The cows are just an excuse to get on a horse once in a while.
Range bulls don't cost any more than a couple of good cows. These days, all the best bulls never go to the range.
The prize bulls lead very pampered lives in barns and are never allowed to breed naturally because it is too dangerous to them. They are used as semen factories, and their semen is sold in artificial insemination straws that are used by humans to inseminate the cattle a dozen or so at a time in chutes, one after another.
The process is only done by ranchers who are serious about improving the quality of their herds. Artificial insemination comes with a guarantee a cow will conceive and 'settle' into pregnancy. No conception, no money changes hands. The semen is frozen in nitrogen, so it can be sent any time until a cow conceives.
It's all in the numbers; these days, the very best mother cows, who need not be purebred, are more valuable as surrogate mothers to implanted embryos than bulls, as they produce more consistently viable calves. Cattlemen will pay more for very feminine cows who have good mothering records than for bulls.
Cattle cloning done this way has been going on for decades now, in both meat and dairy cattle.
Range bulls left on their own, like Bundy's, often become become buddies and only breed a few heifers, taking turns, and ignore all the other cows. Half a herd that's fallow can drive a cattleman out of business in a year's time.
A fallow cow is a loss for the year. Deciding to keep a fallow cow is something that must be weighed very carefully. Not so with a bull. A good cow can live to be 10 or more, but a good bull usually doesn't live longer than 4-5 years at most. They aren't allowed to become too old, or too heavy or too lazy.
Responsible cattlemen who use range bulls manage their bulls closely during the breeding season, and bulls have to earn their keep. One who doesn't perform ends up in the same hamburger a steer or a cow does.
A bull's purpose in life begins and ends within about 6-9 weeks. For the rest of the year, he's just a lazy hay burner, so he has to do his job well or he's down the road.
I just have to ask....
Is your stance only animals with a high dollar value deserve to be treated with kindness and respect as much as possible???
So what if Bundy's cattle were NOT prize winners???
So? I agree it's public land. Are you trying to argue that because of that, all 314,000,000 American citizens can go use this land at anytime for any purpose he or she wants?
Is your stance only animals with a high dollar value deserve to be treated with kindness and respect as much as possible???
So what if Bundy's cattle were NOT prize winners???
That means it is OK to abuse them....OMG!!!
Sigh. Animals are put down all the time for various reasons. Theres nothing indicating these were put down inhumanely, but lets be honest, they were put down. I know its not a nice thought, but thats what we do to cattle. This one involved gunfire I suspect due to the situation.
I love steak, and I know that the steak I am eating used to be an animal, and it was in fact killed for my food. If you can't handle the reality of cattle then you should probably be a vegetarian.
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