Study paid for by Beef Council, tries to gain credibility

In Ban Grazing Allotments, Oppose Welfare Ranching, Protect The Wolves by TwowolvesLeave a Comment

protect the wolves

Bob did a good Job at ridiculing the study, but could use some assistance, so we volunteered to educate the Public.

You forgot to mention just how biased the whole “20” minute Results were being paid for by the Oregon Beef Council… to go along with how much Ranchers Love their Cows…. sure do…. all the way to the bank with no remorse on methods of slaughter.
  Ranchers Should be prohibited from owning any more livestock than their own land will support on its Own. That means no imported feed btw. Being the single largest source of destruction to our environment, right behind humans justifies that request…
That study is a sad attempt to once again place a shadow over Our Sacred Species.  Would have been better to have had a Traditional Native American response in there Winking smile Although with all of the corruption, greed and influence coming out of the Cattlemen’s Groups…..  probably wouldn’t have made any difference. Especially these days…. when a Reporter promises to print the real study….. they don’t even come close as evidenced by Our last Interviews in Wyoming.

So right away the Burns-based animals have home-field advantage.

Not to mention the fact that the Idaho-based herd might have been feeling a bit of stress if they thought they would have to spend the rest of their life in the remoteness that is Burns.

“The animals were separated into different pens scented with wolf urine. Wolf howls were piped in over a stereo. Three trained dogs that resemble wolves — two German shepherds and one collie-Alaskan malamute — paced outside the corral during the 20-minute study period.”

Yep, my college professors always told me there’s nothing like a 20-minute study period.

Bob we couldnt help but LOL, they couldnt even bother with a Peer Review like real Studies, Probably because Oregon Beef Council footed the bill

According to Cooke, “The cows from Burns couldn’t care less, but bloodwork from the cows from Idaho showed biomarkers indicating extreme stress.”

Yes Bob, thats because they were just shipped on a truck, thinking it was their last ride!

That’s what 20 minutes in Burns will do to you.

Trust me on this. I’ve been there.

In the decades-long battle between those who love wolves and those who raise cattle, a new study from Oregon State University suggests that cattle that witnessed a wolf attack on their herd never forget the experience.

Which, I suppose, is no surprise. Then again, if cattle worry about their own mortality, they should be more concerned with the folks raising them than with a pack of hungry wolves.

I learned about the innermost fears of cows from reading Andrew Theen’s piece in The Oregonian, one of the few “statewide” newspapers remaining in our country.

Wrote Theen, “Cows whose herd comes under attack by wolves remember the experience and show symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, Oregon researchers say.”

I’m not sure cows can experience anything even remotely akin to PTSD, but the story did catch my attention.

Theen cites a study by Oregon State professor Reinaldo Cooke that appeared recently in the Journal of Animal Science, which explains why I missed it the first time.

“When wolves attack a herd of cattle, Cooke said in an interview, the surviving animals’ life experience is ‘completely altered’ by the event.

Animals become jumpier around humans and pets, the cows give birth to smaller calves, and the animals are more likely to get sick.”

Full disclosure, Cooke’s study was paid for by the Oregon Beef Council, which was no doubt pleased with its findings.

Noted Cooke, “Those cows are grazing out there, man, and they know what wolves can do. Every time they hear wolves howling, even if it’s two miles away, they go through the stress process. Every time they do that, they don’t eat, they’re always on alert.”

Fair enough, but I suspect that’s a concern best raised with Mother Nature.

“Oregon Wild, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, criticized the use of PTSD to describe nature. ‘PTSD is a very serious condition afflicting millions of Americans,’ Oregon Wild said in a statement. ‘It is incredibly disrespectful for it to be used by an industry association to make a point that should be obvious to anyone who has ever seen a nature documentary: prey don’t like predators.’ ”

Prey also doesn’t like predators.

What really intrigued me was the “experiment” that was run to justify the conclusion.

“OSU took 10 cows from a commercial herd in Idaho that survived a wolf attack to Burns (Oregon) for the project. They also gathered Burns-based animals that had never seen a wolf.”

So right away the Burns-based animals have home-field advantage.

Not to mention the fact that the Idaho-based herd might have been feeling a bit of stress if they thought they would have to spend the rest of their life in the remoteness that is Burns.

“The animals were separated into different pens scented with wolf urine. Wolf howls were piped in over a stereo. Three trained dogs that resemble wolves — two German shepherds and one collie-Alaskan malamute — paced outside the corral during the 20-minute study period.”

Yep, my college professors always told me there’s nothing like a 20-minute study period.

According to Cooke, “The cows from Burns couldn’t care less, but bloodwork from the cows from Idaho showed biomarkers indicating extreme stress.”

That’s what 20 minutes in Burns will do to you.

Trust me on this. I’ve been there.

Source: Bob Dunning: Even cows feel stressed when they’re threatened

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.