Karin, known to BYHers as WildRoseBeef has been a BYH member since February 2009. She will often be found in the Cattle section, sharing her considerable knowledge on cattle husbandry and she also wrote a number of articles on cattle for BYH. Karin kindly agreed to be interviewed for BYH so you all can get to know her a little bit better.
1. Karin, tell us a bit more about yourself, family etc.
I am a farm-girl by birth, probably fourth or fifth generation to both sides of my mother's and father's families. I was born and raised on a mixed farm in the "northern" part of Alberta, Canada with beef steers (those castrated male bovines) and growing barley and canola. Since my father passed on in a tragic farm accident, we have had to give up our cattle and rent out the land to a neighbour instead. I have no family of my own and no boyfriend (yet), but I do spend time with my mother and my brother and his family as much as I can, when I can. My interest in agriculture and livestock stemmed from my first experiences with animals, both in my first days being outdoors and helping out my family working with and feeding our animals. I have taken this interest a bit further and have gone into university to start--and finish--a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the University of Alberta (majoring in Animal Science), specializing in the aspects of cattle (nutrition, genetics and reproduction especially), forage and pasture production, rangeland sciences, and plant sciences including plant identification. I am currently working with the rangeland department of the U of A in a summer job carrying out various duties for studies on cicer milkvetch and carbon of native rangelands. I have had the fortune of seeing different parts of the country within Alberta alone, from the seemingly-flat arid open prairies to the rolling foothills and nearly into the Rocky Mountains, as well as north in the rolling hills of the native aspen parkland. I love the outdoors, love seeing wildlife and the cattle around, and appreciate the value of the native rangelands as they are getting more and more valuable as time goes on.
2. Why and when did you start keeping cattle?
I don't have any cattle yet (I wish I did), but when I do, I hope it's in a time when the market prices are down and some good cows and/or heifers are able to be purchased. Like I said above, I was born into raising cattle, being around cattle before I was born (there's an old picture of my mom pregnant with me being around the steers at home).
Why I want to go into cattle is because I just love it. You have to love it in order to want to get into it, because there's nothing lucrative about being in cattle anymore like folks were fortunate to have way back after the Civil War ended right into the 1920's. I've loved the mixed back of tricks and quirks that we get every year when we get our new batch of steer calves to raise for the year. For me, it was just like calving season: you never know what you'd get until the truck was unloaded, or, in the commercial cow-calf producer's case, 'til they hit the ground. You never knew what kind of nutcases or docile animals you were going to get, LOL!
I've been told that I'm a brave woman to have to want to get into--or back into--agriculture again and raising cattle because, for one, start-up costs are something else, and two, it's quite slow to start up because of both finances and experience. I am completely aware that when one wants to start up something like a cow-calf operation, no matter if it's pure-bred or commercial, that they gotta start small and slow, then work their way up. I know I will never get to where I want to be, but I want to be able to just own cattle and work on my little cow-calf herd until I'm forced to retire or death takes me.
3. Which aspect(s) of cattle raising do you enjoy the most?
Nutrition and genetics. It's always so neat what you can get with a herd of cows when you put them on different rations or see the different responses with different cattle you'd get when you throw them out onto pasture. I also like to meddle a little in what sort of crosses get the best calf, what genetics are best to utilize to get the best (and worst) calves out of a bull, not to mention what bulls are out there that have the potential or lack-there-of for a cow herd.
I also love just being with the animals: interacting with them, seeing and learning their behaviour, training them to come over and eat out of my hand, or just hanging out with them. I also love getting involved in feeding them and switching pastures and seeing the joy on their faces--imaginary or not--when they get a fresh bale of hay or get into some belly-high green grass. Even better, is when I can go out right in the middle of a pasture and have the entire herd come up to greet me and say hello. I've done that a few times with past steer herds, and it just never gets old. I get surrounded by them, their sniffing me, I'm talking softly to them, and we're all relaxed and silently communicating like one human and 60 nine-hundred pound steers can.
4. Which members of your herd, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Most of the ones that stand out for me are past. I had one steer I dubbed "Amigo" who was a spoiled brat of a bottle-fed steer, not afraid of coming up to us and getting a good scratch. He was gentle, despite his size and despite my-then-lack of knowledge/understanding of bovine behaviour and how the bovine "pecking order" works, and smart too. He'd follow me around, have interest in everything I did, and even get his nose in places where it didn't belong in which case where I couldn't coax him out I had to not-all-too regretfully man-handle him out of LOL.
I had another steer who was one of those blonde-white-faced ones who was just so calm and quiet around me that he wasn't afraid to move within arms reach of me without hurting me. He was great, and my favourite of that year's herd.
There are many others, like Whiskeyjack who loved to pose for me every time I had the camera lens on him.
And of course we'd have the occasional bulls too that we'd have to take into the vet to get castrated (they were way too big for us to do on our own). There was a Red Angus staggy steer I remember who was a bit of a stubborn booger at first, but after he was done he calmed right down and was one of the best animals in the herd. So much so that he was graduated to the larger "back herd" (the one herd that got the larger pastures) and kept there because he created no trouble.
