So God Made a Farmer

So God made a farmer...

He needed a man with tender hands and a loving hard.  He needed a man with the drive to feed the world.  He needed a man to raise a family who loves and honors the Lord.  He needed someone who works 80 hours a week all while having a cold.  He needed someone who loved their spouse and children everyday until death.  So he made a Farmer... I can't think of a better way to portray our lifestyle.  Thank you Dodge!

So God Made a Farmer

Meatless Monday

It has come to my attention that Meatless Monday is being portrayed as a benefit to both your health and the environment. Unfortunately, that is incorrect.

VIV magazine claims that if you cut meat out of your diet one day per week, you can lose weight and become healthier overnight. I wish that was true. It would be nice to find a solution that easy for all of us who have struggled with weight issues.  

Personally, I have lost 50 pounds in just more than 18 months by eating red meat every day. Zinc, iron and protein are all found in red meat and often are key ingredients missing from our diets. Don’t forget that red meat also contains essential amino acids and vitamin A. The list goes on. 

Did you know that, while three ounces of lean beef has 180 calories, in order to get the same amount of protein you must eat seven tablespoons of peanut butter, which has more than 600 calories? I challenge you, instead of Meatless Monday, make it Meatful Monday but pick healthier, lean cuts. I bet you will see a healthy you in the near future. 

Yes, the environment and global warming has us all concerned, but following Meatless Monday is not the way to rectify this alarming situation. According to Jude Capper, of the Washington State University Department of Animal Sciences,“The Environmental Working Group claims that national carbon emissions would be reduced by 4.5 percent if everyone in the U.S. chose a vegetarian diet. This is an impressive achievement, given that the Environmental Protection Agency cites livestock production (including poultry and horses) as accounting for only 3.1 percent of total U.S. emissions.”

Let’s do the math based on the EPA numbers. The EWG report focuses on the impact of red meat and dairy, so if we remove poultry and horses from the EPA’s 3.1-percent figure, we get a total red meat and dairy impact of 3.05 percent. Divide that by seven, and the impact of one meatless day per week is equal to 0.44 percent of the U.S. carbon footprint — and that’s assuming that the U.S. population of 311 million people all adopt this lifestyle change. 

It’s a tiny fraction of the impact that we can make on the national carbon footprint. So maybe on Monday, walk or carpool to work. Not only will you be healthier and happier, but it’s better for the environment. 

My first Ag memory!

Its hard to pin point exactly the moment when agriculture became a huge part of my life but I roughly remember! I do remember being very young when my parents got lambs and calves for us to feed. 

 After a while my dad quit outfitting and started trading cattle, and my first real memory is when I was about 5 years old.   My father, a cattle buyer, would load most of his trucks in Livingston, Montana. I was a daddy's girl, well as a matter of fact I still am, so I went with him every chance I got. He would weigh and sort calves all day.  One fall day stands out in my mind, it was exceptionally cold and I sat inside the scale room, eating donuts and drinking hot coco all day.  I was old enough to get into trouble but not old enough to be much help! 

One day a neighbor, to the scales, stopped by and asked if my dad needed help, he said sure. Soon enough, I learned that Paul Brence had 2 girls at home roughly my age. From then on, trips to Livingston included seeing my best friends. I am proud to say 15 years later, we are still friends and one of them is my roommate. My early memories of Ag, not only include quality time with my father but they gave me friends for life. I am one lucky girl to be raised in an Ag community for the last 20 years!

My love for ranching and agriculture can be dedicated to these two girls and their wonderful parents.  I didn't come from a ranch myself and yet, year after year I would go to their ranch for the summer and learn the valve of hard work.  These girls are still two of my best friends and I cannot thank them enough for all the things they have taught me! 

Animal Welfare

Animal Welfare- A topic that production ag fights every day.  Well just yesterday, the coolest thing happened in my life.  Let me set up the day for you; I stayed at cow camp with my dad and grandma Friday night after my brothers basketball game.  On Saturday morning I was awaken by my favorite 5 year old, Olivia.  She was there to ride her horse and help us sort calves.  We were planning to preg check heifers, so she had asked if she could come ride and help us.  Tanner, her dad, had brought her old mare and they were ready for a fun morning.  Jacob, my older brother, and I went out to saddle our horses and dad headed to feed.  After saddling, Jacob went with Tanner and Olivia, and I stayed and ran gates for my dad for a while.  

I was standing at the main gate and Olivia rode over to me and said, “Miss Karoline, guess what?  There is a calf out there that is going to die.”  I looked at her dad and he didn’t say anything, then I looked way out in the pasture and sure enough there was a calf down.  Now you have to understand, we have about 500 young calves that we run on summer grass and calves often get sick, it seems like we are doctoring almost everyday.   I said, “How sad Livi!” and she replied, “Well don’t worry, it will go to heaven with all the other cows.”  At that moment I couldn’t help but laugh and smile a little. 

While this conversation was going on, my brother had loped to the barn and back to the calf with medicine, I pointed that out to Livi and she was quick to say, “Yes Mr. Jacob is riding fast to take care of the calf and make it feel all better.”  

'Out of the mouths of babes,' if a 5 year old can understand how much we care about our animals, then I hope the world can too!  I can assure you that the rest of the day, she watched that calf like a hawk and by the end of the day it was sitting up and feeling better.  We care about each and every calf, and we “ride fast” to take care of them.  

