Why BQA? Part - 5
Jan 30, 2010
Thank you all for returning for Part 5 of a 6 part series focusing on BQA.
BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE
BQA Transportation Quality Assurance
Transportation quality assurance plays a critical role in the health and welfare of cattle. The proper handling and transport of cattle can reduce sickness in calves, prevent bruises, and improve the quality of the meat from these animals.
If you’re a cattle transporter, you play a critical role in the health & welfare of the cattle we all raise. The proper handling and transport of cattle can reduce sickness in calves, prevent bruises, and improve the quality of the meat from all our animals. By utilizing BQA transport practices, you and other transporters literally save our beef cattle industry million$ of dollar$ a year! Participation in the BQA Master Cattle Transporter program is one way to show your customers that you are ready to take every step possible to keep their cattle healthy and safe as possible.
*Extreme wind and cold conditions (which most if not all of our cattle are currently experiencing), can have a drastic adverse effect on the health of cattle. Unprotected cattle hauled at highway speeds can be subject to dangerous wind chills. If cattle are wet, the danger is even greater. *Extreme wind and cold conditions exist when the wind chill is below 0 degrees.
If transporting cattle cannot be avoided during the above mentioned conditions, avoid stopping if at all possible. You want to get the cattle to their/your destination as quickly as possible.
For example, even at slow speeds like 25 miles per hour when the outside temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit, it will feel like -44 !! Again if you cannot avoid transporting cattle is extremely cold conditions, the best/warmest time of the day should be between 11am & 4pm. The same is true in a reverse kind of way when transporting cattle during extremely hot temperatures. AVOID transporting cattle between 11am & 4pm. I understand most of you already know this, and there are a few of you who are strongly against being told how to do anything, (and have stated that fact numerous times), but it can’t hurt to be reminded?
What I’ve been relaying via this blog over the last 5 weeks are general recommendations set forth by the BQA program to help you & I as cattle producers to think about what we do when handling our cattle. I’m not telling you that you need to change what your doing. If what your doing currently works for you and your cattle, and your conscious is clear about how you do it, keep it up! Share your experiences with other producers. I’m open to others ideas. Just as some of you are open minded to the way I do things and have been willing to share with all of you.
Next week we’ll be rounding out the BQA series of this blog focusing on loading and unloading guidelines. In 2 weeks we’ll get back to concentrating on 100% Grass-fed BEEF Production. The focus will be on “MOB GRAZING”!! It’s a new way to graze cattle.
