Las Cruces family gets glimpse of cattle's rough ranch life

A family recently learned firsthand how cruel nature can be when they came upon several head of livestock struggling to get out of the mud surrounding a watering hole. The situation so distressed the Las Crucens that they called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to intervene, but livestock experts say the grim scene at Corralitos Ranch is really just an unfortunate part of life on a ranch. Trey Bays, district livestock board supervisor for the Las Cruces area, said a livestock inspector responded on Sunday and he followed up himself a couple of days later. He said what they found at the site was not a case of ongoing animal abuse or neglect, but actually a relatively common occurrence. "Cows get stuck in the mud all the time," Bays said. "It's part of nature. Sometimes, you're just too late to save them. I don't think there's any neglect here." Dennis Hallford, professor of animal science at New Mexico State University, said even in the best of circumstances, it's normal for Western ranchers to lose about 1 percent of their cattle in a given year to poisonous plants, trouble calving, lightning strikes, predators - or even getting stuck in the mud. "It's certainly not a function of neglect on the part of the rancher," Hallford said...SilverCitySun-News