Spending the day with Olivia brightens my life, not only because she is so passionate about animals, but because she really makes me think about each and every action.  She isn’t shy and she asks tough questions, but she knows that we love our animals, our jobs, and she even teared up a little when it was time to leave.  Our family's passion for production ag is being passed down to the next generation one Saturday at a time.

Take time to ask questions, we have nothing to hide. 

National Cattlemen's Convention

Hey!


Its Super Bowl Sunday and I am wondering who you are cheering for? I am not much of a football fan but love watching the commercials!  I wonder if there will be any beef commercials.  John and I are currently sitting in the Nashville airport headed home from National Cattlemen's Conventions.  We had a blast, made lots of contact, and learn about the issues facing the cattle industry today.  If you aren't a member of NCBA, I suggest you join.  They fight for cattlemen in Washington D.C and give us a voice to fight HSUS and  PETA.  Here is a link to join if you are interested!

https://www.beefusa.org/join.aspx

While we were in Nashville, we got to enjoy a night at the Grand Ole Opry!  It was a private party for the Cattlemen and featured Charlie Pride, Josh Turner, and Eden's Edge.  Also while we were there we heard from a Navy SEAL about his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.  What an amazing young man, he spoke about living life to the fullest and always doing your very best.  He has a book for sale, " Lone Survivor"  Here is the website to order the book!
http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Survivor-Eyewitness-Account-Operation/dp/0316067598

There were many meeting about the resolutions that NCBA supports. Here is a link to the major issues the NCBA will fight for in 2012! http://www.beefusa.org/2012ncbapolicypriorities.aspx

I urge you to check out the website and their facebook page.  The Convention was both fun and educational and I hope to see you there next year!

Have a great Sunday!
Karoline!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rose-Cattle-Company/198466533540626

Summer Time in January

Hi!

How is everything in your part of the country?  Things here in Montana are warm and very busy. I took a break today from paperwork to go for a quick walk.  The sun is shining and its over 40 degrees out.  Nothing like our typical January.  I am not complaining though and for those of you that are calving, you are lucky!  I bet in March, when I start to calve, it will be cold and miserable.  Let me give you a little update on the Rose Family and then I will tell you about my new project!

John-Still working away, the sales have started to slow down so he can spend more time around the new place fixing fence , etc.  His dogs are working really well and we have had serval people ask for puppies so they may be in the future.  My dad and I headed down to Vegas for the NFR in December and had a blast :)

Jacob and Kelsey-They are busy working for our company, also fixing fence and moving cattle around. Jake is busy training colt, if you need a colt ridden don't hesitate to get ahold of us.   Kelsey recently took up a part time job at the Sale barn and they are excited for their upcoming honeymoon in February.

Jackson-He is playing high school basketball and playing on the varsity team.  He is busy working and with school but lends a hand whenever possible.  Check out his action shots! http://rogerrichardson.smugmug.com/Sports/vsManhattanTigers/20938857_NRSFfZ#!i=1663387232&k=FFBPnTt&lb=1&s=A

I have been busy working over the Christmas break and school starts on Wednesday.  I am not sure if I am ready or not but it will be nice to see all my friends again.  Jane'a Elkhe, Lauren Chase, and I have decided to start collegiate Stockgrowers at MSU. Our first meeting will be Wednesday the 18th at 7 pm in the new Animal Science building on campus!  Please come we would love to have you!

http://www.facebook.com/Collegiate.Stockgrowers.MSU  Please like our facebook page :)

Thank you all!  Have a great New Year and may God bless you :)

Karoline Rose

P.S  I am looking for an internship for next summer!  Do you know of one?  If so let me know.  Thank you!

Our Job in the Cattle Industry!

Hey!

Hope this week is treating you well.  I had several people ask me what Rose Cattle Company does and how we impact the industry.   Of course I answered them and thought that would be a great blog so here it goes!  Rose Cattle Company was started when my father decided to become a cattle broker. Or a cattle buyer, or a cattle trader.  The major of my fathers job changes daily, but he makes and receives calls daily from feedlots and other people who own cattle.  They ask him about the market and where he thinks the futures board is headed.  The futures board is constantly changing and it is used to predict what cattle will sell for months from now.  Early June and sometimes even in May he start calling ranchers and offering to buy their cattle this fall.  He has ranchers as customers from all over the state of Montana and even a few out of state.  These ranchers are great men and woman who work everyday to put food on your table.  After he gets a load bought which is between 55,000 and 65,000 pounds, he called some of his buyers which are mostly in the Midwest.  They area to buy the cattle for more than my father bought them for, the difference in price is called his commission.  He lives off his commission for the whole fall.   As you can see without an understanding of the futures board my dad could get into a bunch of trouble because he uses the futures board to set a price for the fall calves.

All during the fall, my father is off loading the cattle to ship to his buyers.  This weekend he was in Twin Bridges loading for 2 of his longest customers.  He loves this part of the job because he gets to hangout with the ranchers and travel the state.  He enjoys the conversation and loves seeing how good the calves are this year.

To be cont.... :)

Have a great week!  Hope to see you at the NILE this weekend!

Karoline