All about fat, protein, and the other solids that make milk flavorful and nutritious.
Tag: Cattle
British and Continental Cattle Breeds
There are many way to categorize cattle breeds—beef and dairy, standard and miniature, commercial and heritage, Bos taurus taurus and Bos taurus indicus. One classification that is frequently used to describe beef breeds is British versus Continental. The names are rather self-explanatory. British breeds come from the United Kingdom, while Continental breeds come from Continental…
Kansas Ag Connection
Looking for a good way to keep up with daily agriculture-related headlines? Give Kansas Ag Connection a try! Subscribers to On the Range, our weekly country living update (read more), may already be familiar with this site as a source for some of our headlines. There’s a reason for that. Kansas Ag Connection is a…
How a Milking Machine Works
While many small farmers still love to hand-milk their cows, commercial dairying usually employs the milking machine. The modern milking machine looks complex, but the principle on which it operates is actually quite simple. The machine pulls a vacuum on the teats of the cow, causing the milk to flow. Here’s how it works: The…
An Introduction to Heritage Breeds
Thinking about starting a farm with heritage breeds? If you are new to this topic, you may enjoy An Introduction to Heritage Breeds: Saving and Raising Rare-Breed Livestock and Poultry by The Livestock Conservancy. This excellent beginner’s resource starts with the basics—defining breeds in general and heritage breeds in particular. It discusses the plight and…
Rottweiler
As invading Roman armies traveled, they tended to leave a trail of abandoned dogs in their wake, no matter where they went. The dogs were large and mastiff-like, but they were kept to herd sheep and cattle to feed the soldiers. As the livestock was eaten up, surplus dogs were left behind. One area that…
Brave the Wild Trail
There is nothing Josh Bramlett wants more than a dog. And his father Eben has just the plan to make this dream come true! Scrub cattle run wild across Florida, just waiting to be rounded up and driven to market—a market hungry for beef in the days just after the Civil War. If you love…
Bouvier des Flandres
Dog experts disagree on the history of the Bouvier des Flandres. All we know for certain is that, from time immemorial, sturdy cattle dogs lived and worked in the Flanders region of Belgium and on the northern plains of France. What types of dogs went into the gene pool is mostly unknown. Some monks at…
Border Collie
Most of the herding dogs of the British Isles trace back to a common ancestor—the big, black-and-tan mastiffs brought by Julius Caesar around 55 BC to guard and drive livestock to feed the Roman army. Of course, British and Scottish sheepdogs do not look much like mastiffs. This is owing to the influence of small…
Australian Shepherd
It may surprise you, but the Australian Shepherd is actually an American breed, developed in the West in the 19th century. There is an Australian connection, however. Some of the breed’s most influential ancestors were various Basque herding dogs from both Spain and France, including the Pyrenean Shepherd. Basque dogs were originally brought to America…
