Every so often NAT provides me with an "AH HA!" moment where I really learn something new and useful.

This time it was Clicker's response to me in Schram Cattle's thoughtful "Is there anything to learn from these [feedlot] heat losses" thread below.

I have found it hard to believe how some folks can take the loss of 25,000 cattle in open feedlots so lightly, as if we were talking about bolts, or grain or some other inanimate object.

To which Clicker replied that, to him and evidently many others in the cattle business, cattle are: "A commodity with an economic value."

AH HA! now I see...

That comment got me thinking, are "Live Cattle", as they are called on the CBOT, really the same as #2 corn, soybeans, wheat, gold, Treasury bonds, oil, gasoline, coal, and all the other "commodities" traded on the various CME exchanges?

According to the CBOT:

"The Chicago Board of Trade originated in the mid-19th century in order to help farmers and commodity consumers manage risks by removing price uncertainty from agricultural products such as wheat and corn. Later, futures contracts on products such as cattle and other livestock were added."

Again the word LIVEstock occurs. 

So the question is: are cattle a lifeless commodity like #2 corn or are they "Live" living animals as even the CBOT describes them?

If we think of cattle as Living creatures rather than a lifeless commodity, then don't we have a responsibility to treat them differently than #2 corn or other non-living "commodities"?

Ask any traditional 40 cow Wisconsin dairyman if his cows are a commodity and I think you will get an earful!  Does the fact the 40 cow dairy has been replaced by 1000+ cow dairies milked by robots change the fact that a cow is a living creature?

Food for thought. But at least now I understand how some folks can look at these heat related deaths of tens of thousands of feedlot fat cattle as a "non-event".

Edit to add:  #2 corn doesn't choose to walk over to and lie under a shade tree during the heat of the day.