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Minnesota cow/calf farm recognized for animal welfare efforts

A west-central Minnesota family has received national recognition for its animal welfare practices.

Wulf Cattle Company of Morris was one of three farms honored with the National Beef Quality Assurance Award (BQA) during the Cattle Convention in Nashville last week.

Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association executive director Ashley Kohls says it’s the first time a cow/calf producer from Minnesota has won a national BQA award.

“The Wulf family does a lot of things very well when it comes to Beef Quality Assurance.  Probably the number one thing they do is require every single employee to have a BQA certificate, and that’s not something that every farm and ranch does.  So that’s pretty exciting.”

She tells Brownfield Wulf Cattle has also implemented its own program called “Be Kind and Be Safe.”

“So if you look at the dairy side of things, it’s the “See It, Stop It.”  So, if you see somebody not being kind to an animal or somebody not being safe, there’s not tolerance when it comes to that so it needs to be reported to management.  And having that culture on any farm or ranch is really important.”

Kohls says those Best Management Practices boost consumer confidence and create better on-farm efficiencies.

Other national BQA award winners included Magnum Feedyards of Colorado in the BQA Feedyard category, and veterinarian Bob Smith of Oklahoma for BQA Educator of the Year.