So I created a Blog

So here I am a blogger, for those who know me that's a pretty funny statement, for those who don't you'll laugh later. So why the title "The Cattlewoman WV style" ? I ask why not? For those who know me they know that my family farm is your non-typical family farm. Three generations of women have been behind our cattle herd since the early 60's, no we aren't players for the other side and yes our husbands help out:) When it comes to the breeding selection, calving, herd health, purchasing, sales and show cattle that is one hundred percent female "hear us roar!" The men like to play on their tractors and shoot guns ( but we love them dearly :)).
Now your wondering why write a blog about it?? Well about a month ago I was attending a Educational Dinner the extension service puts on for the farmers in our state. The theme for that nights dinner was Crossbreeding and it's role in the future of the Beef Industry. Now I thought this would be pretty good considering we raise Angus and Simmental cattle and all the hype that the SimAngus are causing, but the speaker didn't see it that way. He was on the other end of the spectrum and how that the way to go was Angus x Hereford cross then use a shorthorn bull for the terminal calves. Yeah I had that same look on my face that your having right now :p Don't even get me started on that subject that's for a whole other day! But at the end of the night when asked for any questions, my grandmother spoke up asking about a statement the speaker had made about BW EPD's and their relevance. She asked why that most breeders looked directly at the Bull and took no consideration on the cow when deciding matings. The speaker light heartily laughed " Now Marge you know that a "female" has no business in beef production". A lot of people laughed including my grandmother because we know the speaker quite well and known he's thought this way for years, and I think he honestly meant it as a joke. He quickly apologized and responded that it was a joke and answered her question. But I sort of took it personally. Because we as women in the cattle industry do get laughed at a lot and not taken seriously. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who find our cattle, see them as huge performers on test, and want to buy them (not knowing us personally) and call us or come see us and find out we're females and aren't interested anymore. This really irritates me to no extent. There are several other instances I could name but I do need to feed at some point :) So that's why I decided to write this blog, no not to be all feminist and manhater, but to write about what I actually do and how we are committed just as any man would be. Maybe hopefully someone will read the blog and maybe just maybe it will change their opinion about "females" in beef production.