Some people spend their Sunday afternoon reading. Some spend it sleeping. How did I spend it? Doing something I’ve never done before, that’s how! This past Sunday afternoon, I went out to the Flint Hills area with a couple of friends to feed some cattle their “range cubes”.
In order to add a little educational snippet to this post, here’s what the definition of range cubes is: “Large pellets of compacted feed, between a pellet and a log, approximately 1 inch cubed, used to feed animals at pasture. Can be fed on the ground with very little loss.”
Sounds yummy, huh? The cattle sure think so!
They like it so much that I could reach out of the bed of the truck and touch them. Okay, maybe just one of them.. But still, I touched one!
Turns out I was wrong. It was my presence that drew them to the truck. Not the cubes. I’m positive. Don’t even try to argue me on this point – It was me.
On a more serious side of things – I was told that the cattle are fed range cubes because as the summer goes on, the nutrients in the grass go bye-bye. So the cubes are the added protein the cattle need to grow. Another reason cubes can be used is to “train” the cattle to come into a pen – Which is what my grandpa has done with them in the past. Getting the cattle used to going into a pen by feeding them the cubes in there should hopefully help with loading them up on sale day. (Please note I said hopefully – I never guarantee anything when it comes to the behavior of cattle!)
What is it that lets the cattle know their yummies are here, you ask? The horn. Honk it a few times and this scene above will play out before you!
Well, that was fun! And hot.. The temps this week are all pegging around 100 degrees. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find a cool, dark hole to crawl in for awhile. Maybe everyone will forget I live here for a few hours and let me sleep in peace. It’s worth a shot!
Ashleigh
Keryn Campbell says
Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.