Welcome to our Online Newsletter! Most every month you'll find the latest thoughts and goings on right here. We hope to share some of the little things we learn about life and ranching along the way. In the end, we are hoping that all these "little things" add up in a really big way, and maybe make a difference to everyone.

I took a double take when glancing through a major beef trade magazine this past month. The ad caught my eye largely because of the Texas Longhorn, which they had pictured. As I continued to read the advertisement, I saw very quickly that it was to market an animal health product. They had used the longhorn, not only to draw me to the ad, but to use its antiquity in the beef industry as a salability point. They claimed since the beef industry has changed so much, in like measure their company has changed to meet its needs.

My next reaction was a chuckle to myself. The ad had reached its purpose in that I had seen it and read it, however, it didn't sell me the product, it only served to remind me of a philosophy we hold here on the ranch. At Moore Ranch we have 3 different distinct herds. These are Purebred Longhorns, Crossbred Longhorns, and English-bred cattle which are the "run of the mill" muley Angus, Hereford, Charollais, etc. I mention this, as I want to imply that this philosophy applies to all of these cattle no matter what breed.

Our philosophy is that the sales of merchandisers, rather than the actions of astute breeders and managers are leading the development of our cattle. Our industry is laden with enhancement products from animal health products, pesticides, hormones, ruminant enhancements, forage enhancing products and so forth. These products are sold to us with the intent that by using this product we will increase our bottom line. Don't get me wrong, I know these products work. I have seen medicine, hormones, and feed additives add pounds to a beef herd. At what cost have we added these things to the industry as a whole?

The problem I see is that we have used these products to increase a cow's production rather than insisting that the cow increase the production with her abilities, and thus increase our bottom line. We have used these products on a wide cross section of the industry's cattle, whether they are of poor or grand quality. If you and I have a poor or a mediocre cow and use these products to make her production greater, then we have not solved the whole problem. We now have a subsidized poor or mediocre cow, which produces like kind, which will require subsidizing. On top of that we have spent money to do it. I would like to see instead that we raise our animals with a standard for high production without great inputs. Thus, when I have an animal with lice, the animal is sold, or the animal gets over it and passes these qualities on to her offspring. Instead of doctoring an unhealthy animal with products, I expect that the animals in my herd perform.

By now the idea of survival of the fittest has come to your mind. Yes, this is exactly what our philosophy of low inputs consists of. The fittest cow will be a survivor in my herd. The rest have gone to market. I expect that cow to be productive and be profitable on her own. The beef industry has changed. We have gone from a Longhorn steer that had to survive the trail drive from Texas to the railhead to be profitable, to a nation of cows which need to be pampered, medicated, enhanced and given additives to remain profitable.

If you question this, let me give you some examples of herds we have seen which use this philosophy. In the 1960's a Colorado rancher always culled his cattle for lice. If one showed up lousy, she went to the sale. This man didn't need pesticides. He had a herd of lice free Hereford cattle simply from using this philosophy. A neighboring rancher also uses this principle today. The first year he quit using pesticides, his cattle were terribly lousy. The second and continuing years, his closed herd has been lice free. It is my conclusion that they have built up resistance to the lice. It is also my observation that this rancher's bottom line is higher than the rancher who used the pesticide.

The advertisement was a great eye catcher. It however couldn't sell me their product over my philosophy of doing less for the cattle and demanding productivity from them. Expect your cattle to perform instead of popping them a cure all. Cure alls cost; productive cows don't.

We just returned from our vacation in Colorado's high country. It has been very dry there this summer. As you know, there have been many fires, some started by nature and others by man. We were also amazed to see the growth throughout Colorado, from the eastern slopes, through the mountains all the way West to Grand Junction.

We went to the White River National Park and stayed by a lake called Crescent. From the county road to the lake, it is 12 miles. But is takes about 3 hours to travel the 12 miles, so you might say it's not an improved road. This is the same area in which we go elk hunting in the fall.

