Because of the drought, we are relocating all of the mature cows at PCC Headquarters – with the exception of a few old teenage cows. At this point, we hope to hold on to our bred heifers and heifer calves. We are sending our cows to four different PCC cooperative herds – three in Nebraska and one in North Dakota. These cows will be loaded on trucks tonight and tomorrow morning.
This brings back some memories of the first 12 years of the 21st century – some good memories and some sad memories. Relocating cows that were born and raised on the homeplace is somewhat akin to having a family member leave home for an extended period of time. It can be emotional. If you’re not careful, this kind of experience can bring about feelings of depression. Many of our subscribers know what I’m talking about.
Good from Bad… Several of our cooperative herds were started when we were forced to relocate cows. In most cases, Pharo Cattle Company would take the top end of the bull calves and develop them for the next bull sale. The future cooperative producer would take the top end of the heifer calves and created his own PCC cowherd. Within a few years the cooperative producer had bulls of his own that could be sold in a PCC bull sale.
There were a few years it was so dry in eastern Colorado we didn’t have enough grass to develop our sale bulls. This forced us to put them on irrigated circles of Bermuda grass in southwest Kansas. You do what you have to do. Those were tough years for us! Even so, Pharo Cattle Company grew more during those tough times than we ever did during the good times. You gotta make lemonade out of the lemons life hands you!
Not always easy… Sometimes, however, it isn’t easy to make the lemonade. More than once, our cow relocations did not work out. The remaining cows would have to be relocated again or returned home. Earlier this week, I looked back at a 2006 PCC Update. In it, I jokingly said, “Some of my cows have traveled more miles and visited more states than most of my neighbors.” Still true!