let's talk farm animals

Annual “Friend of OFAC” award presented to well-loved agricultural advocate

By Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate

A great man in agricultural education was given a much-deserved recognition by the Ontario Farm Animal Council at its annual general meeting on April 5.

Fred Cahill, owner of the Texas Longhorn Ranch and known to countless people simply as “Cowboy Fred” has joined an elite group of agricultural enthusiasts who have received the “Friend of OFAC” award over the last 12 years. 

Cowboy Fred talks to some young visitors at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair during a show in its education ring.

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Posted by FFC on April 6th, 2011 :: Filed under Beef cattle,Canada,Education and public awareness,Farm life,Horses
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Cow whisperer aims to improve livestock handling

From horse whisperer to cow whisperer - we like the way this livestock handler relates to his animals - OFAC

For the full story and photos, visit http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7bBWFLOlyxoJypwFO39EOgj5ecAD9HH4UR80

Cow whisperer aims to improve livestock handling
By MATT VOLZ (AP) – 10 hours ago

WOLF CREEK, Mont. — The herd of lowing cows parted like a wave before Curt Pate, who rode straight up to the bull and let him know who was in charge without making a sound.

Pate, a 49-year-old Montana cowboy who consulted on the 1998 Robert Redford film “The Horse Whisperer,” switched his focus to cows about five years ago and has been traveling the country teaching ranchers to think like cattle and use low-stress methods of handling livestock.

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Posted by FFC on August 11th, 2010 :: Filed under Animal care,animal handling,Animal health,Beef cattle,Horses,Research

Cowgirl blogger; A farmer’s wife tackles social media

We’re excited to see the amount of farmers that are using social media outlets to tell their stories about farming. Here’s a great article from the July 12 edition of the Calgary Herald that features once such farmer. We’re now following her on Twitter and hope you will too! - OFAC

Cowgirl blogger; A farmer’s wife tackles social media
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Cathryn Hagel can milk a cow and drive a tractor. She helps brand her family’s cattle and she’s chased a coyote or two.

And just for fun, she and her family bought a team of draught horses last year. Y’know: the great big ones that pull wagons filled with people.

But she’s no country bumpkin. Not at all. She’s part of a small but growing number of farm women reaching out to each other and beyond, with the help of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging.

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Posted by FFC on July 12th, 2010 :: Filed under Animal care,Beef cattle,Canada,Education and public awareness,Farm life,Horses,Sustainability of the family farm

Horses: Wintering Well

Posted by AFAC - We’ve had a few successive “soft” winters, but this year we’re starting off with what’s looking like one of the old fashioned kind. November has been overcast, blustery, quite cool, and we have nearly two feet (60 cm. plus) of snow on the level in our neck of the woods. Good sleighing - poor trucking!

Recollecting life on the homestead in northeast Saskatchewan in the early 1940’s, I remember bands of horses ranging free in winter, travelling through the yard, and on to the stubble fields or next hay meadow. In the spring, “winter lumberjacks” would become “summer stubble jumpers“, catching up and laying claim to an outfit for seeding, haying, bindering, stook threshing, perhaps hauling wood, before turning the horses loose, and themselves heading back to the winter bush camps. We had our feed stacks fenced in next to the barn, protected and handy for Mom and her wee boys to feed our own stock, horses haltered and housed, handled and hitched every day. Quite a contrast, but those running out and those stabled in all seemed to prosper! I’m recounting this because it seems we are now in an age of “free expression” on standards of equine care. “Those who think they know may be a source of some annoyance to those of you who do!”

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Posted by AFAC on January 8th, 2010 :: Filed under Farm life,Horses,Uncategorized

Horse owners concerned about proposed transportation legislation

08Dec19 By SHANNON RUCKMAN, The Prairie Star editor

BILLINGS, Mont. - With close to 10 million horses in the nation, Montana horse owners and enthusiasts are concerned about the welfare of the equine industry if legislation is passed banning the transport of horses to slaughter facilities.

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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under Horses,Meat/slaughter plants,Regulations,Transportation
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