As we traveled up the trail, there was a truck from Illinois ahead of us. I was somewhat surprised to see anyone else on the trail, especially since it was Wednesday and not a weekend. Half way up the mountain, we ran into another man from Denver. When we got to the lake we found three other camps plus the couple from Illinois. On Thursday, the couple from Illinois left and the man from Denver came on up to the lake. Friday night around 12 p.m., a roaring engine with no muffler system came rolling in and stopped about 50 feet from our tents. The two 4x4's then left their lights on to set up their tent. While doing so, we overheard the lady mention to her husband that maybe they should turn their headlights off. She thought maybe the lights might begin to wake us up. This comment was laughable considering no one could have slept through their arrival in the muffler-less vehicle.

The next day we went 2 miles down the road to a lower lake to catch some Brookie trout. We found two more camps. Saturday, we packed up to head out. We met 5 more vehicles and a motorcycle headed up the mountain. There was also two 4x4's headed out as we were leaving. They left about the same time we did, but not until they had gotten their thrills by using huge rocks to vandalize a car that had been abandoned in the Park before the 1999 elk-hunting season.

We saw half a dozen deer tracks, two elk tracks and one bear track around the lakes and all of them were at least a week old. The one thing I did notice was the amount of un-degradable trash left around the lake by people. We had a discussion about the issue of grazing livestock on public lands. Nancy said that it surprised her that we had not seen any large animals while we were there. We had only seen cattle grazing there. She wondered if urbanites might think that the grazing cattle had run off the wildlife. We wondered what someone who was against grazing livestock on public lands might conclude after viewing the things I have just described here.

What this person might not see is the fact that if the cattle were not there, and the grass had been left untouched, there would be a tremendous amount a fuel available as a fire source that could easily be ignited by a motorized vehicle. I also felt that the wildlife were not present due to the constant flow of automobiles in and out of their environment every day.

I think that a lot of people need to realize that fire is a natural phenomenon. If we choose not to remove some of this fuel on the floors of our nation's forests with domestic animals or logging, or even controlled burns, or letting nature do it's own burning; at some point in time nature will prevail and fires will occur. There are benefits from these fires. Not all results from fires are negative.

Those who are building homes all over the mountains, and plains, should ask themselves if they are effecting the environment. If they feel their small acreage is really immaterial in the whole scheme of things, I think they need to understand and experience hands on, the workings of nature. Is urban sprawl less devastating to the ecology and environment than a cow or a sheep? At least what a cow and sheep leave behind is biodegradable, helps the land, and feeds our spreading out population as they build in the habitats of wildlife and on the land that was once set aside for food production.

~   Joey R. More

P.S. Maybe we should take mechanical things out of Public Lands?

Over a year ago, we began a remodeling project on our home. In the course of the project, our T.V. antenna got moved and never was put back into service.

The results of this event have been interesting. Usually after a long day, Joe and I would retire to a chair to relax and turn on the "big black box". We were always too tired to do anything else.

Now at the end of the day we are definitely ready to call it a day and change the pace as far as work is concerned. However, with the "big black box" out of commission, it is amazing that we have the motivation to go on nature walks with the kids to see the progress of the beaver dam, play games, or sit on the porch swing with each other.

We have come to the conclusion that T.V. breeds unnecessary tiredness that was actually limiting true satisfying relaxation.

A friend of mine told me the following story of her childhood. The last day of school her mother got out the scissors and cut the plug-in off of the T.V. electrical cord every year. She and her 3 sisters lived on a ranch. Their work, fun, and joy in the summer time came without television pleasures. What a thought! Try it; you might like it!

In the past five to ten years, I have noticed a tremendous increase in horn growth pushed by the added value of an animal with exceptional horn growth. My question is as follows: Is the growth due to natural selection, by stacking genetics, or is it artificial due to enhanced minerals and over feeding? If it is caused by the later, what positive traits are we jeopardizing by these practices?

~ Joey R. Moore

Our middle son, Cody has been putting us through some tough rodeo performances. High School Rodeo began the end of August. The first rodeo was six hours long and 108 degrees hot. The second rodeo was a mild 102 degrees. So far the heat must be bringing him luck. As of today, Cody's standing in the Kansas High School Rodeo bull-riding event is 1st.

We have enrolled a large number of grazing acres in the Conservation Reserve Program, and Moore Ranch is now leasing out its cattle. Leasing is a great option for both parties. It frees up money for you and is fully tax deductible as a business expense. For us, we are able to hold onto our genetic base while improving our range conditions. The Cattle are leased in three categories. Two categories of cattle can be viewed here on our web site by clicking here, or on the Longhorns button on the right.