Road Trippin'

My family recently spent eight days driving across the country visiting relatives and going on college tours. My favorite blonde cowgirl will start her junior year in high school this year. At her dad’s urging, she picked out five schools between Nebraska and North Carolina to visit and meet with pole vault coaches.

I believe in setting things up for success.

2 adults + 4 teenagers across 3326 miles and 12 states with a goal of a low stress family driving experience.

Did we take my husband’s extended cab farm pickup? NOPE! We rented a van!

Being on the road can provide a large source of stress. Not just for humans, but for animals as well. Next to severe weather, riding in a semi-truck trailer or in a stock trailer provides one of the most stressful events in a calf’s life. As cattle caregivers, we know this – so, we try to set our animals up for success when they go road trippin’.

We do this in much the same way that I do as a mom when my family plans to hit the road.

• Cattle caregivers choose a vehicle (usually a cattle semi-truck) that provides a safe driving experience
• Good preventative vehicle care minimizes challenges on the road by limiting breakdowns
• Frequent weather and road construction checks are preformed to choose the best times and routes for travel
• The animals are loaded onto the truck in a planned and orderly manner ensuring appropriate space for travel and animal comfort
• Minimizing time in transit provides a top priority to allow for animal hydration and rest

This year, the Progressive Beef program broadened these five cattle transportation priorities as we worked to achieve our goal of continuously improving our cattle care. We recognize that we can never completely remove stress from our animals’ lives, but we can intentionally work to reduce it. At the same time, we can also teach our animals how to best deal with new situations so that they remain healthy.

Transportation is a necessary part of beef production. At the minimum, every one of our calves will be transported two times during its lifetime.

• Off of the home ranch to the feed yard
• From the feed yard to the packing plant.

It is our job as animal caregivers to do everything within our power to make those experiences the best that they can be. Understanding our animals’ needs and working as a team with our trucker partners helps to ensure that our animals are set up for success.

The Progressive Beef Truck Shipping Evaluation tracks animal caregiver performance and animal experience as our cattle leave our feedyards. Working as a team to provide the best care at the end of life is critical to our integrity as beef farmers. Our animals give the ultimate sacrifice when they arrive at the packing plant – it is vitally important that we honor that gift by providing the best possible experience as our cattle leave their feedyard home and travel to the packing plant. Our monthly shipping evaluations hold us accountable to a high standard of animal care when our animals go road trippin’.

We go the extra mile because integrity is a cornerstone of our business.