Cowboy 101: To Cull, Or Not To Cull

Every fall we walk through the herd with a notebook. Open cows go. Bad feet go. Bad mothers go. Cows that need pampering to hold condition go.

"It sounds ruthless, and it is. But a small herd can't carry passengers. Every animal has to earn her place on the pasture, and the pasture always votes first."

The result, over twenty years, is a cowherd that calves unassisted, weans big calves off nothing but grass, and rebreeds on time. That doesn't happen by accident.