I mean exactly what I said. Cattle die from exposure. It happens every winter in the coldest parts of the US.
Feel free to do your own research since I guess you’re not familiar with livestock keeping in these parts of the country.
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Cats that are born and raised feral are tough creatures, and often don’t appreciate being locked into any building. Sometimes they can get used to it, and accept it in time, some are just never going to be comfortable with it. Currently, I have two barn cats. Both just arrived here, uninvited, but welcomed when we became aware of their presence. “Mottyl”, long haired calico female, very beautiful, young and pregnant of course when she got here. She is very feral, and still is five years later. At first, she was such a streak that I could not even tell for sure what colour she was. The hubby didn’t think it was a cat, he thought it was some other sort of critter. I maintained that it was a cat. She was hiding under the tack room floor most of the time, but the cat food I put out was gone. Got her and her kittens captured, and spayed. I was told to keep her caged after her surgery, but I had to let her loose several days afterwards, and hope for the best, because the stress of being contained in a cage was going to be problematical. Kittens raised by me, and given away as house cats.
Then Perry arrived, orange striped stallion cat (not the sire of the kittens). An orange streak through the bush for the first three months, then arrived one day at the tack room and demanded cat food. A week later, he was tame. He has turned into the most outstanding cat, very friendly, very loyal, helps me clean paddocks, and out and about in the pastures with me constantly. He and Mottyl were instant friends, even before he was gelded. They are simply thrilled with each other, and go a lot of places together, sleep together, run about together, leaping around in play. They alternate between my arena (with tackroom- they use the area under the floor boards often) and the hay barn, they decide where they want to be, and move when they feel like it. Where ever they are, I feed them there. They drink out of the heated auto horse waterers in both places and/or the creek when it is not frozen. In the arena, they sleep in the hay stored there (a small amount of small square grass bales stored there) or under the tack room floor, and when in the hay barn, they go deep in between the round bales that are stored 4 layers high there. They prefer the hay barn in winter.
Mottyl still goes on walkabout sometimes in the summer, she disappears for several weeks at a time, hunting. Perry has spent some time in the tack room, when I was raising the kittens he participated with that, cuddled them, etc. He is just the most outstanding cat, he loves all other cats, introduces himself, wants to be friends, and is always polite. He comes up to the house, and demands that the house cat “Pat the Cat”, come out to visit with him. She was shocked at first, but they quickly became friends, and Perry wants to take her out into the bush, out trekking. My hubby won’t let this happen, won’t let Perry take Pat out to play with the coyotes, trots out onto the lawn and scoops up his Pat when she heads for the bush with Perry. Because Pat doesn’t have a clue (she is a stray picked off the streets of Kamloops by the SPCA, a pregnant young hussy cat). Perry tangled with a coyote last summer, a coyote tooth went through his ear, and ripped out, tore his ear. Quite a bit of blood. Perry brought that up to the house, to show us. I took him to the vet, he had a pain shot, and an antibiotic, but no stitches. He now sports a scar of war. He is a great hunter… he does bunnies, and has killed an adult ermine (which are pretty salty critters- it would have been a fight), as well as many mice, and just last week, a pack rat (GOOD KITTY!!!). The dead ermine was left for us in the arena. He leaves breakfast for us, an evening kill, on our doorstep occasionally. He is feeding his family, and we appreciate that.
These cats are not house cats, they are barn cats. They do not normally come into the house. Perry has been in the house, on occasion. He is OK with it, short term. But wants out again after visiting. Mottyl, no way. After five years, I can put a hand on her to stroke her, which she does enjoy, as long as Perry is right beside her, giving her confidence. She is still a wild animal in many ways. Which is fine, she is a lovely cat, just not a domestic cat. These cats are healthy and happy in the barn. It does get cold here, down to -38 C at night at it’s coldest in the last ten years. Deep inside the round bales, curled up together, they stay warm. Give your barn cats shelter, food and water (and a tickle every now and again if they want it), and they are fine.
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I don’t need to “research”. I live in North Dakota. I know plenty about cold and about blizzards.
Did you not not know that a small town in North Dakota (Hettinger) was the coldest place on Earth recently on January 2nd, 2018? Air temperature was -45*F …not including the wind chill.
Pretty sure I’m familiar with cold.
I didn’t say and I’m not saying that cattle don’t die from the elements, because they obviously do. I was just very disturbed by the portion of your comment that I bolded.
Like ranchers are trying to cover it up?
Like they don’t take care of their animals?
I don’t understand the negativity.
…Not to mention, the term RANCHERS refers to those who raise livestock whereas FARMERS refers to those who raise crops, so you might want to research that next time.
So for a rancher who has 1,000 head of cattle … where exactly do you expect them to graze the cattle besides the “back 140”?
Do you expect all 1,000 cows to be put in stalls for the night?
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I’m in a place where we usually don’t drop below freezing. Last week it didn’t get above 20* during the day and was between 0-5* overnight. We have yet to lose cattle, nor do I know anyone else who has. We are going through much more hay than usually, but cattle are extremely hardy in cold weather, if fed and watered.
The blizzard where are the cattle were lost was a rare occurrence. For some of us there is no need to research it as we live it daily.
And no, my barn cats never come in the house because, well, they are barn cats!
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You really are reading into something in my post that is not there. This really is not a conspiracy: cattle die of exposure. It happens. I am not judging cattle farmers about the way they keep their cows.
