View from Ute Trail - Click for a larger version
This post is especially for my friend, Mike Little, who lives in Virginia but dreams of Colorado and the mountains. I thought of him all day on our hike, especially when we ran into another Mike along the way. To both of the Mikes, next time we’ll hike down the hill, Peter can hike up and we’ll swap keys half way! (more…)
Montana heifer reaches out for a thistle
This summer I learned that cows do recognize the differences between people, and that this can change how excited they are to come to the feeding tubs during training.
I worked on two different projects this summer that involved different people feeding trainees over the course of the training process. In Montana, where over 50 heifers were learning to eat Canada thistle, different volunteers came in on 3 of the 4 days. In Alberta, Canada, the wife and kids fed them at first, and then the husband took over to finish the training off. In both cases, trainees still came to the tubs, but they didn’t do it with the normal enthusiasm I’ve come to expect. (more…)
What some of my summer looked like
I’ve been on the road a lot this summer with projects in Oregon, Montana, Utah and Colorado and presentations in Colorado and Canada. I’ve met lots of people, many of them in airports. Since I’m always loaded down with a pack and cameras, they tend to ask me what I’m headed out to do. Here’s a typical conversation:
Kathy: “I teach cows to eat weeds.”
Man in Cowboy Hat: (Laughs, gives me the “are you crazy?!” look) Huh! How’s THAT working for you?
Kathy: “Pretty well, really. I’ve taught over 1000 animals to eat a lot of our most problematic weeds, and those animals teach their calves and herd mates, so there are lots of cows eating weeds now. It’s a lot cheaper than herbicide and the cows do well on weeds.”
Man: “You’re kidding me!” (more…)
Carol and Alfred Dunten's cows ran to the far end of the pasture and away from the tubs on the first day of training. By day 4 they ran to the feeding site.
One of the videos I use in my presentations shows my 2007 Boulder County trainees running across a 500 acre pasture to their tubs beginning on the third day of training. The video shows 8 days of the training process in action and I’ve always enjoyed showing the cows running because the audience smiles every time they see the cows galloping along. But just because your cows don’t run, doesn’t necessarily mean that something is wrong. (more…)
