Farming on the Great Plains
By Monty Daniel
On a bitterly cold, snowy Thursday, I found myself with a group of experienced environmental journalists looking at cows. I started to question what exactly I had gotten myself into when these journalists showed up with notebooks prepped with questions and minds racing with story ideas. With my (very limited) experience in environmental journalism, I thought I was going to be fed to the wolves. But what I ended up learning was that these are incredibly open, caring people, just begging for more young journalists to come in and pick up the trade. On this tour, we visited Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, La Luna Dairy and the CSU Slaughterhouse, with each bringing a new concept of what it means to farm on the great plains.
Cattle Farming
With an inventory of 90,000 head of cattle, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, in association with JBS, strives to keep each and every cow well kept and comfortable. At the Kuner feedlot, 60 employees care for the cattle, including feeding, watering and cleaning for them.
Tony Bryant leads the cattle nutrition unit, explaining how they step the cattle up to a "more concentrated diet" over time, meaning incorporating locally-sourced grains into the mix. Additionally, they provide bakery and cheese waste from Greeley into their diet and are looking into hemp as animal feed.
They have a stepped schedule for their grain blend, starting it off with a 35 percent steam flaked corn, 25 percent corn silage, 25 percent hay, 10 percent liquid and 5 percent dried distiller's grain mix. By the time they get to their finisher ration, 60 percent of the mix has become steam flaked corn, bringing the hay amount down to zero.
As part of the Aspen Ridge Natural Program, which they have been participating with since 2011 and is HFAC certified, they use no hormones, antibiotics or animal by-products. Under this program, all animals with health concerns are treated, go through therapy and are removed from the program.
Bryant said "we try to minimize all the stress we can on the cattle." They do this by catering to cattle comfort, especially drainage and moisture. Making certain there are less cows per pen in the winter to cut down on moisture levels and providing free choice of water anytime they need it are a few ways Five Rivers caters to cattle comfort. They also keep the lot at a slight slope with room for retention ponds used not just for drainage, but also irrigation and water recycling. Last year, they recycled 65 million gallons of water. On top of that, they use the excess water for dust control every 60 days to further ensure the comfort of the cattle.
Sarah Place works with Five Rivers to do life cycle assessment research and diving into the changes in the U.S. beef industry in the last 30 years. She says "What works here in Colorado might be different than what works in the Eastern U.S." Seeing as though 20 percent of the world's beef is produced in the U.S., finding out, through genetics and nutrition, the best way to maintain a healthy range of cattle is more important than ever.
Five Rivers
CATTLE FEEDING
Dairy Farming
A quaint dairy farm in Wellington, Colorado, La Luna Dairy has been operating since 1981. They own over 1,400 cows who are milked an average of three times per day.
With a staff of 30 employees, La Luna Dairy milks around 200 cows per hour. They use machines that the cow can walk into at any point, where the machine will be manually put onto the cow and turn off automatically after an hour. Dairy producers have been known to be giant adopters of technology, La Luna Dairy included.
After the milk is collected, it is put into a system where the milk is chilled to 35 degrees within one minute in order to prevent bacteria from forming.
When it comes to raising calves, the transition period is the most important time for them, seeing as though during this time they are the most susceptible to disease. They prevent this by taking extra, individual care to the babies and providing them with pasteurized milk to help them become stronger.
Farmer Profile: Jon Slutsky & Susan Moore
Not previously having experience in dairy farming, Jon Slutsky and Susan Moore decided to start La Luna Dairy in 1981. When they embarked on this journey, they had a decent amount of competition in Colorado. In 1981, there were around 400 dairies in Colorado alone, fast forward to today where you only find closer to 100 left. "Smaller dairies are fading fast," said Moore. In this struggling dairy market, it's difficult to find workers who are dedicated and willing to work on dairy farms. Working long days around cattle isn't the work that everyone is striving for. Most of the employees that Jon and Susan find are undocumented workers.
"It's the people that make the cows" - Jon Slutsky
Left: Jon Slutsky
Right: Susan Moore
A large majority of dairy workers in the west are undocumented, with Susan and Jon making certain to provide jobs for those undocumented people. Susan is particularly huge on rights for immigrants and will do everything in her power to provide for her workers.
Slaughterhouse
This year, Colorado State University built a functional slaughterhouse on campus. Despite the mixed feedback it has received, in this podcast, Shawn Marrow and Frank Garry explain the significance of the facility.