Big Blue Huddle

After watching the TV series "1883", I found it odd that to make money, the cowboys rounded up feral cattle and put together a herd to take to the slaughterhouse to raise needed money, as well as to eat along the way as they traveled in a caravan from Texas to the unsettled northwest. I thought it was unrealistic, but made for an interesting story. Now I have discovered that feral cows have been a real thing for a couple of hundred years in the U.S. 

I have read some stories about feral cattle being a huge nuisance in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Alaska, Texas, etc., even in Hawaii. Not only are there large herds of feral cattle, but the bulls are very territorial and can be mean. Hikers and naturists have been threatened and even attacked, so the problem is real. The New Mexico state government has passed a bill that would have shooters in helicopters to wipe them out. Seems a little drastic, but apparently they have become very destructive of the environment and eco cycle

I have found pictures of hunters shooting them and all I can think of is, "dang - beef is better than venison and that's a whole lot of meat for the freezer, and it's got to be easier to hunt than white tail deer or wild hogs"...LOL



Anyway, has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Seems bizarre to me. Articles state that the problem has existed for well over a hundred years 

That's enough beef to feed a family for a year. I would save thousands just on myself! @Slugsy-Narrows do you think they would be gamey? Probably come from abandoned strays or bankrupt farmers?

Quote from: Ed Vette on February 17, 2023, 12:16:32 PMThat's enough beef to feed a family for a year. I would save thousands just on myself! @Slugsy-Narrows do you think they would be gamey? Probably come from abandoned strays or bankrupt farmers?

I don't know why they'd be "gamey" since they eat the same stuff as a herd of cattle within a fence. According to some of the articles I've read, fences break, cows get out, herd them back up...but some get away. Do that for a hundred plus years and once the population starts to grow...the growth rate takes on an exponential curve and now you have herds with nasty bulls protecting them. Another reason is because back in the old days, branding and free ranging was a method of raising cattle without fencing. Little by little, a straggler gets away...then another...then another, and so forth. Over the years, calves born without a brand on its hip continue to repopulate with more unbranded calves and eventually, there's lots of unbranded, free-roaming cattle living off the land. And I suspect they move away from humans as do most wild animals. Buffalo have been doing it for years

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on February 17, 2023, 12:38:20 PMI don't know why they'd be "gamey" since they eat the same stuff as a herd of cattle within a fence. According to some of the articles I've read, fences break, cows get out, herd them back up...but some get away. Do that for a hundred plus years and once the population starts to grow...the growth rate takes on an exponential curve and now you have herds with nasty bulls protecting them. Another reason is because back in the old days, branding and free ranging was a method of raising cattle without fencing. Little by little, a straggler gets away...then another...then another, and so forth. Over the years, calves born without a brand on its hip continue to repopulate with more unbranded calves and eventually, there's lots of unbranded, free-roaming cattle living off the land. And I suspect they move away from humans as do most wild animals. Buffalo have been doing it for years

https://honest-food.net/gamey-meat-explained/#:~:text=Gamey%20meat%20is%20almost%20entirely,nasty%20(to%20most%20people).

https://www.quora.com/What-makes-a-%E2%80%9Cgamey%E2%80%9D-taste-in-meat/answer/Dan-Hunter-9?ch=17&oid=17349826&share=2bd92dee&srid=h43pfI&target_type=answer

Interesting articles Ed