One year we had three bulls and a steer with a softball-sized abscess on his shoulder, and Dad hadn't yet had the time to separate them from the herd and take them to the vet. I was home that day from University and decided to take on the duties of separating them myself. All I did was just split the main herd in half (we had 80 head in total), with the bulls and the abscessed steer in one bunch and the others I left be, then worked the cattle until I got all four beasts, two at a time, separated into the working corrals away from the main herd and enough to keep them from making any more trouble for the rest of the animals. The whole thing only took me ten minutes to do (most of the time was spent thinking on and planning out how to do it), and I surprised myself even because I had learned more about handling cattle in university than I thought I knew from my days on the farm, and thought I'd put them into practice just to see what would happen.
5. What was the funniest thing(s) that happened to you in your years as a cattle owner?
I can't really answer this question as a cattle owner because I don't really own cattle--yet. But I've done some stupid things that I don't regret doing in the past. One was riding my bike in the corral, taking a sharp turn in some loose dirt the steers had been rubbing themselves in and turn ing up and ending up with a mouthful of dirt and five steers taking off for the hills. I also remember playing a game of hide-and-seek with a white charolais steer and I'd go around the other side of the manure pile and suddenly we'd both be there--me I'd start and gasp, and the steer looked at me, snorted and took off running down the side, leaving me breathless with laughter. I've been out in the pasture and amongst the cattle--quite close too--with just shorts and open-toed sandals on, and never once got my foot stepped on. I'd also see how full of cow poop I could get my bike when I'd ride on the cow-trails. Apparently the bike got so bad I couldn't even remember what colour it was until I took a hose to it!
6. Beside cattle, what other animals and birds do you keep?
There's just the two farm cats living at home now. They keep awesome company and are always a lovely sight to see when I go home to visit Mom on the weekends. I do wish we'd keep other animals, and I'm hoping maybe I'll have a small herd of goats or sheep and/or some chickens along with my cow herd. But, we'll see when the time comes.
7. What animal do you think you would enjoy raising that you haven't tried yet?
As mentioned, I'd love to dabble a little in goats or sheep. Probably goats moreso, because they're just so much fun and so darn cute.
8. Anything you'd like to add?
As an "agvocate", I just love to see people want to get into raising livestock or want to ask questions about raising livestock, even if they're just one or two bottle babies or a family milk cow. If you can raise your own animals and want to do so, all the power to you.
1. Karin, tell us a bit more about yourself, family etc.
I am a farm-girl by birth, probably fourth or fifth generation to both sides of my mother's and father's families. I was born and raised on a mixed farm in the "northern" part of Alberta, Canada with beef steers (those castrated male bovines) and growing barley and canola. Since my father passed on in a tragic farm accident, we have had to give up our cattle and rent out the land to a neighbour instead. I have no family of my own and no boyfriend (yet), but I do spend time with my mother and my brother and his family as much as I can, when I can. My interest in agriculture and livestock stemmed from my first experiences with animals, both in my first days being outdoors and helping out my family working with and feeding our animals. I have taken this interest a bit further and have gone into university to start--and finish--a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the University of Alberta (majoring in Animal Science), specializing in the aspects of cattle (nutrition, genetics and reproduction especially), forage and pasture production, rangeland sciences, and plant sciences including plant identification. I am currently working with the rangeland department of the U of A in a summer job carrying out various duties for studies on cicer milkvetch and carbon of native rangelands. I have had the fortune of seeing different parts of the country within Alberta alone, from the seemingly-flat arid open prairies to the rolling foothills and nearly into the Rocky Mountains, as well as north in the rolling hills of the native aspen parkland. I love the outdoors, love seeing wildlife and the cattle around, and appreciate the value of the native rangelands as they are getting more and more valuable as time goes on.
2. Why and when did you start keeping cattle?
I don't have any cattle yet (I wish I did), but when I do, I hope it's in a time when the market prices are down and some good cows and/or heifers are able to be purchased. Like I said above, I was born into raising cattle, being around cattle before I was born (there's an old picture of my mom pregnant with me being around the steers at home).
Why I want to go into cattle is because I just love it. You have to love it in order to want to get into it, because there's nothing lucrative about being in cattle anymore like folks were fortunate to have way back after the Civil War ended right into the 1920's. I've loved the mixed back of tricks and quirks that we get every year when we get our new batch of steer calves to raise for the year. For me, it was just like calving season: you never know what you'd get until the truck was unloaded, or, in the commercial cow-calf producer's case, 'til they hit the ground. You never knew what kind of nutcases or docile animals you were going to get, LOL!
I've been told that I'm a brave woman to have to want to get into--or back into--agriculture again and raising cattle because, for one, start-up costs are something else, and two, it's quite slow to start up because of both finances and experience. I am completely aware that when one wants to start up something like a cow-calf operation, no matter if it's pure-bred or commercial, that they gotta start small and slow, then work their way up. I know I will never get to where I want to be, but I want to be able to just own cattle and work on my little cow-calf herd until I'm forced to retire or death takes me.
