Where are the cattle

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

Why is it I never hear of a feral hog problem in Iowa, or the Midwest, or anywhere it gets cold? I also never hear about hog problems in Europe and Asia which is where the said hogs are originally from. Like China has a lot of pork, but you never hear about a feral hog issue in China.

Geography of flat open areas makes it wayyyy easier to shoot feral hogs. China's wild areas are more like desert-ish.

Feral hogs are wayyy more of a problem in swampy, marshy etc. land.

Here is a youtube video from austraila.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTd6psyQZx0

[Mathguy]

https://agriculture.ks.gov/docs/defa...sn=143c80c1_20

There are 2-3x as many cows in KS than people.

About 6.5 mil cows vs. 2+ mil people.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I just drove across I-70 this week and saw literally thousands and thousands of cattle as well as hundreds of massive grain silos.

You clearly missed the gather points or were just not paying close attention on a long drive. They do not close highways. They gather them and ship them by rail or truck but keep in mind that mostly they have processing facilities close by as it costs money to move cows etc.

You have to realize that many of those grazing farms are MASSIVE and may not even be owned by the people in those houses (anymore).

The days of "Bonanza" are long past. People living in my grandparents farm house do not own any of the surrounding farm land like in days past.

I did not drive all the way across Kansas to Denver. I stopped in KC, and only drove around Flint Hills, up to Lincoln, and back down to Emporia.

[ThornyLocust]

If you were pass between KC and wichita on hwy 35 or 335, or 50/56, you would pass through the heart of flint hills grassland, but you would not see many cattle out on pasture in winter. In winter, this grassland grows dormant and loses most nutrient value. Prime season, the cattle come out to pasture May 1 after an Aapril 1- 15 pasture burn. The grass-burn controls tree and brush growth and the fresh short grass comes up like green velvet.

Before white settlement and roads and fences every mile, the grasslands burned anyways at random in patches at random times from extreme lightening and thunderstorms, and bison were the native animals. Some bison herds are being raised again by some ranchers, and the meat is available at local markets and processors. You can walk pasture all year round and see a real live bison herd at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, a national parkland near Strong City.

Most cow-calf get onto pasture for 6 to 9 months, but winter is not when they are left out on pasture, they are brought home to the herd owner’s feedlot for feeding calving around winter. You won’tbsee much of that activity from the main roads.

Big cattle drives on roads are near-obsolete, but occur short spans of a mile or a few on local dirt roads when you drive them some place close to pasture. Large ranches in the flint hills drive cattle to get to-from loading pens, but that is across private land that you won’t see from the road except a week in may or August or October. Elsewise, they get loaded onto semi-trailers that hold 50 or 60 mature steers (neutered males) and they are headed for feedlot then slaughter, in Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal KS. And those that go to the feedlot are a year or 18 months old, to be bulked up quick at the big feedlots. I suppose some train transport is possible but no one I know can reserve train cars, trucks are the way it’s done. If you are multinational Cargill or ADM or JBS you can access train transport.

Some of the native grass may get set aside as a “hay meadow,” cut once around august into big round bales. The bales are saved for those feeding their own cattle in winter. Some folks just own cattle for six months, buy in winter, set in grass spring and summer on leased pasture, and by fall they are sold off to the feedlot.

Sounds like you were in eastern-central KS, which is completely different than western KS, and there is a big variance in the state from north to south. Crops are corn soybean, wheat. Yes and sunflower, maybe sorghum-milo. A lot of producers take grain direct to an elevator, to save the cost and loss-risk of on-farm storage that you must maintain and operate on your own. Again, the multinationals Cargill or ADM or Bunge dominate, they own the grain market here and their price sets the price: unless younwantbto send semi truck loads to… chicago, or nebraska. CoOps just end up selling to the multinationals. Not many places to take organics, either, so, large truck shipping costs there.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by ThornyLocust

If you were pass between KC and wichita on hwy 35 or 335, or 50/56, you would pass through the heart of flint hills grassland, but you would not see many cattle out on pasture in winter. In winter, this grassland grows dormant and loses most nutrient value. Prime season, the cattle come out to pasture May 1 after an Aapril 1- 15 pasture burn. The grass-burn controls tree and brush growth and the fresh short grass comes up like green velvet.

Before white settlement and roads and fences every mile, the grasslands burned anyways at random in patches at random times from extreme lightening and thunderstorms, and bison were the native animals. Some bison herds are being raised again by some ranchers, and the meat is available at local markets and processors. You can walk pasture all year round and see a real live bison herd at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, a national parkland near Strong City.

Most cow-calf get onto pasture for 6 to 9 months, but winter is not when they are left out on pasture, they are brought home to the herd owner’s feedlot for feeding calving around winter. You won’tbsee much of that activity from the main roads.

Big cattle drives on roads are near-obsolete, but occur short spans of a mile or a few on local dirt roads when you drive them some place close to pasture. Large ranches in the flint hills drive cattle to get to-from loading pens, but that is across private land that you won’t see from the road except a week in may or August or October. Elsewise, they get loaded onto semi-trailers that hold 50 or 60 mature steers (neutered males) and they are headed for feedlot then slaughter, in Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal KS. And those that go to the feedlot are a year or 18 months old, to be bulked up quick at the big feedlots. I suppose some train transport is possible but no one I know can reserve train cars, trucks are the way it’s done. If you are multinational Cargill or ADM or JBS you can access train transport.

Some of the native grass may get set aside as a “hay meadow,” cut once around august into big round bales. The bales are saved for those feeding their own cattle in winter. Some folks just own cattle for six months, buy in winter, set in grass spring and summer on leased pasture, and by fall they are sold off to the feedlot.

Sounds like you were in eastern-central KS, which is completely different than western KS, and there is a big variance in the state from north to south. Crops are corn soybean, wheat. Yes and sunflower, maybe sorghum-milo. A lot of producers take grain direct to an elevator, to save the cost and loss-risk of on-farm storage that you must maintain and operate on your own. Again, the multinationals Cargill or ADM or Bunge dominate, they own the grain market here and their price sets the price: unless younwantbto send semi truck loads to… chicago, or nebraska. CoOps just end up selling to the multinationals. Not many places to take organics, either, so, large truck shipping costs there.

Yes I around eastern KS, but more north around KC. Furtherest south I got was a small town called Ottawa. I was surprised to see a town named Ottawa in KS.

[BabyBoomers2]

In August 2022, we were headed to Dodge City from northern Colorado. Heading east out of Pueblo, CO, on the 50, we drove by many large Feedlots and large numbers of cattle. Also, a lot of corn fields and farm equipment. We were headed to a PRCA rodeo in Dodge City. Wife and I loved the scenery, but then again, we love seeing Feedlots, cattle/livestock and farm equipment. Not only did I grow up (high school years) on a hog farm in northeastern Indiana, I also participated (weekends only) in professional rodeo for a number of years.

The sight, the smell.......like I said "loved it".