Raising Cattle Across America

Raising Cattle across America

Cattle are being produced all across the United States. From Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from California to the Atlantic Ocean there are several thousand head of cattle being raised. However these cattle are all being raised the some way or under the same conditions. Ranchers in the north have to deal with snow and ice while the southern ranchers are dealing with mud, water, and, mosquitoes. The people raising cattle in the Midwest are faced with droughts and having to keep their crops and cattle watered.

Raising cattle in the northern part of the United States is more than just raising cattle and being cold while you do it. Keeping your cattle with fresh water, feed, and, hay is sometimes a task anywhere in the country much less when you have to deal with temperatures that are twenty degrees below zero. When it is this cold outside your cattle do not have fresh water until you go and break the five to ten inches of ice on top of their water trough. Feeding your herd also creates problems. When you get the hay for your herd to make it through the winter it can not be just any hay. You have to send your hay to a laboratory to get it tested. By having your hay tested this tells you if your hay has enough protein for your cattle to make it through the harsh winters. "We've had cattle starve to death with full bellies" says Paul Walker, extension livestock agent of Alamance County, North Carolina. "They received plenty of hay but it was not enough to meet their nutritional needs." The hay you feed needs to be at least nine to fourteen percent protein. The higher the protein the better the hay is and the better the hay you feed the better your cows will be.

Just below the extreme northern part of the country is where droughts are a big problem. Most people often think of droughts and think it is just a lack of drinking water. Droughts cause more problems than lack of drinking water. Plants need three things to grow and water is one of them so without any water you don't have any grass. This has caused dome ranchers to have to sell some or their entire herd to meet financial needs