3. Which aspect(s) of cattle raising do you enjoy the most?
Nutrition and genetics. It's always so neat what you can get with a herd of cows when you put them on different rations or see the different responses with different cattle you'd get when you throw them out onto pasture. I also like to meddle a little in what sort of crosses get the best calf, what genetics are best to utilize to get the best (and worst) calves out of a bull, not to mention what bulls are out there that have the potential or lack-there-of for a cow herd.
I also love just being with the animals: interacting with them, seeing and learning their behaviour, training them to come over and eat out of my hand, or just hanging out with them. I also love getting involved in feeding them and switching pastures and seeing the joy on their faces--imaginary or not--when they get a fresh bale of hay or get into some belly-high green grass. Even better, is when I can go out right in the middle of a pasture and have the entire herd come up to greet me and say hello. I've done that a few times with past steer herds, and it just never gets old. I get surrounded by them, their sniffing me, I'm talking softly to them, and we're all relaxed and silently communicating like one human and 60 nine-hundred pound steers can.
4. Which members of your herd, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Most of the ones that stand out for me are past. I had one steer I dubbed "Amigo" who was a spoiled brat of a bottle-fed steer, not afraid of coming up to us and getting a good scratch. He was gentle, despite his size and despite my-then-lack of knowledge/understanding of bovine behaviour and how the bovine "pecking order" works, and smart too. He'd follow me around, have interest in everything I did, and even get his nose in places where it didn't belong in which case where I couldn't coax him out I had to not-all-too regretfully man-handle him out of LOL.
I had another steer who was one of those blonde-white-faced ones who was just so calm and quiet around me that he wasn't afraid to move within arms reach of me without hurting me. He was great, and my favourite of that year's herd.
There are many others, like Whiskeyjack who loved to pose for me every time I had the camera lens on him.
And of course we'd have the occasional bulls too that we'd have to take into the vet to get castrated (they were way too big for us to do on our own). There was a Red Angus staggy steer I remember who was a bit of a stubborn booger at first, but after he was done he calmed right down and was one of the best animals in the herd. So much so that he was graduated to the larger "back herd" (the one herd that got the larger pastures) and kept there because he created no trouble.
One year we had three bulls and a steer with a softball-sized abscess on his shoulder, and Dad hadn't yet had the time to separate them from the herd and take them to the vet. I was home that day from University and decided to take on the duties of separating them myself. All I did was just split the main herd in half (we had 80 head in total), with the bulls and the abscessed steer in one bunch and the others I left be, then worked the cattle until I got all four beasts, two at a time, separated into the working corrals away from the main herd and enough to keep them from making any more trouble for the rest of the animals. The whole thing only took me ten minutes to do (most of the time was spent thinking on and planning out how to do it), and I surprised myself even because I had learned more about handling cattle in university than I thought I knew from my days on the farm, and thought I'd put them into practice just to see what would happen.
5. What was the funniest thing(s) that happened to you in your years as a cattle owner?
I can't really answer this question as a cattle owner because I don't really own cattle--yet. But I've done some stupid things that I don't regret doing in the past. One was riding my bike in the corral, taking a sharp turn in some loose dirt the steers had been rubbing themselves in and turn ing up and ending up with a mouthful of dirt and five steers taking off for the hills. I also remember playing a game of hide-and-seek with a white charolais steer and I'd go around the other side of the manure pile and suddenly we'd both be there--me I'd start and gasp, and the steer looked at me, snorted and took off running down the side, leaving me breathless with laughter. I've been out in the pasture and amongst the cattle--quite close too--with just shorts and open-toed sandals on, and never once got my foot stepped on. I'd also see how full of cow poop I could get my bike when I'd ride on the cow-trails. Apparently the bike got so bad I couldn't even remember what colour it was until I took a hose to it!
6. Beside cattle, what other animals and birds do you keep?
There's just the two farm cats living at home now. They keep awesome company and are always a lovely sight to see when I go home to visit Mom on the weekends. I do wish we'd keep other animals, and I'm hoping maybe I'll have a small herd of goats or sheep and/or some chickens along with my cow herd. But, we'll see when the time comes.
7. What animal do you think you would enjoy raising that you haven't tried yet?
As mentioned, I'd love to dabble a little in goats or sheep. Probably goats moreso, because they're just so much fun and so darn cute.
8. Anything you'd like to add?
As an "agvocate", I just love to see people want to get into raising livestock or want to ask questions about raising livestock, even if they're just one or two bottle babies or a family milk cow. If you can raise your own animals and want to do so, all the power to you.
But as much as I love beef, I adore raw milk even more. I know there's controversy behind whether or not milk should be pasteurized, but I think the benefits of raw milk are worth the minute risk. We have two local dairies - one of them breeds Jerseys and the other breeds Swiss, and both provide delicious, state-inspected raw milk that makes me very happy, and my lactose-intolerant husband and daughter even happier (they can drink raw milk and have no problems). 