I said nothing about putting cattle in stalls (??) or cattle needing to be grazed somewhere other than the 140 acres (??). I did point out in parts of the country the way we keep livestock is different (there was no judgment in that). It comes as a genuine shock to some people that in many parts of the country beef cattle are 100% free range with no shelter. Very different than public perception of Daisy the dairy cow being housed in twelve inches of straw in a cozy New England barn.
I am pointing out cattle die from exposure. YOU are arguing that they don’t, which is simply not true. :rolleyes:
COTH never ceases to amaze me. There was a thread not even two months back and this subject was brought up by different posters, who had actual experience in the industry, admitting that cattle die of exposure.
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Read my most recent post. I very specifically said that I am not saying that. I don’t know how more direct I can be??
CATTLE DIE FROM EXPOSURE.
There. Is that direct enough for you?
On my first post in this thread, I said that my family on our family farm have not personally had any cows die from exposure over the years. And then you told me I must not be familiar with cold climates so I should do some research. :rolleyes: Seriously?
Just like you told onthebit’s husband that he must not live in a cold part of Canada, since he also has not personally lost any due to exposure, and thus should read some links/articles to educate himself. :rolleyes: Seriously?
Again, no one said it doesn’t happen on this thread!! We’re just sharing our own personal experiences in our own lives, for those of us who do have ranching experience. I don’t know why you feel the need to “educate” those who already know how the livestock industry works. You’re right – COTH never ceases to amaze.
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i have barn cat that survived the polar vortex ( -30 sometimes without the windchill!!!) a few years ago. She would just hunker down in her little cat tents or usually head up to the loft. I was super worried about her so I attempted to bring her inside… It was a huge NO! She hated the other indoor cats and all she wanted to do was go back outside. I gave up.
She has plenty of food, and a heated water dish and she seems to do just fine.
Our current crew of cats has been around quite a bit longer than previous residents, which is nice. BO gets kittens and keeps them in the house until they are old enough to move to the barn. They never bother to go back to the house again, but they are all very people oriented, which makes them fun to have around. We have a heated office/classroom and bathroom, so that’s a coveted spot to snooze and stay warm. They can’t stay overnight, though, because of the poop problem. Being a cat person, I expressed my concerns a few weeks ago, but BO assures me they have plenty of spots to burrow into in the stored hay, and that’s what they do. It’s just that Bob looks so comfortable and serene in his favorite spot.
Cute, but that’s not how it went down.
That poster did not mention where in Canada they were from. I specifically said if he lived in a cold part, he probably knew that exposure was a risk - that poster seemed to imply it wasn’t. Canada is huge and has very different climate norms depending on what part of Canada you live in. I made no assumptions there.
That poster then seemed to imply that this was a wealth issue, which I pointed out that the way cattle are kept in some parts of the US is very different than public perception of a doe-eyed cow knee deep in straw. I also made no assumptions there about how they kept their animals. Here’s part of my response to that poster:
It doesn’t have much to do with them being super wealthy so much as them having different ways of life and housing cows than others. In Minnesota and Wyoming it is really not uncommon for cattle to be out 24/7 in the “back 140” and not housed in large structures ever. You see some of them that have lost almost all of their ears to frostbite.
In which you somehow misinterpreted that to mean I expected thousands of cows to be housed in soft stalls (?) And not grazed (?).
I live in a fairly rural area that has a huge “farm to table” vibe to it. CSA is huge here, and often we have to educate the public on what livestock keeping truly entails. You would be amazed how many (non-livestock) people have issue with cows “roughing it” outside. Some of the public expect them to have the same luxuries as dogs. I thought that comment was germane to the subject which is why I mentioned that cattle-keeping is very different from state to state and person to person.
This really is not a conspiracy and I don’t know why you’re twisting it into one. I made a comment about cattle, animals that have much larger body mass than cats, dying of exposure. If you know anything about biology and the TSR theory (or Bergmann’s Rule) you’ll see why I thought this comment was relevant. It was a comment that was free from judgment and you took personal offense to it. Somehow, from that remark you inferred I was A. insulting your livelihood and B. suggesting a massive conspiracy wherein cattle farmers/ranchers/owners were all involved in deliberately deceiving the public and C. suggesting that these cattle were inadequately cared for.
Anyway, carry on… I have cats to feed, horses to care for, and a pony waiting for his kiss on the nose.
My barn cats (not feral but barn cats) have moved into the heated tack room and feed areas. They wanted out when it was negative digits- ran outside and came right back. Honestly it’s a pain dealing with litter boxes but they are happy and I’m not stressing over them.
looking at it- mine are being weenies… 
My barn cats range from wild and hostile feral, to semi-feral, with the friendliest one being a former tomcat who still likes to spray things from time to time, so with the likely outcomes of any attempt to bring them in including assault and urination, they stay outside. Super feral kitty makes herself a nest where the pallets hold my hay bales off of the floor, and the other three will pile into a cat bed that I put between some of the bales. I think I will take a styrofoam cooler out to the barn for them today, though, since I have one that I don’t need. That should help keep them a little cozier.
So basically, I’m in the group that thinks if they have food and shelter, and they can access unfrozen water without too much trouble (mine have to get theirs from the stock tank, but it’s close to the barn), they’re probably okay.
My hay guy has a ton of barn cats. They are all outside and just bed down in hay and I assume piles of adorableness.
